Two lucky Irish punters scooped almost half a million euro between them in Saturday's Lotto draw.
A Kerry player bagged the top prize of €250,000 on the Lotto Plus 2 draw while a Cork ticketholder came agonisingly close to hitting the €4,091,940 Lotto jackpot, but won €243,365 after matching five numbers and the bonus ball.
Together, they won a whopping €493,365.
The Kingdom punter bought their golden ticket in Garvey's Supervalu Tralee, Lower Rock Street in Tralee, Co. Kerry.
The winning Lotto Plus 2 numbers were: 05, 12, 20, 33, 42, 43 and the bonus number was 15.
Meanwhile, a lucky player in Cork won a cool €243,365 in the main draw as they matched five numbers and the bonus.
This ticket was purchased at the Mace store in Mayfield Shopping Centre, Silversprings, Cork City.
The numbers from last night’s main Lotto draw were: 01, 23, 27, 33, 42, 44 and the bonus was 31.
It's the second stroke of luck for the Rebel county in 24 hours after a EuroMillions Plus prize, worth €500,000 was won on Friday’s draw in Mahon.
Lotto bosses are now appealing for all players in Cork and Kerry to check their tickets.
A spokesperson for the National Lottery said: “With the days getting shorter and a bit colder, these two prizes will brighten up the lives of two players down in the south of the country.
"We are advising all our Kerry and Cork players to carefully check their Lotto tickets and if you do happen to be one of those two lucky ticketholders, be sure to sign the back of the ticket, keep this valuable piece of paper safe and contact our prize claims team on 01 836 4444 and we will make arrangements for you to come to the National Lottery to get your prize”.
There were no winner of the Lotto jackpot, which will roll to an estimated €4.5 million for the next draw on Wednesday 16 October.
