A LUCKY Irish bachelor who scooped a €500,000 EuroMillions Plus prize today says he's open to "sound advice" about spending his winnings.
Philip Kavanagh, from Bunclody in Co. Wexford, collected his eye-watering cheque at National Lottery HQ in Dublin today.
The 46-year-old bought the winning Quick Pick ticket at the EuroSpar store in Market Square, Bunclody on January 9.
Mr Kavanagh, who runs his own engineering firm, says he has “no real plans” for the money just yet.
I still can’t believe it!" he said today.
"When I got up on Wednesday morning, I turned on the Teletext to check my EuroMillions ticket from the previous night.
"There they all were, five of my numbers all in a row and I just refused to believe that I had won it.
Wexford man Philip Kavanagh wins €500,000 in Euromillions Plus Draw. See tomorrow’s @IsFearrAnStar pic.twitter.com/WSHMvA7Msr
— Laura Colgan (@Laura_Colgan) January 15, 2018
"I quickly grabbed my ticket and popped down the town and the whole place was already buzzing with the news of the win so I knew it had to be me."
Mr Kavanagh was joined at Lotto HQ by his siter Eilish Doran and his niece and nephew, Amy and John Doran.
Cracking open the bubbly to celebrate his win, Mr Kavanagh said he plans to return to work as soon as tomorrow.
"There has been a lot of celebrating ever since! I am going to enjoy today with my family and friends but tomorrow, I will be getting straight back into work in my business to bring some normality back to my life," he said.
"It’s a very daunting amount of money to win but at the moment I have no real plans.
"I’ll be taking some time out and getting some sound advice before I start spending!"
