Lucky Irish lotto shop celebrating second big win

Staff at G O Stores in Limerick celebrate after it was confirmed they sold the winning ticket for Saturday’s Lotto jackpot worth £7.7m

The staff at what could be one of Ireland's luckiest shops is celebrating "a dream come true" after selling their second winning EuroMillions lottery ticket.

Tom Brosnan, manager of G O Stores in Limerick, said staff are in shock after selling a jackpot ticket worth £7.7m (€8.9m).

It comes almost 20 years after the shop sold a ticket worth £77m (€112m) to Garryowen woman Dolores McNamara in 2005 – one of the biggest lottery wins in Europe at the time.

The lucky winner of the latest jackpot has yet to come forward.

The shop was also the site of Ireland’s most famous EuroMillions win in 2005 when Dolores McNamara won a jackpot prize worth more than £77m

“I think we must be the luckiest shop in Limerick," Mr Brosnan told BBC News NI.

"The second time round makes it all the better.

"It’s been almost 20 years since we sold the winning EuroMillions ticket to Dolores but this win is just as magical."

He does not know who the lucky customer is, but thinks they might have been “passing through”.

“I’d be in like a rocket if it was me," he said.

"Whoever they are, we wish them the very best of luck."

The winner has not come forward yet to claim their prize

Ireland's luckiest shops and villages

G O Stores is not the first in Ireland to claim the title of 'luckiest shop' when it comes to winning lottery tickets.

O'Neill's, in Bridgend, County Donegal, closed in 2018 having held the title of being Ireland's second luckiest shop, after only the General Post Office outlet on Dublin's O'Connell Street.

It sold 12 jackpot-winning tickets between 1988 and 2018.

Meanwhile, Duleek, County Meath, claimed the title of luckiest village after there were two Irish Lotto jackpot wins there in October 2022 and March 2023, with both winning tickets sold within a few hundred metres of each other.

There were also four big winners in the north west in 2018, thanks to tickets bought in County Donegal.

A spokesperson from the National Lottery (Ireland) said G O stores became one of the "most famous neighbourhood stores throughout Europe" after selling their first winning ticket.

They are appealing to players to check their tickets and for the winner to come forward to collect the "life-changing" prize.