Holder of €500k EuroMillions ticket sold in Athlone comes forward to claim prize

The lucky holder of a €500,000 EuroMillions Plus ticket sold in Athlone has made contact with the National Lottery in order to claim the prize.

On Wednesday, it was announced that the previous night's EuroMillions Plus top prize of half a million euro had been won by a ticket sold at Tuthills newsagents in the Golden Island Shopping Centre.

Today, a spokesperson for the National Lottery told the Westmeath Independent that the ticket holder had since been in touch.

"I can confirm that the winner of Tuesday night's EuroMillions Plus top prize worth €500,000 has made contact with our Claims Department, and that arrangements are being made for them to collect their prize," said Lottery spokesperson Sarah Ruane.

"The winner wishes to remain private," she added.

Earlier this week, Joe Callinan, the manager of the Tuthills shop, said he had been delighted to get the call telling him his store had sold the winning ticket.

"This is our first big win, so we're absolutely over the moon. We're a small little store located in the busy Golden Island Shopping Centre, so we're kept going!" he said.

"Locals have told me that the previous store that was here before sold a big win on a National Lottery ticket a couple of years back, so we must be in a good spot!

"We want to wish the winners all the best, and I'm sure they'll be having a very good Christmas with their windfall of cash," he added.

Tuesday night's €500,000 win in Athlone was the 24th EuroMillions Plus top prize win in Ireland in 2022.

The winning numbers in the EuroMillions Plus draw were: 2, 7, 12, 36 and 45.