The Irish Lottery Created 33 Millionaires Last Year

The Irish do like playing lottery games and an annual report has confirmed that fact. It’s been shown that in 2020, over €17.5m a week was spent on  Irish Lottery games with over half a billion euros given out as prize money.

To become a lottery millionaire is a dream all players have. 2020 saw 33 prizes worth over €1 million being won. It wasn’t just a good year for those who play the Irish Lottery. An operating profit of €14.6 million was made last year. That was up from a total of €8.9 million in the previous year.

More Prizes Won

The figure comes from the annual report from Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) who run the Irish Lottery. It was a lucky year for Irish players with a record €528.9 million being given out in prize money. That figure was an increase of 6% from the amount given out in 2019.

Playing the Irish Lottery isn’t all about trying to win big prizes. Last year saw €253.6 million raised for community projects in the country. Since PLI took over running the Irish Lottery in 2014, over €1.35 billion has been raised for good causes. They hope many more billions will be raised during the remaining 13 years of their contract to run the lottery.

Speaking about the success of the Irish Lottery, Andrew Algeo (Chief Executive of PLI) commented: “None of this would have been possible without our staff and the vital support of our 5,415 retailers.” They received nearly €50 million in commission last year after selling winning tickets

Difficult Year

He added that last year had been a difficult one due to the ongoing pandemic. “Our local shopkeepers and retail staff kept their doors open to support their local communities and became frontline workers in a once in a lifetime health emergency.”

Not everyone comes forward to claim their Irish Lottery winnings. Last year €16 million of unclaimed winnings were transferred to the Exchequer. This amount was then given to the health service during the pandemic. Mr Algeo said that “We, at PLI, were delighted to see the money used in this way.”

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