Westmeath woman starts year on high note with €250k win

A lucky Westmeath woman bought a Christmas Millionaire Raffle ticket last week and then watched the draw live on RTE One on New Year's Eve to see her number pulled from the drum to win the €250,000 prize! "I switched the TV over to the New Year's Eve coverage and watched Brian Ormond draw the winning tickets. I wrote down the numbers and then checked my ticket. I thought I must have written them down wrong - I couldn't believe it!" said the happy winner. "We had to watch the draw back again on the RTE Player and check the National Lottery website to believe it was actually true! It was such a surprise!" The woman, who wishes to remain private, bought the lucky ticket (number 240 403) on Thursday 27 December in Tesco Shopping Centre, Ash Road, Mullingar. "I'll share the money with my family and perhaps I'll take a little holiday later in the year," she said as she collected her prize today at National Lottery offices in Dublin. The Millionaire Raffle draw took place on New Year's Eve and 2,236 cash prizes were available to be won, including a top prize of €1 million, a prize worth €250,000, and four prizes worth €100,000 each. Brian Ormond drew the top six winning prize numbers live on RTE One as part of the New Year's Eve The Gathering 2013, broadcast from College Green in Dublin. The holder of the €1 million winning ticket has not yet claimed their prize. The lucky ticket was bought in Sweeney's Newsagent, Supervalu Shopping Centre, Dungloe, Co. Donegal on Saturday December 15, 2012. The winning ticket number is 073 765. All winners have 90 days from the day of the draw to collect a prize. National Lottery good causes benefit from the sale of all National Lottery games, with one third of all sales (approx) going to fund beneficiary projects around the country, as designated by Government. Since the National Lottery was launched, over €4 billion has been raised for good causes.