While Carlow people are going bananas doing the lottery this week in the hopes of a third-time-lucky charm, the ten, former, Carlow Bank of Ireland workers including Carlow father-of-two, TJ Redmond, who won the €5.8 million jackpot, have not yet collected their winnings.
Tinryland native Ned Deane, who has been waiting 20 years for a winning ticket to go through his machines, said his lucky ticket store has been inundated with people doing the lottery.
“About five years ago, a guy from National Lottery told me, and you won’t believe this, but per head of population, Carlow is the luckiest county, so if you want to do the lotto, do it in Carlow, and if you want to do it in Carlow, do it in Deane’s,” laughed Ned who admitted the buzz on his shop floor was something else.
“There has been great interest here, it’s great to have a winner and it’s great to see TJ and his friends, who have been playing this syndicate for seven or eight years win. We really would love to tell them congratulations.”
Every Friday, like clockwork, TJ Redmond, the now-retired Oak Park resident, who worked as a bank manager in Carlow before heading to Graiguenamanagh several years ago, went into Deane’s newsagents to play the National Lottery. Every Monday, he came back to check the winnings.
“He was like that, as regular as clockwork. He was in shock, he went white on Monday when we told him there was a win! I understand the syndicate is made up of friends who have been playing it even though they are all in different branches now,” said Ned. There may need to be some time involved in gathering the syndicate together because, according to Bernadette, the National Lottery spokesperson, the winners have not yet collected their winnings but they still have 90 days to collect and don’t necessarily have to go public about their good fortune.
While Bank of Ireland told Carlow First that they cannot comment on the win and, in fact, did not know about the win until contacted by our reporters, said the lucky win deserved congratulation.
“We cannot comment on individual cases, because something like this is a personal endeavour, but we send congratulations to them,” said a spokesperson at Bank of Ireland headquarters. Carlow Bank of Ireland staff told Carlow First that they were not allowed to comment on the lucky win though there was a great buzz amongst customers in the branch on Wednesday.
“I think they won here, I’m hoping to lodge my money and get the luck rubbed off,” said one customer waiting in line outside the branch early on Wednesday morning. An employee at the Graiguenamanagh branch told Carlow First that despite Mr Redmond managing the branch for several years, the syndicate did not involve anyone from that branch.
Meanwhile, as he digested the news of his win on Monday, Mr Redmond went to Carlow’s Meals on Wheels to feed the elderly as he decided what to do with his half a million share of the jackpot. Ned Deane said if he had won it, he would have left the shop open and bought everyone a lottery ticket. “It’s a great lift for us, things had been a bit tough for us, you know it was even difficult for me to get to the All-Ireland on Sunday.” Because of that type of thing, and as a bit of a joke recently, Ned put the shop up for auction on E-bay for one euro. Already there have been numerous hits on the auction site since news of the luck of the shop has become public knowledge. “Everyone will be looking for a pot of gold in Carlow now!” Ned laughed conceding he wasn’t selling anymore! As the saying goes, it’s bad luck to give your luck away…
