Waking Ballinrobe

Waking Ballinrobe


Lottery fever sweeps through south Mayo town

Ciara Galvin

Couches, washing machines, glove compartments and DVD cases are being checked across Ballinrobe and the surrounding areas in what is known as the ‘check-the-last-place-you-would-ever-think-of-looking approach’.
Why? Well there are 315,637 reasons. Local newsagent Martin Murphy – proprietor of Martin Murphy’s Day Today News – got the call from above (National Lottery headquarters) last week to inform him that his shop sold a winning EuroMillions ticket last week worth a handsome €315,637. The draw in question was held on Tuesday night last, May 6.
News travelled fast. Text messages, phone calls and Facebook posts implored locals, and visitors to check their belongings for the elusive yellow slip bearing the chosen five numbers and one lucky star.
“Who d’ya think won it? I heard it’s a man from Finney”. “Well I heard it’s one of the Welsh gang that were in town for the wedding” and similar conversations are among the most common ongoing in Ballinrobe.
However, wires are being crossed on all sides as potential winners of the EuroMillions draw have been mixed up with potential winners of the other win in Martin Murphy’s last week: the Midwest Radio Bingo jackpot of €8,100.
If you happen to have bought a new car in the last week, or even booked a holiday to sunnier climes, the consensus is that you’ve probably won the lottery and are splashing out on tick. Even couples going out for a bite to eat are being eyed suspiciously if they order a bottle of sparkling plonk. Everyone is a suspect. “Is it you? You’ve been away foreign a few times these last few weeks,” one ‘tactful’ farmer asked this reporter at the weekend.  
With 84 days left to claim the prize, could we be seeing the plot for a film unfold in front of our eyes? A sequel to ‘Waking Ned Devine’, where a whole town pretends to cover up the death of a lottery winner in order to keep the cash for the community?
Well maybe that’s stretching it, but with the sudden interest in the contents of public bins around the town, perhaps the Tidy Towns committee could work it to their advantage in the current Litter League campaign.
So, if you’re travelling through Ballinrobe this week and notice people trawling through skips and peering into drains, take solace, they haven’t gone mad. It’s just lottery fever.

It could be you…
The numbers of last Tuesday night’s EuroMillions draw were 5, 19, 24, 31, 37 and the two lucky stars were 1 and 9.
This is the third substantial lottery win to come to Mayo in the last three months. Staunton’s Costcutters in Castlebar sold a €15 million EuroMillions ticket last month, and a syndicate in Ballyhaunis picked up a €258,237 windfall last March.
One lucky Mayo person also scooped €20,000 in last week’s Prize Bond draw. The winner purchased the Prize Bond in 2012.