Will 'give away' prize
Tesco Ireland, the Irish arm of supermarket group Tesco, is to give away a €500,000 (US$713,000) Euro Millions prize it won by accident on April Fool's Day.
The retail giant is understood to have won the huge prize inadvertently last week. A customer had asked for a €4 quick-pick ticket but was issued with a €9 ticket by mistake.
The customer was then issued a new ticket, while the €9 ticket was locked inside the cashier's register.
However, the following morning the National Lottery contacted the store in Navan, Co Meath, to tell them they had sold a winning ticket.
Tesco said in a statement that it was "delighted" its store in Navan sold the winning ticket for last Friday's Euro Millions draw.
It added that the outlet is checking the details at the moment.
"If we are lucky enough to hold the winning ticket we will be giving the money away," Tesco said.
Rather than being won in the primary Euro Millions drawing, the 'mistake' ticket won the Plus add-on game that is exclusive to Ireland. It is known locally as Euro Millions Two.
The Plus game features 5 numbers drawn from a pool of 50 numbers. The mistake ticket won the top Plus prize of €500,000 by matching all 5 numbers. Other prizes available in Plus include €2,000 for matching 4 numbers and €20 for matching 3 numbers.
Last Friday's winning Plus numbers were 1, 8, 36, 38 and 46.
Tesco has had Euro Millions success before.
In November 2009, Les Scadding bought his £45.5m winning ticket on a shopping trip to a Tesco store in Wales.
Limerick woman Dolores McNamara scooped the biggest prize in the competition's history after she won €115m in 2005.
Euro Millions changing
Changes were announced to the Euro Millions lottery last month, making even larger jackpots and creating more chances to win.
The changes include a second draw day on Tuesdays, as well as expanding the number of Lucky Stars, which should result in more rollovers and bigger jackpots.
The overall odds of winning a prize on the game will go from 1 in 24 to 1 in 13.
The total number of prizes every week in Europe expected to more than double from €1.9m a week to €4.6m.
Tickets for the new-look game are due to go on sale on Saturday May 7, with the first Tuesday draw taking place on May 10.
Thats the reason i always buy the MISTAKE ticket ...it feels like BAD karma Not to buy that ticket..just like the karme with the albany seven last week ...the guy was going to buy the tickets .as he was waiting on line he turned to also buy a candy bar befor buying the tickets .as he turned some other rude guy jumped the line in front of him...you see where i'm going with this ...its all karma...
Moral of the story.. if they give you a wrong ticket KEEP IT!
Yesterday at my local grocery store the clerk gave me a five line Powerball ticket with powerplay, I had asked for 5 two play tickets. I told him I did not want it and to please print out what I had asked for. He said no problem. I got home and got a sick feeling in my stomach that maybe it was the winner I left at the store so I went back to buy it (as they can't be cancelled once printed). The guy in line in front of me bought it....I nearly crapped myself in the fear it might be the winner. It wasn't but I learned my lesson....
From the OP:
The retail giant is understood to have won the huge prize inadvertently last week. A customer had asked for a €4 quick-pick ticket but was issued with a €9 ticket by mistake.
The Lottery Fairy was trying to help the player but they didn't realize it.
I agree, also I tend to buy the "Mistake" tickets that are sitting at the counter. Apparently, there are many people who refuse the "extra" tickets that are printed, then have the retailers print the correct amount. I would always buy mistakes. This isnt the first time a "Mistake" ticket has won a huge amount and it wont be the last
Good words to live by.
i didnt read the part that says: It happened on April Fools Day..chuckle...
someones´ a psychic....
If the ticket's a mistake
The ticket you must take.
And no, I didn't get that from Johnny Cochrane.
I like the rhyme.
Also how about the store giving the money to the employees of that store? charity begins at home, am I right?
Actually, I was thinking the same thing. Help your own workers out.
I bet it would do wonders for management-employee relations.
...as well as expanding the number of Lucky Stars, which should result in more rollovers and bigger jackpots.
They actually just made it much harder to win.
More rollover jackpots = less people win!
The jackpots were already big enough.
I'd much rather they made it EASIER to win the big prize, so more people win - they'd still get millions each!
A disappointing change driven by a greedy lottery company.
I'm with you Mark but you must be an Old Dog too.
The younger people want the bigger jackpots cuz they have a lot of years left to wait and see if they can win.
Me, I ain't got that much time. I say smaller pots, more winners.
maybe they mean the 2 draws a week , give you more chances to win. ie twice a week instead of once a week.
but yeah isnt the game hard enough?