(UPI) An Ireland man who bought his first-ever lottery ticket said the $551,575 winner nearly ended up in the trash at his local store.

The Dublin man told National Lottery officials he was with his daughter at the Centra store in Rathfarnham, Dublin, when she bought a EuroMillions ticket for the Oct. 8 drawing and suggested he do the same.

"I had never bought a lottery ticket in my life so I just got what she got. I put it in my wallet and it was there until this morning. I never thought of checking it until I was in another shop and was speaking to the guy behind the counter when I pulled out the ticket," the winner told Dublin Live.

The clerk told the man there had been a EuroMillions jackpot winner in Britain.

"He told me the big prize was won over in the UK so I was about to throw it in the bin," the winner said.

He said he decided to scan the ticket just in case.

"I just scanned it in the machine and it told me to contact the National Lottery," he said. I just ran out of the shop and rang the wife. She left work and we checked the numbers and surely enough the numbers all matched!

The lottery novice collected a $551,575 prize.

"I cannot believe my luck -- it's the very definition of beginners luck. Imagine if I had just threw the ticket away? To be honest, I don't think the news has sunken in just yet," he said.

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