Staff are in 7th heaven after €5.3m Lotto sale

By Kieran O’Mahony

IT’S all about the number seven in Innishannon this week, as Barry O’Sullivan – the seventh son of a seventh  son – sold the seventh Lotto win of  2019.

It’s been an exceptionally exciting week for Barry and his staff since news broke that the €5,325,592 Lotto jackpot ticket was sold at their store last Saturday week, hours before the draw.

And on Tuesday the National Lottery confirmed that the ticket holder had already made  contact with them.

And the store owner announced this week that he would make an extraordinary gesture by sharing out the store’s National Lottery commission for selling the winning ticket amongst all his staff – both part-time and full-time.

 For selling the winning Quick Pick ticket, the shop will receive €15,000 from the National Lottery, and Barry is distributing this amongst his 35 staff, which includes some of his nieces and nephews. 

‘We have 11 secondary school students here and they will get €100 each, the 12 college students are getting €350 each, and the 12 full-time staff are getting €808 each. I’m getting zero as the maths didn’t work out for me!’ said Barry.

 ‘The win is amazing and fantastic for the whole area and I suppose until we find out who was the lucky winner, the mystery will continue,’ Barry told The Southern Star.

Barry – who has operated the Centra store for the past six years – said they would love if the winner turned out to be a local, but he added that whoever did win it, came into his shop and supported his business so he is ‘over the moon’ for them.

‘We’re absolutely delighted that someone has already come forward and contacted the National Lottery because there is nothing worse if a jackpot like this goes unclaimed after 90 days.’

As for being the seventh son of a seventh son, Barry says he is meant to have healing powers, but ‘isn’t too sure about that’ but perhaps it did bring Lotto luck to his store.

A National Lottery spokesperson confirmed that arrangements are currently being made for the claim to be made as soon as the winner is ready to collect their prize, likely to be in the coming weeks.

The winning numbers from last Saturday night’s Lotto draw were 06, 08, 13, 15, 21, 30 and the bonus number was 17.