Bandon’s mystery millionaire is likely to be local

SOMEONE in Bandon or the surrounding area has the champagne on ice as the rumour mill has gone into overdrive to discover who is West Cork’s newest millionaire.

The winning ticket in last Friday’s Euromillions ‘Ireland’s Only Raffle’ draw was sold in Bandon Books Plus in the Riverview shopping centre.

In fact, this was the second time in a week that this special raffle was won in Cork.

The Bandon shop – owned by former bank manager Gerry Fitzgerald – is no stranger to selling winning National Lottery tickets, having previously sold a Lotto Plus 2 top prize of €250,000 two years ago.

‘We’re absolutely delighted with the news that the €1m ticket was sold here. It was St Patrick’s Day two years ago when we sold our last major winner of a quarter of a million, but to think that someone who bought a lottery ticket in our store is now a millionaire, it’s astounding,’ said a delighted Carmel Hayes, manager of Bandon Books Plus.

‘We have a strong loyal custom from the local Bandon community who come to store in the Riverview Shopping Centre regularly whether they are buying some books or getting some everyday bits and pieces from our newsagents.’

Even though the winner of the ticket made contact on Wednesday with Lottery bosses, Carmel said she has ‘absolutely no idea’ who the winner was.

But she said she would guess that it’s a local.

‘That’s where most of our trade comes from but everyone at Bandon Books Plus would like to wish the winner all the best with their win.’