Secret €16.7 million Lotto winner becomes talk of the town

The winner of a €16,717,717 lottery draw on Wednesday will need time to get over the “ginormity” of their windfall, according to the shopkeeper who sold the winning ticket.

The winner of the second-largest jackpot since the Lotto began in the UK in 1988 has not yet made contact with the National Lottery to claim the prize, but has been in contact with Pat Whyte – owner of the store in Dungarvan, Ireland, from where the ticket was purchased – on the basis of strict anonymity.

“While money is very important, it’s not everything and I think we’ve realised that over the last few years as a nation. That’s why the person is keeping things low key for now,” Mr Whyte said.

While he was letting nothing slip about the person’s identity, Mr Whyte could confirm that the winner is an individual and not part of a syndicate, is local to the Dungarvan area, and that it “couldn’t have happened to a nicer person”.

The shop owner had some advice for the lucky punter: “That person needs to take some time out, they’re not jumping into anything too fast,” he said.

“The money is great, it’s a great boost, but health and happiness are more important.”

Mr Whyte said there was “unbelievable excitement” in Dungarvan. He said his shop, located in the Dungarvan Shopping Centre, had seen an unusually high level of customers walk by yesterday as people fish for information about the town’s newest hidden gem – a secret millionaire.

“But there’s a great level of well wishes and a level of positivity as well that’s just fantastic,” Mr Whyte added.

A spokeswoman for the National Lottery said the individual had not yet been in touch to claim the jackpot, but that it wasn’t unusual for people to hold off as they come to terms with a windfall of this magnitude.

“Some people will be in touch soon after the draw, some people take a bit of time to get in touch, while some people wouldn’t contact us at all and will come straight in off the street – any which way the winner has 90 days to claim their prize,” she said.

She said that the winning ticket was a €6 Quick Pick and that two million tickets were sold for the draw.

The €16.7 million jackpot is now the second-largest Lotto win. In June 2008, a Carlow syndicate scooped €18.9 million.