Navan shop-owner wins €5,000 for mystery customer

A lucky Telly Bingo ticket purchased at McAloon's Centra in Navan that went unclaimed led to shop-owner Bernadette McAloon stepping in to play while she began the search for the owner. As well as playing the bingo game, each ticket also has a number and a draw takes place on the TV show for one lucky ticket that has this number. The ticket owner then gets the chance to play the 'Phone Risk' game where they can win between €1,000 and €10,000. The National Lottery contacted McAloon's Centra to say that a winning ticket had been bought there but the owner had not come forward. Ms McAloon began her search, putting up posters and spreading the word on local and national radio to see if they could locate the owner. The National Lottery came to Centra and took a photo of Ms McAloon with her staff and this photo appeared on the television as she played the game live on air, over the phone. Ms McAloon won €5,000 for the mystery ticket-owner. And her efforts to find the owner paid off because when Ms McAloon phoned Lotto headquarters to see if the ticket was claimed before she went on the Gerry Ryan Show, she was told the owner had come forward. "When we heard, we said we'd try to find the owner and put a notice up and went on the radio and I had to play for them. I played the game over the phone on the Friday and won €5,000," said Ms McAloon. She said she really wanted to locate the owner because a lot of money was at stake and, if it was not claimed, it would go back to the National Lottery. "It was vital to find the person. It is a huge amount of money and I just thought I have to find them and try to find them before bins went out or it would be too late." The National Lottery told Ms McAloon that the winner was a regular customer who would be known to the owners of the shop but stopped short of telling her who it was. "I was delighted to do it and it is a nice few quid for them to win. We've been quite lucky here. Since we took over the shop six years ago, we have had two customers on 'Winning Streak' and two on the 'Telly Bingo'," added Ms McAloon.