THERE were jubilant celebrations at Lotto HQ today as Donegal farmer Odhrán Doherty (23) became Ireland’s newest Lotto millionaire after he claimed the €1 million top prize from the Lotto Plus 1 draw from last Saturday with a ticket gifted to him from his dad Liam.

The father and son are very close and work together on the family farm at The Glebe in Letterkenny.

The lucky Donegal man is the 14th millionaire created since Lotto and Lotto Plus game enhancements were introduced last September. The game improvements – which saw the top prize in Lotto Plus 1 double from €500,000 to €1 million – have resulted in a 50% increase in winners, with over five million winners sharing almost €80 million in prizes since the September launch.

Odhrán – who arrived at Lotto HQ in style in a white Hummer with family and friends – said he was completely shocked when he checked the Lottery results on Saturday night and realised that he had won the huge sum of money. Odhrán was going to a party in a local bar that evening and called into the adjoining shop to check his ticket.

His dad Liam said: “He rang me and said the ticket had said he was a winner. He checked with the guy in the shop but they said it was too big for them to tell him how much he had won.

 

“He told me I had better come out. I thought it was an early April’s Fool joke or something. When I got out to him he came out of the party with his hands above his head and said he was a millionaire.

“I took the ticket off him for safe-keeping and we realised later there was only one winner of the one million euro.”

 

A former pupil of Woodlands National School and St Eunan’s College in Letterkenny, Odhrán is big into farm machinery and a new vehicle could well be on the cards with his new-found wealth.

The lucky Donegal man is the 14th millionaire created since Lotto and Lotto Plus game enhancements were introduced last September. The game improvements have resulted in a 50% increase in winners, with over five million winners sharing almost €80 million in prizes since the September launch.

 

Want to share that winning feeling? Play Lotto. Wednesday’s jackpot is heading for an estimated €5.5 million. Play in store, on the National Lottery App or online by 7:45pm by Saturday evening for your chance to win.

Almost 30 cent in every euro spent on National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes all over Ireland in the areas of sport, health, arts, culture, heritage, youth, community and the Irish language. Last year alone more than €227 million was raised for Good Causes, the equivalent of €620,000 a day.