The same Donegal family may have won the lotto TWICE on the same day.
National Lottery officials have confirmed that TWO Lotto Plus 2 winning tickets using the same number were bought in Letterkenny.
Each ticket scooped €250,000 on Saturday night’s draw and both were bought on Saturday.
Now locals in the town suspect the same family may have come into the massive double windfall by accident.
The two tickets were bought within a few hundred yards of eachother in two different shops – Mac’s Mace on the High Road in Letterkenny and The Paper Post on the town’s Main Street.
Paula McEvoy of the National Lottery told Donegal Daily it is most likely that the same family have used the same numbers and come up lucky twice!
“They were two separate tickets. One was a €4 ticket and the other was a €12 ticket and both had the same numbers.
“Neither were quick pix so it rules out the possibility that one might have just been a lucky dip. Both people used these numbers on purpose.
“I think the chance of having the same numbers come up in the same town would be very high but you just never know.
“Chances are it could be a husband and wife or a mother and daughter but we can’t say just yet,” she said.
The lucky winner or winners have 90 days to claim their windfall but so far nobody has come forward to claim the cash, added Ms McEvoy.
The lottery spokesperson revealed how another double winning lotto ticket used significant numbers in the life of Saint Padre Pio to scoop their windfall.
Owner of The Paper Post, Noel Boyle, said the odds of two strangers from the same town using the same numbers must be huge.
“We still don’t known who it is but isn’t it great for them? The chances of two completely different people doing the same numbers must be very slim,” he said.
The winning numbers of the Lotto Plus 2, which automatically has a prize of €250,000 were 4, 12, 19, 21, 27 and 29.
Eunan McIntyre, owner of the very busy Mac’s Mace, Shop and Delicatessen, said the winning ticket owner could be anyone but he was delighted for them.