REVEALED: NI couple who scooped £115 million EuroMillions jackpot

The couple, from Moira in Co Armagh, became the fourth largest National Lottery winners ever after scooping an incredible £114,969,775 EuroMillions jackpot on New Year’s Day.

And, instead of starting their celebratins with a wild shopping spree, the couple decided their first priority was to write a list of family and friends to share their good fortune with - and it stands at over 50 lucky people who haven’t all heard the incredible news yet,

Frances said: “This is a massive sum of money and we want it to have a huge impact on the lives of other people we know and love as well as on our future too.

“This win gives us the chance to really make a difference for our family and friends.”

The Co Armagh couple are regular Lotto players but normally only buy tickets for EuroMillions when there is a big jackpot.

With Christmas behind them and a big jackpot on offer, 52-year-old Frances decided to buy som tickets for the New Year’s Day draw when they were out shopping together.

But, having forgot to pick up a ticket, their fortunes changed when Patrick, 52, decided to play online and purchased one ‘Lucky Dip’.

“I always hoped we would win the lottery one day, but when we did, it would be just our luck that lots of others would win on the same day with the same numbers,” Frances said.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever win almost £115 million.”

Patrick discovered those dreams had come true when he was on his computer checking emails at around 10pm while Frances watched TV in the same room.

He decided to check the numbers online just in case.

The numbers matched and he checked again - they still matched.

He sat back in his chair, turned the computer screen around and said: “Do you want the good news?”

Calmly, he turned to Frances and said: “We’ve won.”

Frances believed at first they’d won a few pounds, but Patrick explained again: “No, we’ve won.”

After staring at the numbers on the screen for what they said felt like a lifetime, they received an official email from The National Lottery confirming the win at around 1am. They were the only winnners, meaning they pick up an enormous £115 million.

“We really didn’t know what to do or how to react and we didn’t speak a wink that night,” Patrick said.

“We rang Camelot at 8am in the morning to verify the win. Then it started to dawn on us that it was true even though it still hasn’t really sunk in.”