Centra store in Cork City revealed as €250m EuroMillions winning ticket seller
Clifford's Centra in Shandon Street, Cork City has been revealed as the seller of last Tuesday's €250 million EuroMillions jackpot win.
The top prize was the biggest ever jackpot win in Ireland.
The winner, who has not yet been named, became Ireland's 18th EuroMillions jackpot winner since 2005, and they also became the
National Lottery's
13th millionaire of 2025.
The National Lottery has also confirmed that the winner has made contact with its prize claims team.
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Dolores McNamara: Whatever happened to the €115m lotto winner?
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'We are absolutely thrilled to have heard from our EuroMillions winner,' said Emma Monaghan, spokesperson for the National Lottery, on Thursday.
'At this point, our priority is to give them the necessary time and space to make arrangements and let this life-changing news sink in.'
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Residents of Shandon Street are pondering whether the ticket was bought by a neighbour, someone from a different part of the Rebel city or a blow-in who felt lucky. Local man Paul is not resting on his laurels and purchased a ticket for tomorrow's Lotto in the luckiest store in Ireland. 'This is for tomorrow night, hopefully. It will be a big smaller but hopefully in the winner,' he laughed. Paul hopes someone from the locality won the eye-watering prize. 'It's brilliant and hopefully it was somebody local won it. Spread the love a bit, you know,' he added. Anne O'Sullivan is a till operator at Clifford's Centra, a role she has had for over 26 years and she said lottery products are very popular among customers. 'We open at six in the morning for the last seven months and it started to pick up a few months ago. There is a lot of people coming from work and going to work doing the lottery. ADVERTISEMENT 'It could be a syndicate, but we do sell a lot of lottery, scratch cards and the lotto,' she said. Ms O'Sullivan said the buzz inside is 'fabulous'. Sean O'Keeffe, also from Shandon said the win is 'unbelievable.' 'Look, it's unbelievable for the area and I hope someone local won it. And it was bought from no better shop,' he said. The shop sold a €100,000 winning ticket on New Year's Eve to a local customer, a moment that shop owner Ted Cllfford said must have "started our winning streak". "It's huge, it's definitely going to be the hottest day of the year on Shandon St," he said. Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Clifford, who is the third generation to run the shop, said it was "fantastic news" to receive yesterday and that they were "proud to be part of the community". Mr Clifford said he had "no idea" who had won the big prize because so many customers ought tickets in the run-up to a draw, but he sent his "warmest congratulations" to the winner and their family. His shop gets €25,000 in prize money due to selling the winning ticket, with Mr Clifford planning a "big celebration" with his staff. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content The contact came after days of speculation as to who is the winner of the life-changing amount. This person is the 18th winner in Ireland of the EuroMillions jackpot since it started in 2004. Cian Murphy, CEO of the National Lottery, said today is a celebration for both the National Lottery and Cork. 'Today is a day of celebration for both the National Lottery and for the community here in Cork based around Clifford's Centra here on Shandon Street. 'As you can see, it's a carnival atmosphere here, and people are absolutely delighted, it is a fantastic day for us,' Mr Murphy said. The €250m winner became the 13th millionaire in Ireland this year through the National Lottery, and Mr Murphy said the winner will go through the same process. 'This is a much larger amount of money, but it is exactly the same process,' he said. The advice for the lucky winner is to sign the back of the lottery ticket, keep it safe and bring it to the National Lottery HQ. They also advise people to get independent financial advice. 'This is a life changing amount of money and it's very important that people get very good independent financial advice,' he concluded. Speaking yesterday after the winner made contact, National Lottery spokesperson Emma Monaghan said; "We are absolutely thrilled to have heard from our EuroMillions winner. At this point, our priority is to give them the necessary time and space to make arrangements and let this life-changing news sink in.' The record-breaking win surpasses the €175m record for the largest cheque ever presented to an Irish player, in February 2019. The winning numbers this week were: 13, 22, 23, 44 ,49 and the Lucky Stars were 3 and 5. The National Lottery has urged the winner 'to stay calm, get independent legal and financial advice and contact us as soon as they can'. Dolores McNamara from Limerick was Ireland's first EuroMillions winner, scooping more than €115m in July 2005. The jackpot is capped once it reaches €250m. In total, more than 92,200 players in Ireland won prizes in the EuroMillions and Plus games on Tuesday night.
