Galway street cleaners sweep up with €5.5 million Irish lotto jackpot

'The Magnificent Ten,' a ten-person syndicate of street cleaners in Galway City, has won an Irish Lotto jackpot prize worth over €5.5 million.

The syndicate, which was formed almost 25 years ago, collected the €5,541,001 jackpot after purchasing the winning Irish Lotto ticket at the Newspoint newsagent in the Galway Shopping Centre on Wednesday, August 3. 

The group revealed that they had previously considered changing their regular numbers, while one member considered leaving the syndicate last Christmas. 

"The lads thought about changing the numbers at one stage, but decided against making any changes," one member of the syndicate told the Irish Mirror after collecting the winnings at Lottery HQ in Dublin. 

"Just last Christmas, one member mentioned that he was going to leave the syndicate, but he was persuaded to stay on and was told it was only the price of a pint and a newspaper.

"Luckily, he stayed as the syndicate winning numbers appeared on the 3 August lottery draw." 

"Someone said that we cleaned up and we did, but us lads clean up every day by ensuring the streets and parks in Galway city are spotless," another member of the syndicate said.

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Equally excited is Billy Shearer, the owner of Newspoint, who told the Irish Independent: “I’m absolutely over the moon and delighted. We’re a small newsagent open about a year and this is our first ever big win.

“Our shop motto is, ‘local newsagent for local people’, so we’re hoping that it’s a local person or syndicate that’s won the big prize.

“There’s a great buzz and atmosphere around the town. Something like this really lifts people’s spirits.”