Winning €11m lotto ticket sold at local store in Cork suburb
Mount Staff Cantillon, National Lottery Shop Innes At Member Celebrates Cantillon; Oval Picture: Mccarthy The O’connor, Shane Magda Spar Valley, And Mac Today Sitarek, / Mark Gerard Storeowner Jim Rochestown, With Photography Cork
The store that sold this week's winning lotto ticket has been revealed.
The golden Quick Pick ticket which won the biggest Lotto jackpot so far in 2020 was sold at the Spar store in Mount Oval village in Rochestown, Co. Cork.
Owner of the store, Shane Cantillon, was overjoyed at the news that he had sold the €10.7m ticket.
Answering the phone to the National Lottery, Mr Cantillon said: “Please tell me you’re calling to let me know I’ve sold the winning ticket.”
The popular Cork retailer runs the local spar with his brother Mark, his father Greg, and an additional 30 local staff members.
Mr Cantillon said working with his family and supporting his local community has made the announcement even more special.
“My phone lit up last night and to my surprise, the National Lottery number came up. I was aware the winning Lotto ticket was won in Cork so I knew it could only be one thing – I must have sold the winning ticket. Anybody working in the retail trade will tell you that selling a winning lottery ticket to one of your own customers is the next best thing to winning it yourself. Working with my entire family in the business makes this win even more special.
"The ethos of the business is all about being local, supporting local communities and local suppliers and now one of our local customers is worth over €10m.
"2020 has been a tough year for everybody but knowing that somebody in the area may be €10.7m richer today is a huge buzz for us.
"We’re only a couple of weeks away from Christmas so I hope that it brings them and their family tremendous hope, joy and happiness for many, many years,” said the Cork shop owner.
Mr Cantillon said he had always promised his staff a celebration if they sold a big winning lottery ticket and wanted to thank them for their work after a difficult year.
“I am in a very lucky position that I have the most incredibly hardworking staff working for us. We have five stores throughout Cork and another one in Carlow and I have always promised the staff a huge celebratory night out if we ever sold a winning jackpot ticket.
"Once the end of Covid is in sight, it’s going to be a massive celebratory party for all of our 250 employees so I know that will give them something special to look forward to, once restrictions are lifted of course.”
This latest Lotto win is the eleventh jackpot win this year, with over €60m won in jackpot prizes alone.
In 2020, over €130m has been won in prizes in the Lotto game and includes 18 new millionaires which have been created in the Lotto and Lotto Plus games.
The National Lottery also confirmed that no winner has yet to come forward and are reminding all players in Co Cork to check their tickets.