THE KERRY woman who won the top prize in the National Lottery's controversial Millionaire Raffle was not even watching the draw on television, she said as she collected her prize yesterday.
Christina Buckley said she was "absolutely shocked" as she collected her €1 million winnings in Dublin yesterday, accompanied by her husband Stephen and four children, Stephanie (22), Michelle (18), John (11) and Kate (7).
The Montessori worker was given the ticket by her boss in the Ardfert school. "I was at a friend's house and the lady that gave me the ticket rang me to tell me her serial number was very similar and she saw Ardfert Post Office coming out," Ms Buckley said.
The family plans a holiday and a party, but they say the win will not drastically change their lives.
Winners of the second million euro prize, a married couple from Co Tipperary, collected their cheque on Wednesday and wished to remain anonymous.
The new game was limited to 300,000 tickets at €20 each, which sold out. The draw was held at National Lottery headquarters on Tuesday, hours before the results were broadcast during the final night of the Rose of Tralee contest. The nature of the draw raised concern among callers to RTÉ's Liveline programme on Wednesday who said they were "shocked" that the draw did not take place live on television.
National Lottery spokeswoman Paula McEvoy yesterday said people had not known what to expect due to the new format.
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