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Dublin Live
25-06-2025
- Business
- Dublin Live
Irish EuroMillions winner paid terrifying price for becoming country's 58th richest person
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info The largest ever EuroMillions jackpot was won in Ireland in recent days – with the lucky ticket holder now €250million richer. And the National Lottery has since confirmed the golden ticket was sold by a retailer in Cork, with a spokesperson saying they were giving the winner the necessary time to 'let this life-changing news sink in'. But a woman called Dolores McNamara, who used to be a part time cleaner, can attest to the fact that the absurd amount of money may never sink in. She was once the record holder, after winning a cool €115million on the EuroMillions back in 2005. Next month will even mark the 20 year anniversary from when she scooped the eye-watering prize. But despite the elation, the money has also been a poisoned chalice, and below we look back at her extraordinary story. Dolores, a mum-of-six, was not in the privacy of her home in Limerick when she realised she had suddenly become the 58th richest person in Ireland at the time. (Image: PA) Instead, the then 45-year-old was sat in her local pub, the Track Bar, and she put her €2 lottery ticket on a table and told one of her friends: 'Check that for me.' The draw was being shown live on the television and within seconds Dolores was in floods of tears. A barmaid, who was there at the time, once said: 'Then the drink started flowing and the champagne was poured and we had a great night celebrating. Dolores is a real nice woman and none of her friends believe this will change her drastically.' After it became national news, her solicitor released a statement, saying their client had a 'desire to return to normality as soon as possible'. He added: 'She is absolutely determined that her feet and the feet of her family, will remain firmly on the ground.' Unfortunately for Dolores, returning to 'normality' was never really an option, and the riches came with certain complexities. However, what it did do was purchase a huge and extravagant house called Lough Derg Hall. The €1.75m property in Killaloe, Clare, with stunning lakeside views, reportedly was once of interest to acting superstar Robert De Niro. (Image: Press Association) She also snapped up six homes in the Limerick area for her six kids – Dawn, Gary, Kim, Kevanne, Dean and Lee. Despite the joys of being able to set her loved ones up for life, the endless cash brought darker consequences, including Dolores having to purchase 24/7 security at her home. This was after multiple sinister kidnapping threats and it was also reported that her children each had a panic button in case an ugly scenario happened. Her son, his partner and their child were also said to have moved home to stay in a private location after a kidnapping plot where a local gang was rumoured to be planning an abduction. Dolores meanwhile was also involved in a road crash in 2015 and the case continued for years until she finally got a settlement of almost €8,500. Heartbreak followed in recent times after her husband, Adrian, a bricklayer who had invested in his own racecourse because of the lotto scoop, died in 2021. He was only in his 60s and he passed away after an illness. (Image: PA) Dolores is now 64 and the grandmother-of-nine tends to avoid the public eye as much as possible. Speaking to the press is not something Dolores does, despite the huge interest in her win, and her only interview came with her local Limerick Leader paper. She said: 'The question that has been asked of me most frequently was how I felt about my win and my answer is still the same - I feel disbelief and shock. Buying a ticket for that Euro jackpot was a spur of the moment decision. I'd actually gone into the shop to buy a top-up for my phone and just asked the lady for a Lotto ticket.'
Sunday World
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Irish winner of €250m EuroMillions jackpot beats previous record-breaking amount by millions
Whomever has plucked the magic numbers of 13, 22, 23, 44 and 49 and Lucky Stars of 3 and 5, has set a new bar for winning in Ireland The massive €250m EuroMillions jackpot won by an Irish ticket holder has beaten the previous record-breaking amount by millions Whomever has plucked the magic numbers of 13, 22, 23, 44 and 49 and Lucky Stars of 3 and 5, has set a new bar for winning in Ireland Since the game started in 1988, there have been a number of impressive jackpots with the biggest winners claiming multimillion-euro prizes. But the €250m win puts the €175m won by a family syndicate from Co Dublin in 2019 in the shade. They had held the record for almost 14 years after the most famous lotto winner and previous record holder Dolores McNamara hit the headlines on August 4, 2005. The Limerick woman arrived at Lotto HQ to collect a cheque for the biggest lotto jackpot in European history at the time. The moment the 65-year-old woman found out she scooped €115m in the EuroMillions on Friday, July 30 was caught on camera as a friend took what became an iconic photo. A clearly stunned Dolores declined to speak to the press who had gathered at National Lottery headquarters on the day she picked up her cheque. Her solicitor later issued a statement and spoke about her 'desire to return to normality as soon as possible' and how she was 'absolutely determined that her feet and the feet of her family, will remain firmly on the ground'. It later emerged how she was watching the draw on television in her local pub, the Track Bar, in Garryowen, Co Limerick when she pulled her €2 ticket out of her handbag. After throwing it on the table and asking one of her friends: 'Check that for me', she downed a brandy before breaking into tears. A barmaid described the scene as 'the drink started flowing and the champagne was poured'. 'We had a great night celebrating. Dolores is a real nice woman and none of her friends believe this will change her drastically.' It was estimated that Dolores, who became the 58th richest person in Ireland at the time, would earn up to €3 million a year in interest alone. Dolores has kept a low profile and is rarely photographed or seen out in public but six months after her win she spent €1.7million on Lough Derg Hall - an enormous house set on 38 acres just outside the village of Killaloe. Dolores additionally purchased houses in and around the area for her six children, Dawn, Gary, Kim, Kevanne, Dean, and Lee. Dolores's win dwarfs that of the next top five biggest winners including the €16.7m scooped by an anonymous player in Co Waterford in 2010. In April of that year, a lucky punter from Dungarvan bought an Irish Lotto ticket and claimed more than €16m after the jackpot had rolled over for more than a month. The store owner of the shop the winning ticket was bought in claimed it 'couldn't have happened to a nicer person'. In 2008, a Dan Morrissey quarry syndicate from Co Carlow won €18.9m with a €32 Quick Pick ticket that landed each member €1.1m. A slightly larger €19m win was scored by an anonymous winner from Co Mayo in 2022 after an incredible 62 rollovers Another syndicate – this time in the EuroMillions – saw 22 bus drivers from Dublin secure €23.8m in 2016. They later drove their buses down to the Lotto headquarters on Abbey Street to collect their winnings before some of them went back to work. News in 90 Seconds - June 18th When Frances and Patrick Connolly won the EuroMillions jackpot of €127m on New Year's Day 2019, they bought 1,000 presents for patients hospitalised on Christmas Day, set up the Kathleen Graham Trust in Northern Ireland, and provided hundreds of tablet computers to people isolated during the coronavirus lockdown. The previous Irish lottery record of €175.4m in the EuroMillions was struck by a family syndicate from The Naul in North Co Dublin, two months on from that win in Co Armagh. The family, well known in the area for two generations, bought the winning ticket from a Daybreak shop. One family member, upon realising the size of the win, put the winning ticket in an Argos catalogue and under her mattress to keep it safe! A family spokesperson said: 'We are a very close family. We meet every week and we take holidays together every year. This is a dream come true for us. We don't want this to change our lives. What is so exciting is that we will be able to share this money with children, grandchildren, and extended family members.'
