National Lottery (Ireland)
Encyclopedia
The National Lottery is the state lottery
of Ireland
. It was founded when the Oireachtas
passed the National Lottery Act, 1986 to support initiatives in the areas of sport and recreation, health and welfare, national heritage and the arts, and the Irish language
. Since gaming operations began on 23 March 1987, over €3.6 billion has been raised for these causes. In 2009, 3,794 retail agents sold National Lottery products across the country. Two-thirds of Irish adults report that they regularly play National Lottery games. Lottery spending per capita in 2009 was €183, down from €190 in 2008.
. The company holds a licence to operate the lottery on behalf of the Minister for Finance
, who has ultimate authority in issuing or revoking the lottery licence, in overseeing gaming operations, and in distributing lottery proceeds.
The National Lottery Act, 1986, stipulates that the lottery licence must be reissued under a competitive-bid process at least once every ten years. The current licence was granted to An Post National Lottery Company on 26 June 2001, to cover the period from 1 January 2002 until 31 December 2008. The government has extended the current licence until 31 December 2011 and is inviting bids for a new licence to take effect on 1 January 2012. The tender competition is open to companies from the 27 member states of the EU, as well as EEA member states Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The National Lottery's instant-ticket services are currently provided by a contractor, GTECH Ireland, a wholly owned subsidiary of GTECH Corp.
243.7 million for distribution to good causes, bringing the total raised since the inception of the lottery to over €3.6 billion.
Total National Lottery sales during 2010 were €772 million, down just over 5 percent on the previous year's sales of €815 million. A total of €438.3 million was distributed in cash prizes. The lottery's operating costs were €108.4 million, including €48.1 million paid to retail agents in commission and bonuses.
s. Since then, the National Lottery has expanded its product line to include the Lotto family of games, the Monday Million and All or Nothing draws, television bingo, televised game shows, regular "Millionaire Raffles," and participation in the transnational EuroMillions
lottery. Tickets and scratch cards are sold by a network of agents around the country. In March 2009, the National Lottery also began offering players the opportunity to play key games such as Lotto, Lotto Plus, and EuroMillions online. By the end of 2009, 6,000 registered players had generated €744,000 in revenue from online sales.
In 2008, 55 percent of the National Lottery's revenue came from Lotto games, 20 percent from scratch cards, 17 percent from EuroMillions games, and 8 percent from other games.
All cash prizes won in National Lottery games are paid out as tax-free lump sums. All prizes in Monday Million, Lotto, All or Nothing, and EuroMillions games must be claimed within 90 days of the applicable drawing dates. No minor under the age of eighteen years may purchase tickets for or claim prizes in any National Lottery game. Winners have the right to remain anonymous.
The first drawing of Lotto, the National Lottery's flagship lottery game, was held on Saturday, 16 April 1988. Lotto has since produced two spinoff games, Lotto 5-4-3-2-1, which began in 1997, and Lotto Plus, which began in 2000. Lotto and Lotto Plus draws have always been televised live by Ireland's public service broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann. The draws are made at approximately 7:58pm and broadcast on the RTE 1 channel each Wednesday and Saturday
The minimum play in Lotto has always been two lines of six numbers. At its current cost of €1.50 per line, the minimum cost of a Lotto ticket is €3, making the game one of the world's most expensive lotteries to enter. (By comparison, EuroMillions can be played for €2, the British National Lottery
can be played for £1, and many lotteries in the United States, including Mega Millions
and Powerball
, can be played for $1.)
In addition to regular cash prizes, the National Lottery will occasionally announce special prizes for specific Lotto draws. These have included sports cars and Valentine's Day diamonds for match-5+bonus winners, €2,500 holiday vouchers for match-5 winners, and guaranteed prizes of €100 for match-4 winners. The National Lottery often adds extra money to the Lotto jackpot on bank holiday
s and at Christmas
, and sometimes announces a doubling of all prizes other than jackpots.
containing thirty-six balls. Players could win a share of a guaranteed £
250,000 jackpot by matching all six numbers, or win smaller prizes by matching four or five numbers. If no winning ticket was sold, the jackpot rolled over for the next draw. Drawings continued each Saturday night until 30 May 1990, when the National Lottery introduced a midweek Lotto draw on Wednesday nights. Lotto draws have been held twice weekly since that time.
In a 6/36 lottery, the odds of matching all six numbers and winning the jackpot are 1 in 1,947,792. At Lotto's initial cost of £
0.50 per line, all possible combinations could be purchased for £
973,896. This left Lotto vulnerable to a brute force attack
, which happened when the jackpot reached £
1.7 million for the May 1992 bank holiday
drawing. A 28-member Dublin-based syndicate, organized and headed by Polish-Irish businessman Stefan Klincewicz, had spent six months preparing by marking combinations on almost a quarter of a million paper playslips. In the days before the drawing they tried to buy up all possible combinations and thus win all possible prizes, including the jackpot.
The National Lottery tried to foil the plan by limiting the number of tickets any single machine could sell, and by turning off the terminals Klincewicz's syndicate was known to be using heavily. Despite its efforts, the syndicate did manage to buy over 1.6 million combinations, spending an estimated £
820,000 on tickets. It had the winning numbers on the night—but two other winning tickets were sold, too, so the syndicate could claim only one-third of the jackpot, or £
568,682. Match-5 and match-4 prizes brought the syndicate's total winnings to approximately £
1,166,000, representing a profit of approximately £
310,000 before expenses.
Klincewicz later appeared on the television talk show Kenny Live
and wrote a self-published lottery-system book entitled Win the Lotto.
To prevent a scheme such as Klincewicz's from happening again, the National Lottery changed Lotto to a 6/39 game later in 1992, raising the jackpot odds to 1 in 3,262,623. The first Lotto 6/39 drawing was held on 22 August 1992. To compensate for the longer jackpot odds, the National Lottery doubled the starting jackpot to £500,000 and added a "bonus number" to the drawings. Whereas players previously needed either a match-6, match-5, or match-4 to win, prizes were now also awarded for match-5+bonus, match-4+bonus, and match-3+bonus.
would not abandon Lotto when the 6/49 British National Lottery
began operations on 14 November 1994. At the same time, the National Lottery introduced computer-generated "quick picks" as an alternative to marking numbers on paper playslips. Some retailers now only offer the quick-pick option.
For draws beginning on 26 September 1998, the National Lottery increased the cost of a line of Lotto from £
0.50 to £
0.75. At this time it also doubled the game's starting jackpot to £
1 million and increased most of the game's smaller prizes by 50 percent.
With the introduction of the euro
currency on 1 January 2002, the cost of a line of Lotto became €0.95, and the starting jackpot became €1.269 million (the euro equivalent of £
1 million). For draws beginning 1 September 2002, the price of Lotto was rounded to €1 per line, and the starting jackpot was raised slightly to €1.35 million.
economic boom. As property prices and the cost of living escalated rapidly, particularly in Dublin, a €1.35 million starting jackpot was no longer seen as offering the transformed lifestyle promoted in lottery advertising. In 2003, the largest Lotto jackpot was €5.6 million, with the jackpot won 39 times out of the year's 105 draws. The year 2004 had a largest jackpot of €6.9 million, but only seven other jackpots over €4 million. The year 2005 produced a jackpot of €7.4 million, but only seven other jackpot wins over €3 million. Given these small jackpots and relatively few rollovers, players were increasingly lured away from the game by the higher jackpots available in EuroMillions
, sales of which rose by 145 percent in 2006.
In November 2006, the National Lottery changed Lotto to a 6/45 game in order to create bigger jackpots and combat falling ticket sales . It made the starting jackpot a guaranteed €2 million, increased the match-5+bonus prize to €25,000 (up from €12,000), introduced a match-3 prize of €5, and increased the price of a line of Lotto from €1 to €1.50. The company said that the structural changes were designed to produce about twenty Lotto jackpots of €5 million and over each year, and at least one jackpot over €10 million. The first 6/45 draw was held on 4 November 2006. The impact of the changes was felt almost immediately when a jackpot of €7.5 million, the highest for many years, was produced less than two months after their introduction.
Although the Consumers Association of Ireland criticized the National Lottery for these changes, calling the 50 percent Lotto price increase "extraordinary," the restructuring of the game has been hugely successful. In 2007, sales of the core Lotto game rose 40.2 percent to €357.6 million, their largest ever single-year increase. In 2008, sales rose by a further 6.6 percent to €381.4 million but fell in 2009 to €336 million.
The current odds of winning the Lotto jackpot are 1 in 8,145,060. The odds of getting a match-5+bonus are 1 in 1,357,510; the odds of a match-5 are 1 in 35,724; the odds of a match 4+bonus are 1 in 14,290; the odds of a match-4 are 1 in 772; the odds of a match-3+bonus are 1 in 579; and the odds of a match-3 are 1 in 48.
The National Lottery switched Lotto to a 6/45 game in November 2006, and the longer odds produced several jackpots in excess of €15 million. The game's largest ever jackpot of €18,963,441 was won on 28 June 2008 by a syndicate of sixteen work colleagues at the Dan Morrissey (Ireland) Ltd quarry and concrete plant in Bennekerry, Carlow
. On 14 April 2010, the second-largest Lotto jackpot of €16,717,717 was won on a ticket sold in Dungarvan
, County Waterford
. The third-largest jackpot of €16,390,239 was won on 23 October 2010, and the ticket was sold in Donnybrook
in Dublin.
The largest unclaimed Lotto jackpot is £
2,713,334 (€3,445,934). The one winning ticket for the 30 July 2001 drawing was sold in Coolock
, Dublin, but its holder failed to come forward before the ticket expired at the close of business on 26 September 2001.
0.25 per line, players could enter their Lotto numbers in an additional 6/42 drawing for a fixed, non-rolling jackpot of £
250,000. The first Lotto Plus drawing took place on 25 October 2000.
In 2002, the National Lottery added a second Lotto Plus drawing, renamed the drawings Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2, and raised the cost of Lotto Plus to €0.50 per line. The jackpots were fixed at €300,000 and €200,000 respectively. The first drawings for Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 took place on 1 September 2002.
In November 2006, when Lotto adopted a 6/45 matrix, the National Lottery raised the Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 jackpots to €350,000 and €250,000 respectively. The cost of Lotto Plus remained at €0.50 per line.
As with the main Lotto game, Lotto Plus players can win smaller cash prizes for match-5+bonus, match-5, match-4+bonus, match-4, and match-3+bonus. For a match-3 in Lotto Plus 1, the winner receives a €3 scratchcard
. A match-3 in Lotto Plus 2 wins a €1 scratchcard. The odds of winning these respective prizes are the same as for the main Lotto game.
Sales of Lotto Plus rose by 8.8 percent in 2008, to €109 million, but fell in 2009 to €97.5 million
The National Lottery joined the transnational EuroMillions
lottery on 8 October 2004. The EuroMillions Draw takes place each Tuesday and Friday and is broadcast on RTE Two on Tuesday and RTE One on Friday. Since then, several EuroMillions jackpots have been won or shared in Ireland:
Irish sales of the core EuroMillions
game fell from €145.3 million in 2006, to €118.7 million in 2007, to €109 million in 2008, and to €105.7 million in 2009.
Sales of Plus were €33.1 million in 2008 and increased to €34.4 million in 2009.
channel at approximately 20:28 every Monday night. The odds of matching the six main numbers and winning the €1 million top prize are 1 in 3,262,623.
The game also offers fixed prizes of €10,000 for a match-5+bonus (odds: 1 in 543,771), €500 for a match-5 (odds: 1 in 16,993), €100 for a match-4+bonus (odds: 1 in 6,797), €25 for a match-4 (odds: 1 in 439), €10 for a match-3+bonus (odds: 1 in 329), and a €3 scratchcard for a match-3 (odds: 1 in 33). The first Monday Million drawing was held on 29 September 2008, with Eileen Farrelly from County Monaghan
scooping the inaugural €1 million jackpot.
Although the Monday Million jackpot is not split among multiple winners, as is the case with Lotto and EuroMillions, the National Lottery has placed a fixed prize limit of €5 million on each Monday Million draw.
Sales of Monday Million were €25.4 million in 2009. There were nine winners of the €1 million top prize.
each night and also displayed through an animated draw on the Lottery website. The game had generated sales of €3.4 million by the end of 2009.
The €1 million and €100,000 winning tickets were announced on RTÉ One
on 26 August 2008, during a live broadcast from the Rose of Tralee
festival. (The full list of winning ticket numbers was published the following day on the National Lottery's website). During the broadcast, host Derek Mooney
stated that the winning tickets had actually been drawn earlier that day at the National Lottery headquarters in Dublin. This lack of transparency caused controversy, especially given the coincidence that one of the winning €1 million tickets had been sold in the town of Tralee. National radio stations hosted animated discussions of the issue.
The National Lottery held a second Millionaire Raffle over the Christmas period 2008. To avoid the controversy associated with the previous raffle, the winning tickets for the €1 million and €100,000 prizes were drawn on live RTÉ television during the channel's New Year's Eve broadcast.
Four Millionaire Raffles were held during 2009. For the Christmas 2009 draw, the game was expanded to include additional features such as early bonus draws, an additional €1 million top prize and a bigger prize fund.
Telly Bingo is broadcast on RTÉ One
on Tuesdays and Thursdays and repeated during their late night schedule. Liz Bonnin
presented the show for many years before Shirley Temple Bar
became the regular host in 2001. Since 2004 the show has been presented by Declan Buckley
and Nuala Carey
. From 9 September 2010 there are 3 draws on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
games on offer during 2007, ranging in price from €1 to €10, and offering instant cash prizes up to €100,000. Sales of instant scratchcard games rose 5.8 percent to €170.2 million in 2008 but fell to €163.8 million in 2009.
since 1990, the game shows have proven very popular, often featuring among the channel's top-rated programmes.
The National Lottery's flagship game show Winning Streak
debuted in 1990 and screens weekly between September and early June. A summer companion programme Fame & Fortune
was launched in 1996 and ran through the months of June, July, and August until it was replaced in 2007 by The Trump Card
. That programme received negative reviews and disappointing ratings, and was cancelled after its first season. A replacement programme, The Big Money Game
, aired for the first time on 14 June 2008.
National Lottery game shows paid out over €14 million in prizes during 2007.
In 2009, the National Lottery and TV3 began producing the Irish version of Deal Or No Deal
. This is the first time a National Lottery game show has been produced outside RTÉ. As with the RTÉ game shows, contestants become eligible by playing an associated scratch card game.
, it ran for 3 seasons.
Waking Ned
(known as Waking Ned Devine in North America), a comedy film set in a tiny rural village and based on a fictitious winner of the Lotto.
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. It was founded when the Oireachtas
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas , sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...
passed the National Lottery Act, 1986 to support initiatives in the areas of sport and recreation, health and welfare, national heritage and the arts, and the Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
. Since gaming operations began on 23 March 1987, over €3.6 billion has been raised for these causes. In 2009, 3,794 retail agents sold National Lottery products across the country. Two-thirds of Irish adults report that they regularly play National Lottery games. Lottery spending per capita in 2009 was €183, down from €190 in 2008.
Administration
Since its inception, the National Lottery has been administered by the An Post National Lottery Company , a subsidiary of Ireland's semistate postal services provider An PostAn Post
An Post is the State-owned provider of postal services in the Republic of Ireland. An Post provides a universal postal service to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union...
. The company holds a licence to operate the lottery on behalf of the Minister for Finance
Minister for Finance (Ireland)
The Minister for Finance is the title held by the Irish government minister responsible for all financial and monetary matters. The office-holder controls the Department of Finance and is considered one of the most important members of the Government of Ireland.The current Minister for Finance is...
, who has ultimate authority in issuing or revoking the lottery licence, in overseeing gaming operations, and in distributing lottery proceeds.
The National Lottery Act, 1986, stipulates that the lottery licence must be reissued under a competitive-bid process at least once every ten years. The current licence was granted to An Post National Lottery Company on 26 June 2001, to cover the period from 1 January 2002 until 31 December 2008. The government has extended the current licence until 31 December 2011 and is inviting bids for a new licence to take effect on 1 January 2012. The tender competition is open to companies from the 27 member states of the EU, as well as EEA member states Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The National Lottery's instant-ticket services are currently provided by a contractor, GTECH Ireland, a wholly owned subsidiary of GTECH Corp.
Finances
Proceeds from the National Lottery are paid into the National Lottery Fund, an account kept at the Central Bank of Ireland, from which funds are distributed to private and public projects by the Minister for Finance. In 2010, the National Lottery raised €Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
243.7 million for distribution to good causes, bringing the total raised since the inception of the lottery to over €3.6 billion.
Total National Lottery sales during 2010 were €772 million, down just over 5 percent on the previous year's sales of €815 million. A total of €438.3 million was distributed in cash prizes. The lottery's operating costs were €108.4 million, including €48.1 million paid to retail agents in commission and bonuses.
Marketing and branding
The National Lottery advertises heavily on Irish television and radio, and in print media. In 2008, the company undertook a €6 million rebranding campaign, introducing a new signature color (lime green) and a new logo (a lime green–coloured star with a smiling face) with the goals of unifying its branding across its products and giving the National Lottery a more youthful, fun image. The new branding extended from the company's lottery machines and kiosks to its playslips, scratchcards, tickets, and website.Games
The National Lottery began gaming operations on 23 March 1987, when it launched its first scratchcardScratchcard
A scratchcard is a small card, often made of thin paper-based card for competitions and plastic to conceal PINs, where one or more areas contain concealed information which can...
s. Since then, the National Lottery has expanded its product line to include the Lotto family of games, the Monday Million and All or Nothing draws, television bingo, televised game shows, regular "Millionaire Raffles," and participation in the transnational EuroMillions
EuroMillions
EuroMillions is a transnational lottery, launched on 7 February 2004 by France's Française des Jeux, Spain's Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, and the United Kingdom's Camelot. The first draw was held on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris...
lottery. Tickets and scratch cards are sold by a network of agents around the country. In March 2009, the National Lottery also began offering players the opportunity to play key games such as Lotto, Lotto Plus, and EuroMillions online. By the end of 2009, 6,000 registered players had generated €744,000 in revenue from online sales.
In 2008, 55 percent of the National Lottery's revenue came from Lotto games, 20 percent from scratch cards, 17 percent from EuroMillions games, and 8 percent from other games.
All cash prizes won in National Lottery games are paid out as tax-free lump sums. All prizes in Monday Million, Lotto, All or Nothing, and EuroMillions games must be claimed within 90 days of the applicable drawing dates. No minor under the age of eighteen years may purchase tickets for or claim prizes in any National Lottery game. Winners have the right to remain anonymous.
Lotto Games
The minimum play in Lotto has always been two lines of six numbers. At its current cost of €1.50 per line, the minimum cost of a Lotto ticket is €3, making the game one of the world's most expensive lotteries to enter. (By comparison, EuroMillions can be played for €2, the British National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
can be played for £1, and many lotteries in the United States, including Mega Millions
Mega Millions
Mega Millions is a US multi-jurisdictional $1 lottery game. Since it replaced The Big Game in May 2002 , Mega Millions' advertised jackpots have started at $12 million, paid in 26 yearly installments , increasing when there is no jackpot winner...
and Powerball
Powerball
Powerball is an American lottery game sold in 44 jurisdictions as a shared jackpot game. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association , a non-profit organization formed by an agreement with lotteries. Powerball is a game whose advertised jackpot starts at $20 million and can roll into...
, can be played for $1.)
In addition to regular cash prizes, the National Lottery will occasionally announce special prizes for specific Lotto draws. These have included sports cars and Valentine's Day diamonds for match-5+bonus winners, €2,500 holiday vouchers for match-5 winners, and guaranteed prizes of €100 for match-4 winners. The National Lottery often adds extra money to the Lotto jackpot on bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
s and at Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, and sometimes announces a doubling of all prizes other than jackpots.
Lotto 6/36: 1988–92
In Lotto's introductory 6/36 format, six numbered balls were drawn from a lottery machineLottery machine
A lottery machine is the machine used to draw the winning numbers for a lottery.Early lotteries were done by drawing numbers, or winning tickets, from a container...
containing thirty-six balls. Players could win a share of a guaranteed £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
250,000 jackpot by matching all six numbers, or win smaller prizes by matching four or five numbers. If no winning ticket was sold, the jackpot rolled over for the next draw. Drawings continued each Saturday night until 30 May 1990, when the National Lottery introduced a midweek Lotto draw on Wednesday nights. Lotto draws have been held twice weekly since that time.
In a 6/36 lottery, the odds of matching all six numbers and winning the jackpot are 1 in 1,947,792. At Lotto's initial cost of £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
0.50 per line, all possible combinations could be purchased for £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
973,896. This left Lotto vulnerable to a brute force attack
Brute force attack
In cryptography, a brute-force attack, or exhaustive key search, is a strategy that can, in theory, be used against any encrypted data. Such an attack might be utilized when it is not possible to take advantage of other weaknesses in an encryption system that would make the task easier...
, which happened when the jackpot reached £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
1.7 million for the May 1992 bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
drawing. A 28-member Dublin-based syndicate, organized and headed by Polish-Irish businessman Stefan Klincewicz, had spent six months preparing by marking combinations on almost a quarter of a million paper playslips. In the days before the drawing they tried to buy up all possible combinations and thus win all possible prizes, including the jackpot.
The National Lottery tried to foil the plan by limiting the number of tickets any single machine could sell, and by turning off the terminals Klincewicz's syndicate was known to be using heavily. Despite its efforts, the syndicate did manage to buy over 1.6 million combinations, spending an estimated £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
820,000 on tickets. It had the winning numbers on the night—but two other winning tickets were sold, too, so the syndicate could claim only one-third of the jackpot, or £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
568,682. Match-5 and match-4 prizes brought the syndicate's total winnings to approximately £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
1,166,000, representing a profit of approximately £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
310,000 before expenses.
Klincewicz later appeared on the television talk show Kenny Live
Kenny Live
Kenny Live is an Irish weekly chat show on RTÉ that was hosted by Pat Kenny. The show debuted in 1988 and aired every Saturday night, except during the summer months, directly after the main evening news...
and wrote a self-published lottery-system book entitled Win the Lotto.
Lotto 6/39: 1992–94
Lotto 6/42: 1994–2006
Lotto became a 6/42 game on 24 September 1994, which made the jackpot odds 1 in 5,245,786. The National Lottery made this change to generate bigger rollover jackpots, partly so that people living near the border with Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
would not abandon Lotto when the 6/49 British National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
began operations on 14 November 1994. At the same time, the National Lottery introduced computer-generated "quick picks" as an alternative to marking numbers on paper playslips. Some retailers now only offer the quick-pick option.
For draws beginning on 26 September 1998, the National Lottery increased the cost of a line of Lotto from £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
0.50 to £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
0.75. At this time it also doubled the game's starting jackpot to £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
1 million and increased most of the game's smaller prizes by 50 percent.
With the introduction of the euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
currency on 1 January 2002, the cost of a line of Lotto became €0.95, and the starting jackpot became €1.269 million (the euro equivalent of £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
1 million). For draws beginning 1 September 2002, the price of Lotto was rounded to €1 per line, and the starting jackpot was raised slightly to €1.35 million.
Lotto 6/45: 2006–present
Core Lotto sales had declined steadily for six consecutive years up to 2006, falling from €314.9 million in 2000 to €255.1 million in 2006. Falling sales partly reflected public dissatisfaction with the game during the Celtic TigerCeltic Tiger
Celtic Tiger is a term used to describe the economy of Ireland during a period of rapid economic growth between 1995 and 2007. The expansion underwent a dramatic reversal from 2008, with GDP contracting by 14% and unemployment levels rising to 14% by 2010...
economic boom. As property prices and the cost of living escalated rapidly, particularly in Dublin, a €1.35 million starting jackpot was no longer seen as offering the transformed lifestyle promoted in lottery advertising. In 2003, the largest Lotto jackpot was €5.6 million, with the jackpot won 39 times out of the year's 105 draws. The year 2004 had a largest jackpot of €6.9 million, but only seven other jackpots over €4 million. The year 2005 produced a jackpot of €7.4 million, but only seven other jackpot wins over €3 million. Given these small jackpots and relatively few rollovers, players were increasingly lured away from the game by the higher jackpots available in EuroMillions
EuroMillions
EuroMillions is a transnational lottery, launched on 7 February 2004 by France's Française des Jeux, Spain's Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, and the United Kingdom's Camelot. The first draw was held on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris...
, sales of which rose by 145 percent in 2006.
In November 2006, the National Lottery changed Lotto to a 6/45 game in order to create bigger jackpots and combat falling ticket sales . It made the starting jackpot a guaranteed €2 million, increased the match-5+bonus prize to €25,000 (up from €12,000), introduced a match-3 prize of €5, and increased the price of a line of Lotto from €1 to €1.50. The company said that the structural changes were designed to produce about twenty Lotto jackpots of €5 million and over each year, and at least one jackpot over €10 million. The first 6/45 draw was held on 4 November 2006. The impact of the changes was felt almost immediately when a jackpot of €7.5 million, the highest for many years, was produced less than two months after their introduction.
Although the Consumers Association of Ireland criticized the National Lottery for these changes, calling the 50 percent Lotto price increase "extraordinary," the restructuring of the game has been hugely successful. In 2007, sales of the core Lotto game rose 40.2 percent to €357.6 million, their largest ever single-year increase. In 2008, sales rose by a further 6.6 percent to €381.4 million but fell in 2009 to €336 million.
The current odds of winning the Lotto jackpot are 1 in 8,145,060. The odds of getting a match-5+bonus are 1 in 1,357,510; the odds of a match-5 are 1 in 35,724; the odds of a match 4+bonus are 1 in 14,290; the odds of a match-4 are 1 in 772; the odds of a match-3+bonus are 1 in 579; and the odds of a match-3 are 1 in 48.
Record Lotto Jackpots
The Lotto jackpot of £7,486,025 (€9,505,290) for the 21 November 1996 drawing set a record that stood for over ten years.The National Lottery switched Lotto to a 6/45 game in November 2006, and the longer odds produced several jackpots in excess of €15 million. The game's largest ever jackpot of €18,963,441 was won on 28 June 2008 by a syndicate of sixteen work colleagues at the Dan Morrissey (Ireland) Ltd quarry and concrete plant in Bennekerry, Carlow
Carlow
Carlow is the county town of County Carlow in Ireland. It is situated in the south-east of Ireland, 84 km from Dublin. County Carlow is the second smallest county in Ireland by area, however Carlow Town is the 14th largest urban area in Ireland by population according to the 2006 census. The...
. On 14 April 2010, the second-largest Lotto jackpot of €16,717,717 was won on a ticket sold in Dungarvan
Dungarvan
Dungarvan is a town and harbour on the south coast of Ireland in the province of Munster. Dungarvan is the county town and administrative centre of County Waterford. The town's Irish name means "Garbhan's fort", referring to Saint Garbhan who founded a church there in the seventh century...
, County Waterford
County Waterford
*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...
. The third-largest jackpot of €16,390,239 was won on 23 October 2010, and the ticket was sold in Donnybrook
Donnybrook, Dublin
Donnybrook is a district of Dublin, Ireland. It is situated on the southside of the city, in the Dublin 4 postal district, and is home to the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ. It was once part of the Pembroke Township...
in Dublin.
The largest unclaimed Lotto jackpot is £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
2,713,334 (€3,445,934). The one winning ticket for the 30 July 2001 drawing was sold in Coolock
Coolock
Coolock is a large suburban area, centred on a village, on Dublin city's Northside in Ireland. Coolock is crossed by the Santry River, a prominent feature in the middle of the district, with a linear park and ponds...
, Dublin, but its holder failed to come forward before the ticket expired at the close of business on 26 September 2001.
Lotto Plus
In 2000, the National Lottery introduced Lotto Plus as an add-on to the main Lotto game. For an extra £Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
0.25 per line, players could enter their Lotto numbers in an additional 6/42 drawing for a fixed, non-rolling jackpot of £
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
250,000. The first Lotto Plus drawing took place on 25 October 2000.
In 2002, the National Lottery added a second Lotto Plus drawing, renamed the drawings Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2, and raised the cost of Lotto Plus to €0.50 per line. The jackpots were fixed at €300,000 and €200,000 respectively. The first drawings for Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 took place on 1 September 2002.
In November 2006, when Lotto adopted a 6/45 matrix, the National Lottery raised the Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 jackpots to €350,000 and €250,000 respectively. The cost of Lotto Plus remained at €0.50 per line.
As with the main Lotto game, Lotto Plus players can win smaller cash prizes for match-5+bonus, match-5, match-4+bonus, match-4, and match-3+bonus. For a match-3 in Lotto Plus 1, the winner receives a €3 scratchcard
Scratchcard
A scratchcard is a small card, often made of thin paper-based card for competitions and plastic to conceal PINs, where one or more areas contain concealed information which can...
. A match-3 in Lotto Plus 2 wins a €1 scratchcard. The odds of winning these respective prizes are the same as for the main Lotto game.
Sales of Lotto Plus rose by 8.8 percent in 2008, to €109 million, but fell in 2009 to €97.5 million
Lotto 5-4-3-2-1
Based around the main Lotto draw, Lotto 5-4-3-2-1 was introduced in February 1997. It allows players to win prizes by correctly matching one, two, three, four, or five of the drawn numbers. The more numbers players try to match, the greater the prize. Players may base their choices either on a six-number game (excluding the bonus number) or on a seven-number game (including the bonus number). Somewhat of a niche game, Lotto 5-4-3-2-1 accounted for €10.9 million in sales in 2007, down from €11.1 million the previous year. However, sales rose by 2.9 percent in 2008, to €11.2 million and remained at this level for 2009.EuroMillions
The National Lottery joined the transnational EuroMillions
EuroMillions
EuroMillions is a transnational lottery, launched on 7 February 2004 by France's Française des Jeux, Spain's Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, and the United Kingdom's Camelot. The first draw was held on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris...
lottery on 8 October 2004. The EuroMillions Draw takes place each Tuesday and Friday and is broadcast on RTE Two on Tuesday and RTE One on Friday. Since then, several EuroMillions jackpots have been won or shared in Ireland:
- On 31 July 2005, Dolores McNamara, a part-time cleaning lady from LimerickLimerickLimerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
, won a record-breaking EuroMillions jackpot of €115.4 million on a €2 quick-pick ticket. McNamara held the record as the largest individual prizewinner in European lottery history until 8 May 2009, when a winner from MallorcaMallorcaMajorca or Mallorca is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the Balearic Islands.The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera Archipelago is administratively grouped with Majorca...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, scooped a jackpot of €126.2 million. - On 17 November 2006, two Irish winners each received a 5 percent share of an unwon €183 million jackpot when it was divided under the draw's 12-week rollover rule among all twenty tickets bearing five numbers and one lucky star. The winners received €9.6 million each. One winning ticket was purchased in LimerickLimerickLimerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
and the other in CorkCork (city)Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
. - On 4 July 2008, a couple who chose to remain anonymous won a EuroMillions jackpot of €15 million on a €9 quick-pick ticket purchased at a shop in Carrick-on-SuirCarrick-on-SuirCarrick-on-Suir is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. As the name – meaning "the rock of the Suir" – suggests, the town is situated on the River Suir. The of the town gives the population as 5,906 and shows that it has grown by 5.7% since 2002...
, County TipperaryCounty TipperaryCounty Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
. - On 12 June 2009, a jackpot of €58.8 million was divided among two winning tickets, worth €29.4 million each. One of the tickets, a €6 quick-pick, was sold in Newcastle, County DublinNewcastle, County DublinThe village of Newcastle , in Co. Dublin, Ireland was the location of the Castle of the Barony of Newcastle, more specifically referred to in historical and official documents as Newcastle-Lyons. This ancient name is currently undergoing a welcome revival in use, given the many places called...
; the winning family chose to remain anonymous. The other ticket was purchased by 74-year-old Brian Caswell in BoltonBoltonBolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
, Greater ManchesterGreater ManchesterGreater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, in the UK.
Irish sales of the core EuroMillions
EuroMillions
EuroMillions is a transnational lottery, launched on 7 February 2004 by France's Française des Jeux, Spain's Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, and the United Kingdom's Camelot. The first draw was held on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris...
game fell from €145.3 million in 2006, to €118.7 million in 2007, to €109 million in 2008, and to €105.7 million in 2009.
Plus
In June 2007, the National Lottery introduced "Plus," an Ireland-only addition to the main EuroMillions game. For an extra €1 per line, players can enter their five main EuroMillions numbers in an additional draw for a fixed, non-rolling prize of €500,000. Players can also win fixed prizes of €2,000 for a match-4 and €20 for a match-3. The first EuroMillions Plus drawing was held on 15 June 2007. In 2009, six "Plus Extra Draws" were held with €1 million as the top prize.Sales of Plus were €33.1 million in 2008 and increased to €34.4 million in 2009.
Monday Million
In September 2008 the National Lottery launched Monday Million, a 6/39 weekly lottery drawing with a fixed, non-rolling jackpot of €1 million. The game costs €1 per line to play, and the live drawing of the six winning numbers and bonus number takes place on the TV3TV3 Ireland
TV3 is a free-to-air commercial television network in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 20 September 1998 it was Ireland's first commercial broadcaster. The channel is owned by TV3 Group a subsidiary of Doughty Hanson & Co.-The TV3 Group:...
channel at approximately 20:28 every Monday night. The odds of matching the six main numbers and winning the €1 million top prize are 1 in 3,262,623.
The game also offers fixed prizes of €10,000 for a match-5+bonus (odds: 1 in 543,771), €500 for a match-5 (odds: 1 in 16,993), €100 for a match-4+bonus (odds: 1 in 6,797), €25 for a match-4 (odds: 1 in 439), €10 for a match-3+bonus (odds: 1 in 329), and a €3 scratchcard for a match-3 (odds: 1 in 33). The first Monday Million drawing was held on 29 September 2008, with Eileen Farrelly from County Monaghan
County Monaghan
County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...
scooping the inaugural €1 million jackpot.
Although the Monday Million jackpot is not split among multiple winners, as is the case with Lotto and EuroMillions, the National Lottery has placed a fixed prize limit of €5 million on each Monday Million draw.
Sales of Monday Million were €25.4 million in 2009. There were nine winners of the €1 million top prize.
Monday Million Plus
In 2010, the National Lottery launched Monday Million Plus, an add-on to the main Monday Million draw. It costs an extra €0.50 per line to play, and the top prize in Monday Million Plus is €500,000.All or Nothing
Introduced in October 2009, All or Nothing is the National Lottery's first daily draw game. Players choose 12 numbers from 24; if they get all the numbers correct, or none of the numbers correct, they win €500,000—a 1 in 1,352,078 chance of victory. The game has additional prizes of €5,000 for Match 11, €25 for Match 10, €10 for Match 9, and €4 for Match 8. Tickets cost €2 per line. The numbers are announced on RTÉ TwoRTÉ Two
RTÉ Two is a free-to-air general entertainment channel operated by Irish state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Two is available throughout the island of Ireland through digital terrestrial service Saorview, VHF and UHF bands, and is also available via satellite to Irish subscribers of...
each night and also displayed through an animated draw on the Lottery website. The game had generated sales of €3.4 million by the end of 2009.
Millionaire Raffle
In the summer of 2008, the National Lottery ran its first "Millionaire Raffle." The lottery issued 300,000 tickets, costing €20 each. The raffle featured two top prizes of €1 million, five prizes of €100,000, 45 prizes of €10,000, 80 prizes of €5,000, 100 prizes of €1,000, and 300 prizes of €500.The €1 million and €100,000 winning tickets were announced on RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
on 26 August 2008, during a live broadcast from the Rose of Tralee
Rose of Tralee (festival)
The Rose of Tralee festival is an international competition which is celebrated among Irish communities all over the world. The festival takes its inspiration from a nineteenth century ballad of the same name about a woman called Mary, who because of her beauty was called The Rose of Tralee. The...
festival. (The full list of winning ticket numbers was published the following day on the National Lottery's website). During the broadcast, host Derek Mooney
Derek Mooney
Derek James Mooney is an Irish radio and television presenter, as well as a radio producer. He currently presents a weekday afternoon programme called Mooney on RTÉ Radio 1....
stated that the winning tickets had actually been drawn earlier that day at the National Lottery headquarters in Dublin. This lack of transparency caused controversy, especially given the coincidence that one of the winning €1 million tickets had been sold in the town of Tralee. National radio stations hosted animated discussions of the issue.
The National Lottery held a second Millionaire Raffle over the Christmas period 2008. To avoid the controversy associated with the previous raffle, the winning tickets for the €1 million and €100,000 prizes were drawn on live RTÉ television during the channel's New Year's Eve broadcast.
Four Millionaire Raffles were held during 2009. For the Christmas 2009 draw, the game was expanded to include additional features such as early bonus draws, an additional €1 million top prize and a bigger prize fund.
Telly Bingo
Telly Bingo was introduced in September 1999. Players buy tickets with 24 randomly generated numbers, and can win prizes by matching the numbers drawn on a lunchtime TV show in a variety of patterns, with a prize of €10,000 for a full house. An additional €10,000 Snowball prize goes to someone who achieves a full house on or before the 45th number drawn; if not won, the Snowball prize rolls over to the next draw, allowing one additional number each time. Telly Bingo sales were €13.7 million in 2007, down from €14.4 million the previous year. Sales increased slightly to €13.9 million in 2008 and increased again to €14.3 million in 2009.Telly Bingo is broadcast on RTÉ One
RTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
on Tuesdays and Thursdays and repeated during their late night schedule. Liz Bonnin
Liz Bonnin
Liz Bonnin is a French television presenter who has worked on television in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. She currently works for the BBC.-Biography:...
presented the show for many years before Shirley Temple Bar
Shirley Temple Bar
Shirley Temple Bar is a drag queen from Dublin, Ireland, whose name is a play on both Shirley Temple and a cultural area of Dublin city called Temple Bar. A 1997 winner of the Alternative Miss Ireland competition, Shirley hosts a weekly bingo and drag show in Dublin's largest gay bar, The George...
became the regular host in 2001. Since 2004 the show has been presented by Declan Buckley
Declan Buckley
Declan Buckley is an Irish television personality and the man behind Dublin drag queen character, Shirley Temple Bar.Since 1997, Buckley has hosted a weekly bingo and drag show in Dublin's largest gay bar, The George and, in 2001, he caused a stir when Shirley Temple Bar took over the National...
and Nuala Carey
Nuala Carey
Nuala Carey is a full-time weather presenter on Raidió Teilifís Éireann .Carey was educated at Muckross Park College, Dublin and graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology. After graduating from UCD she worked on AA Roadwatch, which involved...
. From 9 September 2010 there are 3 draws on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Instant Scratchcard Games
The National Lottery had a total of 31 scratchcardScratchcard
A scratchcard is a small card, often made of thin paper-based card for competitions and plastic to conceal PINs, where one or more areas contain concealed information which can...
games on offer during 2007, ranging in price from €1 to €10, and offering instant cash prizes up to €100,000. Sales of instant scratchcard games rose 5.8 percent to €170.2 million in 2008 but fell to €163.8 million in 2009.
Game Shows
The National Lottery funds the prize money for several televised game shows, which until 2009 were produced exclusively by Ireland's state broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann. Contestants gain entry to the shows by getting three "lucky stars" on associated scratchcards and submitting them in special envelopes for televised drawings. Broadcast on Saturday nights on RTÉ OneRTÉ One
RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
since 1990, the game shows have proven very popular, often featuring among the channel's top-rated programmes.
The National Lottery's flagship game show Winning Streak
Winning Streak
Winning Streak is a weekly Irish game show in which five contestants play a number of games to win cars, holidays, and cash prizes up to €500,000. Broadcast on Saturday nights between September and June on RTÉ One, the game show is among the channel's most popular programmes, often ranking among...
debuted in 1990 and screens weekly between September and early June. A summer companion programme Fame & Fortune
Fame and Fortune (television)
Fame & Fortune is an Irish game show broadcast on RTÉ One on Saturday nights from 1996 to 2006. Hosted by popular Irish television and radio personality Marty Whelan , the show aired during the summer months of June, July, and August as a seasonal replacement for Winning Streak...
was launched in 1996 and ran through the months of June, July, and August until it was replaced in 2007 by The Trump Card
The Trump Card
The Trump Card was an Irish game show broadcast on RTÉ One during the summer months of 2007 as a seasonal replacement for Winning Streak. Launched as the successor to Fame and Fortune , The Trump Card had its prize money funded by the Irish National Lottery and its production costs paid by RTÉ...
. That programme received negative reviews and disappointing ratings, and was cancelled after its first season. A replacement programme, The Big Money Game
The Big Money Game
The Big Money Game is an Irish game show, broadcast on RTÉ One on Saturday nights during the summer months of June, July and August as a seasonal replacement for Winning Streak. The successor to Fame and Fortune and The Trump Card , The Big Money Game was first broadcast on Saturday, 14 June 2008...
, aired for the first time on 14 June 2008.
National Lottery game shows paid out over €14 million in prizes during 2007.
In 2009, the National Lottery and TV3 began producing the Irish version of Deal Or No Deal
Deal or No Deal (Ireland)
Deal or No Deal is the Irish version of the Endemol game show, which first broadcast on TV3 in the Republic of Ireland on Friday 13 November 2009. The show is hosted by magician and entertainer Keith Barry...
. This is the first time a National Lottery game show has been produced outside RTÉ. As with the RTÉ game shows, contestants become eligible by playing an associated scratch card game.
Referenced in other Media
In the late 1990s RTÉ produced a sitcom about a family who won the lotto and moved into an upper middle class area from a working class area. Called Upwardly MobileUpwardly Mobile
Upwardly Mobile was an Irish television sitcom that was made and broadcast by RTÉ. Three series, including three Christmas specials, were originally broadcast on RTÉ One between 8 September 1995 and 26 December 1997....
, it ran for 3 seasons.
Waking Ned
Waking Ned
Waking Ned is a 1998 comedy film by English writer and director Kirk Jones. It stars Ian Bannen, David Kelly and Fionnula Flanagan. Kelly was nominated for a Screen Actors' Guild award for his role as Michael O'Sullivan. The film is set in Ireland but was filmed on location in the Isle of Man...
(known as Waking Ned Devine in North America), a comedy film set in a tiny rural village and based on a fictitious winner of the Lotto.