‘It’s everybody’s dream to win twice’

Pat Broderick has always been a dedicated Lotto player. He has played the National Lottery game every week for as long as he can remember, putting €10 on the same numbers every week. Missing a week was a "very rare occasion". If he went on holiday, he still found a way to play his numbers.

You would assume that this would have stopped when Pat won over €7 million in 2011 after buying a ticket in a shop near his home in Kinsale, Co Cork, but Pat still plays every week. He didn't make many drastic life changes after he won. He still lives in the same house. Three of his four children have moved out, so he says he and his wife don't need much space. He did, however, quit his job as a postman a few days after he hit the jackpot.

The night he found out, he told a few friends over pints but swore them to secrecy, although he expected the news to eventually “come out in the wash”.

He delivered the post the next day and told no one, not even his sister who worked in the post office. “Not a word,” he says.

The following morning, it did come out. A reporter went to his house and took a photo that ended up in the media. He went to work for two more days, then went on a “permanent holiday”.

He and 25 family members and friends took a bus from Kinsale to Dublin to collect his winnings. They had drinks at the National Lottery headquarters, then went outside to face “a lot of photographers”. He was all over the following day’s newspapers, but Pat didn’t mind the publicity. “Once it was out, it was out. Once it got out at all, people were going to come after you.”

And did people come after him? He received a lot of letters from strangers asking for money. He says he has given money to family members and charities. He bought houses for his three daughters, paid off his mortgage and bought himself a nice car. He plays golf, fishes and gardens in his retirement – and, of course, he buys lottery tickets. “It’s everybody’s dream to win it twice,” he adds.