A Wicklow man who loves walking went on a €22,000 stroll on the National Lottery Winning Streak TV game show last Saturday (30 March).
John McDonald from Newtownmountkennedy had fallen asleep in front of Winning Streak last Saturday evening when his brother Eddie shook him awake and said “That’s you” – pointing at the television screen, “They pulled out your name”. John, still in a sleepy haze, waited until the end credits until he saw his name and address in full before he started to believe it!
Since last weekend John says he has never seen so many good luck cards or have received so many calls to the house from well-wishers from his neighbours and friends in Newtownmountkennedy. He also admitted that he had been struggling to get a good night’s sleep in anticipation of his Winning Streak appearance last weekend.
John was born and reared in the Wicklow town of Newtownmountkennedy where he grew up with his parents and 13 siblings at home.
John is now retired but spend 43 years of working life working for Wicklow County Council, plying his hand at many things such as road maintenance and on the bin lorries among other things. Now retired John’s real love is walking. He is well known in the town as a great walker and can cover up to 18 miles a day.
His favourite places to walk is Glendalough and around Lough Tay. He is also an amateur photographer and keeps his trusty handheld camera with him when he takes his walks. John also likes soccer and is a Manchester United fan and in his younger years he has great memories of getting the boat over to games frequently.
A new-look Winning Streak scratch card is available in the 5,900 National Lottery retailers all over the country, where as well as the chance to appear on the Winning Streak TV game show if you get three stars, players will also be in with a chance to win some great cash prizes up to €5,000. The odds for those who purchase a Winning Streak to win is 1 in 1.76 to win a cash or three star prize. Players can also send their scratch card stubs into the National Lottery where each week, on the show, a player will be drawn as the winner of a Luxury Cruise for two valued at €5,000.
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on Winning Streak and all National Lottery games go back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts and heritage. In total more than €5.4 billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 32 years ago. In 2018 alone, the National Lottery raised over €227 million for such good causes.
