Two players came excruciatingly close to winning the €60million jackpot in last night's EuroMillions draw.
The two punters, who both bought their tickets in Co. Cork, have had an exciting start to their weekend.
Both managed to match five numbers and one lucky star in Friday night's EuroMillions draw, scooping a cool sum of €123,876 prize each.
The National Lottery have confirmed that the winning tickets, both Quick Pick selections, were sold at the Bandon Books store at the Riverview Shopping Centre in Bandon and at Gannon’s service station in Newmarket in north Co. Cork.
The two players narrowly missed out on scooping the €60,764,885 jackpot prize by one Lucky Star, which can be any number between 1-12.
There was no winner of the jackpot which now rolls to an incredible €70 million next Tuesday.
The Bandon Books store is no stranger to big EuroMillions wins, having previously sold a €1 million EuroMillions Raffle prize as recently as August 2020.
Carmel Hayes, operator of the Bandon Books store has appealed to all of her customers in Bandon to check their tickets to see if they are sitting on a EuroMillions fortune.
“What a way to start the weekend for one of our customers," she said.
"We got the call with the good news from the National Lottery last night and Bandon town has been absolutely buzzing since.
"As a retailer, there is an incredible sense of satisfaction selling a big winning lottery ticket to one of your customers.
"We’re getting a lot of hopeful locals coming in to check their tickets this morning so hopefully the winner will be aware of their win at this stage.
"With lockdown restrictions, it’s more than likely to be a local but whoever it is, we hope that they enjoy every bit of the win," she said.
There were over 72,000 prize winners in Ireland in Friday night's EuroMillions draw and the National Lottery is urging all of its players to check their tickets carefully.
They said those who played in Cork should do so especially, as they could be in for a nice surprise this weekend.
The winning EuroMillions numbers for last night's draw were: 04, 06, 09, 11, 44 and lucky stars 10, 11.
The winning ticket holders are advised to sign the back of their ticket and to get in touch with the National Lottery claims team on 1800 666 222 or email claims@lottery.ie and arrangements will be made for them to claim their prize.
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on all National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage and the Irish Language.
In total more than €5.8 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 33 years ago.
In 2020 alone, €254 million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.
