Irish addicted to lottery - report

New figures released today by the National Lottery show Ireland is a nation of gamblers with 63% of the population regularly buying a lottery ticket.

It's fourteen years since the National Lottery replaced the Irish Sweepstakes and it's been an undoubted success with over £3.6bn spent on scratch-cards, lotto tickets and telly bingo since 1987.

Last year, Ireland had 30 new millionaires, with a third of the jackpots more between £1m and £2m.

The report also shows that the size of the jackpot has a definite impact on ticket sales, with multi-million pound jackpots sending people racing to outlets.