22 players join Lotto millionaire club in 2017

Lotto luck this year created 22 millionaires across the country.

Their good fortune came through the EuroMillions, Lotto, and Daily Millions’ draws.

The prize haul, so far in 2017, in the major draws, has topped €440m.

The National Lottery also confirmed, yesterday, that a further €150m was paid out on scratch cards.

The biggest prize paid out this year was €88,587,275 on a EuroMillions jackpot, last January, and reportedly won by a Dublin work syndicate, which requested anonymity.

The National Lottery said that, due to the privacy request, the win officially created just one millionaire.

The lottery’s chief executive, Dermot Griffin, said it has been an incredibly busy year.

“We are thrilled to have written cheques for €1m or more to 22 players so far,” he said.

“It has been great meeting so many of these big winners, and witnessing them enjoy the start of their life-changing wins.”

Significantly, Mr Griffin said, lottery players contributed to €225m — or €4.3m a week — being provided for good causes .

“This money is supporting communities and projects all over Ireland, in the areas of health, sport, welfare, arts, and culture,” he said.

Meanwhile, there is still an opportunity for lottery players to be added to the 2017 millionaires list, with the Millionaire raffle scheduled for 10pm tomorrow night, New Year’s Eve.

Along with a guaranteed top prize of €1m, there are 5,000 other prizes, ranging from €500 to €250,000.

The highest Lotto win of the year, meanwhile, was €12.8m, won by a family from south Dublin, in March.

Overall, Dublin has proved to be Ireland’s luckiest lottery county this year, with over €128m paid out in 47 high-tier wins in EuroMillions, Lotto, Daily Millions, and Telly Bingo.

The second-luckiest county was Mayo, where players scooped €31,429,907m in seven big wins, while Limerick was the third-luckiest county, with €10m secured in five wins.

The top ten winning counties also included Tipperary (seven top-tier wins) €8.74m, Donegal (6) €7.26m, Cavan (3) €6.97m, Westmeath (5) €6.35m, Cork (19) €4.1m, Leitrim (3) €3.4m, and Kildare (9) €2.4m.

The National Lottery said 30c in every €1 spent benefits good causes.

Since the Lottery was established, in 1987, community initiatives in every parish in Ireland have shared in the €5bn handed out to good causes, schemes, and projects.

These include the restoration of the ship cabin in which polar explorer Ernest Shackleton died. It will go on display in Athy Heritage Centre-Museum in early 2018.

Another beneficiary was the Blackwater Sub Aqua Club, based in Fermoy, Co Cork, which has been involved in at least 200 search-and-recovery operations all over the country.