Ordinarily a player must match five main numbers and two Lucky Stars to win the jackpot, but because the draw on Friday 8 February was a Superdraw, it rolled down to second tier winners when nobody won the jackpot outright. This gave 16 ticket-holders an equal share of the £96 million jackpot – specifically, £6,462,181.30 each.
Ryan had been feeling as if his luck was about to make him a winner for several days leading up to the draw. In fact, he was so convinced that he would succeed that he bought a total of eleven tickets as he went about his business as an Information Technology specialist.
“In the week leading up to Friday’s draw I was certain I would win,” Ryan explained. “I just couldn’t get it out of my head so on the day, while I was travelling on business, I bought tickets in Omagh, Strabane, Coleraine and Londonderry. The winning ticket was the last one of the 11 I checked by which time the numbers were in my head so I knew straightaway that I’d won. But despite my premonitions I still couldn’t believe it.”
Ryan doesn’t usually spend much on lottery games, so his confidence about the EuroMillions Superdraw was significant. “My only regular flutter is three lines on the Saturday Lotto draw so my 11 tickets were out of the ordinary for me,” Ryan said. “I really did have that lucky feeling. I was at a house party on Friday night and all my friends checked their tickets. But I never check my tickets on the night – I always like going to bed thinking I could wake up in the morning a millionaire.”