A US tourist stranded by Storm Ophelia won an incredible $295,000 (€250,000) on a scratch card.
Speaking anonymously to the Irish Independent the lucky winner said he’d actually won $235 (€200) the day before and, perhaps sensing a lucky streak, bought another one whilst waiting for his delayed home journey across the Atlantic.
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"I couldn’t believe my luck winning €200 and I thought, I’m not going to bring this home with me so I brought my friend Jimmy and his family out to dinner as it was supposed to be my last day in Ireland before I went home,” he said.
"Just before dinner I went into the same Daybreak and got another scratch card, scratched it and just couldn’t believe my eyes."I kept checking and checking it and after dinner I asked Jimmy to take a look and sure enough when I called the National Lottery they confirmed that I had won €250,000. I still cannot believe it!"
No stranger to Ireland, the lucky winner has visited 11 times before and joked that now he had no excuse not to make yet another return.
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On the flip side of it, Irish people in America have often won large sums of money too: in March a Bronx Irish barber, Michael Moriarty, won $7 million after picking up a scratch card on the way to pick up his daughter.
“I dropped off my laundry down the street and decided to stop into the gift shop and buy a Lottery ticket,” Moriarty said.
“I never played this ticket before so I was shocked when I realized I won the jackpot.”
A few years ago an even larger sum was won by a Cavan-born Brendan Riordan whose Win For Life Spectacular scratch-off lottery ticket saw him win an annual payment of $520,000 with a minimum payout of $10 million and potentially as much as $25 million.
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