Lotto sales down 10% but 23 were made millionaires

Ireland’s Lotto game sales fell by more than 10% last year, but they created 23 millionaires.

Figures published by the National Lottery show that Lotto game sales reached €252.3m in 2012, a drop of 10.6% from the previous year.

The lower average level of jackpots during the year and the lack of extended jackpot rollovers were blamed for the decrease.

The National Lottery said the fall in Lotto game sales was compensated for by the strong performance of EuroMillions, scratch cards and the new Daily Million game.

The combined sales of EuroMillions and EuroMillions Plus were up 3.3% to €176.1m, compared with €170.4m in 2011.

EuroMillions games are the National Lottery’s second-largest game category, accounting for almost a quarter of total sales.

Scratch card sales rose to €163.5m, up 3.2% from €158.4m in 2011.

The Daily Million game that replaced Monday Million and All or Nothing performed ahead of expectations, achieving sales of €10.8m in less than four months. Monday Million and All or Nothing had sales of €11.4m and €3.9m respectively up to Sept 2012.

There was a slight fall-off in TellyBingo sales at €17.3m, compared with €17.7m in 2011.

Increasing the limited edition Millionaire Raffle draws from two to three last year resulted in a 47.6% increase in sales to €12.4m. Overall sales for the year reached €735.1m — a 3.5% drop on the previous year.

The National Lottery passed the €4bn milestone for good causes last year when it raised a further €225.3m.

National Lottery chief executive Dermot Griffin said the new lottery licence process being undertaken by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was expected to modify restrictions on the Play Online channel, allowing them to expand business in what was an increasingly important area.

Mr Griffin said they would be introducing a new advertising campaign for Lotto during the year and would also be promoting the Daily Million game.

He pointed out that the National Lottery generated a surplus of €225.3m, compared with €231.9m, and that its total operating costs for 2012, at €103.4m were down from €107m in 2011.

Key numbers

National Lottery 2012:

- Players won €406.4m in prizes.

- 23 new Lotto millionaires.

- 64% of adults played National Lottery games regularly.

- Online sales increased by 43% to €8.7m, with about 40,000 registered players