Gifted scratch card turns into €30,000 payday for lucky Kentstown man

A lucky Kentstown man was among a group of National Lottery winners who made their way to Lotto HQ in Dublin this week after scratching his way to a €30,000 top prize on a Cashword Doubler Scratch Card.

The winning ticket was bought at Centra, Garden City, Ashbourne, and, as it turns out, was never even meant as a gamble. The Kentstown winner revealed the Scratch Card had been given to him as a gift the previous weekend.

“I still can’t believe it —it’s very surreal,” he said in the National Lottery’s Winners Room.

“I was sitting at the kitchen table when I scratched the card. I immediately called my partner over to show her. She wouldn’t believe me, even though it clearly said €30,000 right in front of us!” he laughed.

The Kentstown man said he plans to use his prize money to buy a new van and save the rest for the future, calling the windfall “a life-changer” that came completely out of the blue.

The win adds another chapter to Meath’s long history of lottery luck from big EuroMillions hauls to local Scratch Card surprises and is sure to have players across the county checking their own tickets a little more closely this week.

Elsewhere, winners from across the country also turned up to claim prizes from a range of games.

A Dublin man collected €19,706 from the EuroMillions Match 5 draw on October 3rd, after his father reminded him to check his ticket bought in Mount Merrion. Meanwhile, a Tallaght woman was left stunned to discover that she had been sitting on a €45,005 Telly Bingo Snowball win for more than three weeks before realising her good fortune.

The National Lottery has also reminded players that its new EuroDreams game continues to offer a boosted €30,000-a-month-for-30-years top prize until it is won. The special promotion, which began earlier this month, increases the usual top prize from €20,000 per month and will stay in place until a player matches all six numbers plus the “Dream” number.

So far, Ireland has seen one EuroDreams Tier 1 winner — an online player from Wicklow — along with eight Tier 2 winners from Dublin, Kerry, Cork and Wicklow.

Tickets for tonight’s draw can be purchased in-store, on the National Lottery app, or online at lottery.ie

Nearly 30 cent of every euro spent on National Lottery games goes to Good Causes across Ireland. In 2024 alone, €239.3 million was raised for community, youth, health, sport, and cultural projects nationwide with many Meath initiatives among the beneficiaries.