The £208 million EuroMillions jackpot has been claimed after the winning ticket owner came forward in Ireland.
The pot is said to be the largest ever EuroMillions jackpot to have been claimed in the country.
It is Ireland’s 18th winner jackpot and the competition’s largest-ever win – the EuroMillions jackpot is capped once it reaches €250 million, around £205 million.
The winning ticket was sold in a retailer in Munster, County Cork, the Irish National Lottery said.
The winning numbers from the draw were 13, 22, 23, 44, 49 and Lucky Stars 3 and 5.
‘We are absolutely thrilled to have heard from our EuroMillions winner,’ Irish National Lottery spokesperson Emma Monaghan said.
‘At this point, our priority is to give them the necessary time and space to make arrangements and let this life-changing news sink in.’
No other details about the winner are being revealed at this stage.
By withholding some key details for a few days, the winners will have the chance to consider their radically-changed future without being overwhelmed by the inevitable rumours that will follow once the exact location of the winning ticket is revealed.
The £208 million EuroMillions jackpot has been claimed after the winning ticket owner came forward in Ireland
The winning numbers from the draw were 13, 22, 23, 44, 49 and Lucky Stars 3 and 5
Not only do the winners need time to get their affairs in order, but the National Lottery also requires time to organise the funds since it does not have the €250 million prize readily available at its irish headquarters.
It has already begun collecting tens of millions of euros from across Europe to ensure that the 18th Irish EuroMillions jackpot winner can receive their oversized cheque – likely by the end of next week.
In an online post last night the Irish National Lottery said: ‘We can reveal the province where the 250 million euro winning ticket was sold… MUNSTER. Check those EuroMillions tickets.’
It’s not the first time Munster has landed a massive prize.
The lucky winner will join Limerick housewife Dolores McNamara who won £77 million in 2005.
The then-45-year-old was in a pub with friends when she learned she had won.
An impromptu party broke out around the Irish mother of six as she calmly downed a brandy before bursting into tears at her good fortune.
At the time she was adamant she would keep her and her family’s feet ‘firmly on the ground’ after the life-changing win.
Irish housewife Dolores McNamara celebrates her record breaking lottery win at Irish National Lottery Headquarters in 2005
With the massive media attention centred on her, she bought a lakeside mansion for €1.7 million which sits on 24 acres of land for her son Gary to expand his farming business, according to LimerickLive.
She also bought homes for her six children in the area and, about seven years after her win, spent over €3million on Tinarana House, a 19th-century Victorian mansion set on 244 acres overlooking Lough Derg, previously owned by former Co Clare GP Paschal Carmody.
But there was also a dark side – she had to invest heavily in security for her family as they faced kidnap threats.
And in 2019, a family syndicate from Dublin was the lucky winner of an Euromilion’s prize worth more than £152million.
