A LARGE KILKENNY family who won a €5.4 million Lotto jackpot have claimed their prize, the National Lottery has confirmed. 

The family syndicate, who decided to keep their collection private, claimed the €5,395,798 prize through an approved postal claims process which was introduced by the National Lottery due to the pandemic. 

The Dad who heads-up his family’s Lotto syndicate explained how he spotted his lucky numbers on a newspaper in his local shop. 

“We have been playing the exact same Lotto numbers for over 25 years so I could spot them from a mile off,” he said. 

“I was queuing up in the shop when I spotted them out of the corner of my eye on the top of one of the newspapers. It was that exact moment, I instantly knew that we had won over five million without even having to check the ticket.” 

After leaving the shop he said he summoned his family back home to break the good news to them “and it was honestly everything like how I imagined it would be”. 

“When I got through the door at home, I told them that I had something important to tell them and by the looks on their faces, I knew they were expecting some bad news. 

“Once I blurted it out, we honestly fell around the floor laughing and we haven’t been able to stop smiling since. It really is life-changing for all of us and we are going to enjoy absolutely every penny of this win as a family” he said. 

The winning ticket was purchased at DeLoughry’s Gala store on the outskirts of Kilkenny city on the day of the draw, 23 September. 

After two weeks of quiet celebrations, the family said they’ve have started making serious plans to ensure that their new found fortune goes to good use. 

“This will make a huge difference to our lives. The pandemic has been difficult for every household in the country and we are no different,” the winning dad said. 

“We’ve had just over two weeks to let the win sink in but now we can start making real plans for our winnings now that we have the cheque in our hands. We won’t be rushing into any silly spending sprees with new cars or any of that but the one thing we have all been looking forward to is visiting our own individual banks to pay off our mortgages. There really is no better feeling than that.”