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<\/p>\nShe bought the ticket – he lost it<\/p>\n
16:06, 04 Feb 2026Updated 16:10, 04 Feb 2026<\/p>\n
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National Lottery HQ in Dublin(Image: Collins)<\/p>\n
A Kerry<\/a> couple are looking forward to the holiday of a lifetime after winning half a million from Lotto numbers bought in a much-loved Cork city<\/a> shop. But they nearly missed out on the prize altogether after losing their ticket just hours after finding out they won.<\/p>\n The lucky ticket was purchased at Con’s Shop<\/a> on the Northside – previously run by legendary shopkeeper Con O’Leary before his passing in 2024<\/a> – on the day of the EuroMillions Plus draw on 27th January. The \u20ac500k prize was claimed by a Kerry woman at the National Lottery <\/a>HQ in Dublin this week, who said she purchased her numbers on a whim while visiting family in Cork. Later that evening, she scanned the ticket on her app and saw a big message that read: “You’ve won big, contact the National Lottery.”<\/p>\n She said: “Surprisingly, I was very calm, although at first I had no idea what I\u2019d won, so there was a bit of scrolling and scrambling through the draw results to figure it out!” The National Lottery<\/a> always advises that winners put their tickets somewhere safe to make sure there’s no stress about losing them. And this Kerry woman’s partner took things one step further – by hiding it so well that even he couldn’t find it.<\/p>\n That same night, he had to “pull the cupboard apart” until it finally turned up – and he admitted the last thing he wanted to do was tell his partner it went missing at all. Only once the ticket was safe and sound, he came clean about the near-miss and the pair picked a new hiding spot together – their sock drawer. It was a solid choice, but far from the strangest we’ve seen over the years. Our personal favourite has to the Limerick couple who buried their Lotto ticket in the garden<\/a> after finding out they’d won \u20ac5.5m.<\/p>\n The Kerry woman revealed they’re eyeing up a big holiday overseas after their latest windfall. She said: “We\u2019re heading to Asia to do some travelling. It’s been on our bucket list for so long, so we can\u2019t wait to finally book it!”<\/p>\n