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Ireland's Biggest Lottery Winners: Where are They Now?

Thanks to the Irish Lotto and the EuroMillions, Ireland has seen its fair share of multi-million Euro lottery wins over the years. Many of these choose to remain anonymous, keeping their newfound fortunes to themselves, but there are a small minority who decide to broadcast their success to the world.

When this happens the national media is always happy to tell us who these people are, what they do for a living and how they plan to spend their money. But a week later, they stop appearing in the news and we never hear from them again.

If you’re ever wondered what happened to Ireland’s biggest lottery winners then you’re not alone. We were just as curious, so we decided to hunt them down and find out what happened to them and their money.

Rita Power

In 1989 Rita Power became Ireland’s first ever lottery millionaire when she won £1.2 million. She was the wife of a farmer and together the couple owned a small number of cows, with barely a penny to their name.

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You might expect someone in that position to go crazy as soon as they see such a large sum of money, but Mrs. Power kept her feet on the ground and was very sensible with her money. Now aged 73, Rita, from Co Galway, gave large sums of money to family members, making sure they were as comfortable as she was.

Rita’s son opened up about the win in the decades that followed, claiming that his mother never lost touch with the life she had known for so long. She kept the same friends and the same lifestyle, and she even kept the same car, an old Ford Fiesta.

The Powers lived comfortably and debt free, and while they didn’t live the high life that so many lottery players dream of, they did make sure that they were comfortable financially and that their friends and family members could enjoy the same level of comfort.

Dolores McNamara

Dolores McNamara made national headlines back in August 2005 when she scooped a record breaking win on the Euromillions. The 50 year old collected €115 million, but she was so shocked on the day she collected her prize that she refused to speak to the press.

Her solicitor released a statement shortly afterwards saying that Dolores merely wanted to return to living her normal life, even with her newfound wealth. This only spurred the press on and for months they tried to interview her and snap pictures of her.

She was rarely seen out in public, but six months later she bought Lough Derg Hall, a huge house just outside of her hometown of Limerick, as well as houses for each of her children.

In the years that followed Dolores made some poor financial choices. She invested in a housing project in the US, only to have it seized after non-payment of taxes, and she invested in a doomed retail park in Limerick. She is also said to have bought over 100 homes in and around Limerick.

She only ever gave one interview about her win and that was to a local newspaper, but secrecy and poor investments aside, she seems to have lived comfortably.

Billy Comer

Mr Comer won nearly €2 million in 1994. He was a customs officer at the time and didn’t have a lot of money, but his brothers, who worked as property developers, understood his situation and likely suggested that he get his money in bricks-and-mortar, because that’s exactly what he did.

But it didn’t work out as well for Billy as it did for his brothers. He bought pubs in Galway, he invested in property overseas, and soon he had lost it all. He confessed that depression got the better of him when he lost his money and he was brought back down to earth with a shuddering halt.

He had some advice that future winners should keep in mind, “A million pounds isn’t an awful lot if you do the wrong things”.

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Gerard Murphy

Mr Murphy won €6.3 million on the National Lottery in 2015 and one of the first things he did was buy himself a new Transit van. It’s a far cry from a flash sports car, but it’s a new car nonetheless.

He is reported to have spent the years since his win living comfortably and looking for “the love of a good woman”. Like Rita Power, he seems to have focused on being financially secure as opposed to going crazy with his cash.

Vincent Keaney

Mr. Keaney could have done with taking Billy Comer’s advice, because he also made bad decisions and quickly lost the £1 million that he won in 1994. After winning this 7 figure sum he bought the dole office in a local town and turned it into a theme restaurant.

He had high hopes for his new venture, expecting to turn his sizeable investment into a fortune that would last a lifetime. But the restaurant wasn’t as successful as he hoped. He ended up mortgaging his home to cope with the debts and within a decade he had lost it all when the restaurant failed.

Don't Be One Of Irelands Biggest Lottery Losers

This may sound like a one-off and it’s easy to read these stories and think to yourself, “I would never do that” and “that’s a lot of money, how could they possibly spend it all?”. But when you haven’t seen that kind of money before and it suddenly lands in your lap, it’s tempting to go a little crazy.

That’s exactly what happened with many of Ireland’s biggest lottery winners and it’s what happens with the majority of lottery winners in general. According to one statistic, 70% of US lottery winners declare bankruptcy within two decades, and for a country that regularly pays out jackpots in the hundreds of millions from Powerball alone, that’s a difficult statistic to digest.

It’s the result of thinking the money will last forever, of spending big on houses and cars, of listening to bad advice and making bad investments. When you think about how lavishly some of these winners spend, and how much damage that lavish spending can do over years, it’s easy to understand this statistic.

Maybe Rita Power had the right idea—stay humble, keep your feet on the ground, and try to live comfortably rather than extravagantly.

 

Read some other great articles from Multilotto

Which is Irelands favourite lotto?

Can I play Powerball in Ireland

How to Play EuroMillions Online In Ireland

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