SALES of EuroMillions tickets continue to soar as hard-pressed shoppers dream of striking it rich, writes JACKIE KEOGH.
Jackie O’Flaherty, who manages Field’s Newsagents –formerly Hickey’s famously lucky lotto shop in Skibbereen – confirmed that more people are buying EuroMillions tickets after a Cork player bagged the €250m jackpot.
‘Lots of people just do the minimum €3.50 but then you have regulars who would do a full sheet of €21,’ said Jackie, who laughingly said she wishes she had a euro for every time someone promises her a million if they win. The latest win, on Shandon Street in Cork, is so close that it makes people believe striking the jackpot is possible, she added.
The EuroMillions draw is open to all of the EU, but Ireland has done consistently well with several single jackpot winners.
Jeremy Brosnan, owner of Centra in Schull, told The Southern Star: ‘When the jackpot gets big, there will always be an increase in sales.
‘Lotto tickets generally sell well – there are people who buy them religiously, while others wait for the jackpot to hit big numbers like the recent €250mn.
‘A jackpot win is the stuff of fantasy,’ he added, ‘who wouldn’t love to have the golden ticket?’
Staff and shoppers at Clifford’s Centra on Shandon Street in Cork City were celebrating last week after the store sold the winning ticket for Ireland’s biggest ever Euromillions jackpot.
The winner, rumoured to be from north Cork, made contact with the National Lottery in the days after the draw. It is the 18th Irish winner.
The jackpot was capped on June 6th once it reached the €250m maximum.
