Lottery record books were re-written yesterday in two countries 10,000 km apart from each other.
The €175 million Euromillions Jackpot was won by a single ticket sold in Ireland. It is the largest ever lottery win in the country’s history.
Ten thousand kilometers to the south, the R232 million South African Powerball jackpot was won by a single ticket creating South Africa’s largest lottery winner ever.
Here’s what we know so far about each of these historic wins that took place on Tuesday, February 19, 2019.
Irish Luck crashes the Irish Lotto App
Excitement about the Euromillions jackpot has been rampant throughout Europe since the beginning of February.
A pre-announced Euromillions Superdraw with a guaranteed €120 million jackpot took place on February 1.
The €175 Euromillions Jackpot being contested for on Tuesday was the culmination of that very Superdraw jackpot rolling over a total of five times.
The Irish National Lottery announced on its Twitter account, “RECORD BREAKING WIN! #EuroMillions Players of Ireland – Check your tickets! Someone just matched all numbers & stars on tonight’s draw winning a massive €175,475,380 and set a new record for the biggest win in National Lottery history.”
Ireland’s official Lottery App crashed for awhile from the barrage of traffic trying to check their tickets.
The winning numbers were 1, 8, 18, 19, and 39, with the bonus numbers 7 and 9.
The win eclipses Ireland’s previous record lottery win of €115 million won in 2005 – also in Euromillions.
photo credit: Marty Whelan
We Have a Winner!
One day removed from the draw, the holders of the winning ticket already have come forward to claim their prize.
An overjoyed family syndicate from north Dublin have been announced as the lucky winners.
A spokesperson from the family said: “This is unbelievable. It will take us some time to get our heads around this win and to organize ourselves.”
“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.”
With the winning ticket now deposited at the National Lottery for safekeeping, arrangements are being made for the prize claim which should be paid out in a few weeks.
Miriam Donoghue of the National Lottery in Ireland announced that the shop that sold the ticket – Reilly’s Daybreak – will receive a €25,000 bonus check for selling the winning ticket.
Meanwhile in South Africa
South Africa’s Powerball game had rolled over without a winner for 24 draws in a row and on Tuesday the record lottery jackpot going into the draw was estimated at R225m.
Excitement among lotto enthusiasts throughout the country was at peak levels having watched the jackpot climb to the highest it had ever been.
The official announcement came Tuesday night on Twitter when the lottery announced – “We have a #PowerBall winner of R232,131,750!”
On Wednesday, the same Twitter feed announced Cape Town as the location of where the winning ticket was sold. “Congratulations Western Cape! You have a new #Powerball jackpot winner.”
Not much else will be known about this win until somebody comes forward to claim their prize. We will keep an eye out.
Tuesday’s winning numbers in South Africa’s Powerball game were 14, 18, 21, 26 and 35 with the Powerball 5.
The R232 million win is substantially more than the previous high-water mark of R145 million won in August 2018.
What’s next?
It’s always fun to speculate when and where the next big record lottery jackpot will come from.
There are always major jackpots climbing worldwide.
The biggest jackpot in play currently is American Powerball – which is estimated at $282 million. If it rolls over tonight, we should cross the $300 million threshold.
American Powerball’s record jackpot is $1.6 billion.
The jackpot I am watching closely right now is the Irish Lotto. It has just rolled over for an EIGHTEENTH time and the estimated jackpot now sits north of €10 million.
The Irish Lotto’s record jackpot is €18.9 million.
Good Luck in all of your lottery endeavors!