The champagne corks were popped and the excited staff at the Statoil Service Station in Tuam were as bubbly as the fizzy drink yesterday as they toasted the good luck of a customer who won over €10 million on a ticket bought there in the mid-week Lotto.
"I hope it brings happiness to whoever won it and we are as excited ourselves here in the shop as if we were the winners," said Vera Murphy, assistant manager. "There is a huge buzz here and it would be great if it is one of our regular customers that is the winner. We have a lot of passing trade too and irrespective of who got it good luck to them," she added.
Customers were congratulating staff at the filling station and shop, which is on the busy N17 route between Sligo and Claregalway.
"I hope I sold the winning ticket as I was working here between 7am and 3pm yesterday [ Wednesday] and it would be exciting to know if that was when it was bought," said staff member Sheila Hannon.
But while a National Lottery spokeswoman said the ticket was bought on Wednesday, she added that they were not permitted to reveal the time that the ticket was bought. "The winner has 90 days to come forward and collect the winning of €10,067,238. Nobody has been in contact with our office yet and the winner got lucky with a €6 quick pick. The numbers are 12, 18, 22, 25, 26 and 29," she added.
"Nobody here at Statoil knows what time it was sold but everybody is excited for the winner," said staff member Eileen Heverin. The staff have been told that the owners of the service station, Topaz Ltd, will take them for "a night out on the town" to celebrate the win.