Jackpot dreamers spent €750m on Lottery last year

THE economic downturn may be hitting household spending hard, but the public found the wherewithal to spend more than €750 million on the Lottery last year, €150m of it on scratch cards.

While less than the total sales of €815m in 2009, the latest figure shows Irish people still harbour dreams of securing their future with a jackpot win.

More than 2.2m people continued to do the Lottery on a regular basis last year. In 2010, 267m individual transactions were handled and 854 individual draws managed.