Lotto Jackpot Winners Reveal Plans To Give Away Millions

The identity of a couple from Northern Ireland who landed almost £115million in the EuroMillions jackpot on New Year's Day has been revealed, along with their plans to dish out shares of the fortune to those closest to them.

Frances and Patrick Connolly, from Moira in County Down, revealed that they have already compiled a list of 50 family and friends to share their good fortune with, none of whom are aware of the money coming their way.

The couple have three daughters, and collected their cheque for £114,969,775.70 on Friday 04 January at The Culloden Estate and Spa, making them the UK's fourth biggest lottery winners.

Reflecting on the moments when they discovered their good fortune, Mrs Connolly recalled: "We don't really do excited, perhaps I raised my voice just a bit at the time when I found out, but we celebrated with a cup of tea and a hug.

"This is a massive sum of money and we want it to have a huge impact on the lives of other people we know and love as well as on our future too. This win gives us the chance to really make a difference for our family and friends.

"I always hoped we would win the lottery one day, but when we did, it would be just our luck that lots of others would win on the same day with the same numbers too, never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever win almost £115 million."

The pair have a direct debit set up to enter the National Lottery on each draw, but only participate in the EuroMillions when there's a large jackpot, and won the sum after purchasing a Lucky Dip which currently retails at £2.50.

10 other players took home £1m each in the draw.

Mr Connolly said the win felt "unreal".

"We really didn't know what to do or how to react and we didn't sleep a wink that night," he said.

"We rang Camelot at 8am in the morning to verify the win. Then it started to dawn on us that it was true even though it still hasn't really sunk in."



(JG/MH)