Moate SuperValu staff celebrate

A €6 Quick Pick lottery ticket bought in Moate last week has earned a Westmeath man half a million euro. The €500,000 ticket was purchased in Buckley’s SuperValu on Tuesday October 15 and came up trumps in the Daily Million Plus draw that evening.

Caroline Cashen, the manager of the Moate SuperValu, said there was “a great buzz” in the store when news emerged that it had sold the winning ticket.

The ticket was the only winner of the top prize in the Daily Million Plus draw on that Tuesday evening.

“There was great excitement about it and the girls on the checkout were filling people in on the news. We were all wondering who won it and whether or not it was someone local,” she said. The Daily Million Plus game enters Daily Million lotto numbers into a second draw for an extra 50 cent per panel played.

The winner, who wishes to remain private, collected his prize yesterday (Tuesday) morning. In a statement issued by the National Lottery, the man said: “It took a long time for it to actually sink in... I checked the ticket over and over, I even checked it again this morning before I arrived here. I was in total shock and was walking around in a daze!” The winner said he was a regular Lotto and Daily Million player. When asked how he would spend his winnings he said, “I am going to enjoy the winnings for the time being. I’m in no hurry!”