Dolores McNamara, of Limerick, Ireland, who won the biggest prize in European lottery history, is believed to have flown to Dublin to collect her winnings. Punters in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Austria participate in Europe's weekly draw each Friday. To win the jackpot, players need to match five main numbers from 1 to 50 - and 2 Lucky Star numbers from 1 to 9. Friday's winning numbers were 3, 19, 26, 49 and 50, and Lucky Stars 4 and 5.
ˆ115.6 million Euro lottery winner in Dublin to collect monster prize
Dolores McNamara, of Limerick, Ireland, to collect the biggest prize in European lottery history, ˆ115.6 million
The housewife Dolores said she flew straight to the capital with her best friend the day after learning of her unbelievable win. “Apparently she flew to Dublin from Shannon on Saturday morning and booked into a hotel there,” her relative, who did not want to be named, said.
However, Irish National Lottery officials have said they cannot confirm if Ms McNamara has the winning ticket until the person reports to the headquarters in Dublin.
"Obviously is it all over the papers but there is a formal procedure," Paula McEvoy of the National Lottery said.
"The offices will be open on Tuesday but it would be mid- to late next week at the earliest, that the person would get the money, because of the magnitude of the amount. The funds would have to come from abroad.
"It is up to the winner, however, they may choose not to come in for two months. They have 90 days from the day of the draw."
McEvoy said that the sum of the record winning would be transferred from the other eight EU countries involved it would take until Wednesday or Thursday to gather the amount. A relative said Ms McNamara met with a solicitor in a Limerick hotel to seek legal advice: “She sought legal advice on Saturday morning, not to have her pictures publicised and pictures of her children shown.”
Ms McNamara and her bricklayer husband Adrian have six children – Dawn, 28, Kim, 22 and Kevan, 20, Gary, 26, Dean, 15, and Lee, 13.
Local people immediately learned of Dolores’ win on Friday night after she got her friend to check her EuroMillions lottery ticket in The Track bar in Garryowen. The news quickly spread throughout Limerick and some of Ms McNamara’s six children rushed to the bar to celebrate.
And a friend of the family, who took pictures in the pub on Friday night, is believed to have sold them to several newspapers for over ˆ16,000.
One of Ms McNamara’s six children immediately urged her to put the ticket into safe hands. The family brought the ticket to Henry Street Garda Station, where staff are believed to have contacted the Trustee Savings Bank to place it in the vaults.
Punters in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Austria participate in Europe's weekly draw each Friday. To win the jackpot, players need to match five main numbers from 1 to 50 - and 2 Lucky Star numbers from 1 to 9. Friday's winning numbers were 3, 19, 26, 49 and 50, and Lucky Stars 4 and 5.
