Did you, by any chance, happen to buy a lottery ticket in Newport, Co Tipperary this weekend? If you did, have a good root around for it because it could be worth nearly €5 million.
On the other hand, however, the money could just as easily go unclaimed thanks to bumbling RTE producers, who displayed the wrong numbers for two Lotto Draws – the main lottery and Lotto Plus 2 – on Saturday night.
As a result, the potential winner of the €4.8 million jackpot may have torn up their ticket in disgust, not knowing that it could well be the most expensive piece of paper they have ever held in their hand.
Producers for the National Lottery Draw on RTE put up the wrong winning numbers for the two draws in the immediate aftermath of the live programme on Saturday night.
The mistake was quickly spotted, but wasn’t corrected until an hour later when a brief broadcast of a graphic with the correct winning numbers was shown just before the nine o’clock news.
An RTE continuity announcer said: On this evening’s live Lotto draw, the closing graphic displayed the Lotto and Lotto Plus 2 numbers incorrectly. Two further broadcasts, containing an apology and the correct numbers were made before midnight.
An RTE spokesperson said that the astonishing error was being investigated by programme chiefs and added: “It was a technical error in the studio.
“But the correct numbers were transmitted three times after that, once at 21.20, at 21.50 and 23.15. We don’t know yet which numbers were displayed incorrectly after the original programme. It’s being looked into.”
That explanation will hardly cut any dice with punters who might have thrown away a life-changing ticket after seeing the wrong numbers, while a thought also must be spared for the poor unfortunates who caught a glimpse of said wrong numbers and thought that they had won, only to have their hopes dashed minutes later.
Amazingly, the shop in which the ticket was purchased, Centra in Newport, Tipperary, was the scene of a similar episode last year after a winning ticket – albeit for a substantially lesser sum – went unclaimed.
“We sold a ticket for €350,000 last year that went unclaimed. I would be sick if that happened with this prize,” assistant manager Patrick Ryan told The Mirror.
“I heard about the wrong numbers being put out, I had told everyone that we had sold the winning ticket and I was worried that I would look like a right eejit.
News of the blunder is bound to have locals in the Tipperary town frantically diving into their rubbish in search of the elusive slip of paper, but a winner has yet to reveal themselves.
“When we sold the winning ticket last time there was a number of names that came out straight away but with this we have no idea yet. I would be fairly certain that the winner is a local,” Ryan added.
“I am surprised that we have not heard a name yet but it is unreal selling the winning ticket so close to Christmas – we did a fair bit of celebrating last night.”
So if you were in Newport over the weekend and popped into the Centra to buy yourself a ticket, have a good look and see if you can find a ticket with the actual winning numbers, which were 3, 10, 24, 26, 32 and 34.
We’ve already checked ours, but subsequently tore up the ticket bearing the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in disgust.
