Ticket sales 'set to soar' with 'guaranteed to go' Lotto this weekend

‘It could be you, but it will definitely be someone,’ is the not so catchy Lotto mantra this weekend with the guaranteed ‘will be won’ event this Saturday, January 15.

The National Lottery confirmed that one or more Lotto players will win the current record-breaking €19.06m Lotto jackpot this weekend.

A National Lottery spokesperson said: “We know that most of our Lotto players would like to see the €19m jackpot won, so we are delighted to be able to make this announcement”.

On the night of Saturday, January 15, if the ‘will be won’ Lotto jackpot is not won outright, the full value of the jackpot prize will flow down to the winner(s) of the next winning prize tier.

Some Cork shopkeepers have said they had noticed a slight lull in sales over the past few months as the lotto has gone unclaimed and Kevin Herlihy of Herlihy’s Centra stores, said they expected a surge in sales on Friday and Saturday, ahead of the big draw.

A National Lottery spokesperson added: “While this current Lotto jackpot rollover is truly unprecedented, and has generated so much excitement and participation in the Lotto game, the National Lottery is now pleased to announce that this ‘will be won’ event will take place on January 15th. In addition, the National Lottery will operate the same ‘will be won’ event going forward, with Lotto jackpots guaranteed to be won no more than five draws after the cap has been reached.” 

The current Lotto jackpot has been rolling since Wednesday, June 9 and has remained capped at €19.06m since Saturday 2nd October. Due to the capped Lotto, the additional funds allocated to the jackpot have been flowing down to the lower prize tiers in each of the subsequent draws.

Over 300 Lotto players have benefited during this time from additional prizes worth over €23.9m as prize funds have been boosted at the Match 5 + Bonus and Match 5 tiers.

A National Lottery spokesperson added:

“Since the Lotto jackpot reached the €19.06 million cap last October, we have seen winners at lower prize tiers benefitting from the prize roll down of approximately €23.9 million, the biggest winner of all has been the Good Causes Fund which will benefit directly from €53 million in funding from this Lotto roll cycle alone.

Over the past number of months, we have worked with our technical suppliers and an independent review team to introduce this ‘will be won’ draw to the game… This promises to be the biggest and most exciting night for Lotto players in Ireland in the history of our game.”

The National Lottery has also confirmed that a total of 17 new millionaires were made by the Lotto game in Ireland in 2021. They include five Lotto jackpot winners, nine Lotto Plus 1 top prize winners of €1m and an additional three winners of the Match 5 + Bonus prize who won in excess of €1m due to the flow-down of the jackpot prize fund for the capped €19.06m jackpot roll.