It was a day of celebrations in Lottery HQ when regular Telly Bingo player Ann Murray visited the winners room to pick up her Snowball prize worth an incredible €60,000.
The Cavan woman also scooped the X Cross and Lucky line prizes in the Thursday 4th September draw which brought her total prize amount to €60,065.
After arriving to the famous winners room, Ann revealed that she is a regular player to the game but she almost missed out on getting a ticket for the game that day.
"I usually pop into Cronin's in Ballyjamesduff to buy my tickets but I got to the shop a little later than usual so I thought I might have missed my chance. Thank goodness I got there just in time or I might not be sitting here at all. I have been playing for a few years now and I even play with my parents too. There was some tension when it got down to the last two numbers though. I was willing Declan on to call my numbers out and then he said them - I was waiting on 23 which was followed by my last number 13. I was jumping up and down screaming when he called my last number and my mother was telling me to calm down."
With the shock and excitement, Ann admitted that she did not realise just how much she won straight away. "I thought I had won the Full House prize so I was jumping for joy thinking I was €10,000 better off. I was even telling everyone that was what I had won. But within the space of about a half an hour, I got a call from a friend who had been playing as well and she said about Cronin's selling a winning ticket and I said I know, it was me and I told her how thrilled I was with the €10,000. It was then that she quickly corrected me and told me I didn't win that, I won €60,000. The show ends at 1pm and this was all before 2pm so it was a whirlwind afternoon that day."
Following the win, which was almost two weeks ago, Ann has since inspired friends to start playing the popular game. "A friend of mine called me up the other day and said he started playing after he heard my news and he got four corners on his first play. There's been lots of talk about the win and I have been getting lots of congratulatory calls."
Ann is now making her plans for what to do with her win and dreaming big about what she could do next. "I have had the ticket hidden under shelves at home ever since the win so I was happy to finally take it out and hand it over here today. The first thing that I would love to do is get a new front door to be honest and then head off on a trip in Ireland to Bundoran, we love it there. My big dream is to do a big holiday to America though so watch this space, let's see if that happens!"
The Cavan woman has taken the title of 16th Telly Bingo Snowball winner of the year so far. Telly Bingo players hoping to be the next big winners are reminded that the game show is on three times a week on RTÉ One at 12.45pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with tickets costing €2.50.
