What Are Ireland’s Luckiest Lottery Locations?
The Irish National Lottery has created 18 new millionaires already in 2020 after a player from Laois scooped €1 million in the Lotto Plus 1 draw on Saturday 11th July. As the wait for the winner to come forward continues, find out about the luckiest locations in Ireland.
Out of the 18 new millionaires this year, six have come from Dublin, giving the capital a third of all the big winners. Mayo, Cork and Kerry have all had two new millionaires, while Carlow, Donegal, Kildare, Clare, Meath and Laois have had one apiece.
The largest jackpots of 2020 have been won outside of Dublin. A family from Killarney in County Kerry landed a €9.7 million Irish Lotto prize on Saturday 18th April, although they were unable to come forward to claim it for almost two months due to restrictions on social contact.
A family from Castlebar in County Mayo pocketed the biggest prize of the year - a €17 million EuroMillions jackpot on 11th February. When they came forward they revealed that they had kept the winning ticket safe in a bible at home until they were ready to claim.
Remarkably, the town of Castlebar has now been the scene of three EuroMillions jackpot wins, making it not just one of the luckiest places in Ireland but also in Europe.
The Irish Lottery was created in 1986 and Dublin has had the most wins of at least €1 million since it was launched, with more than 500 jackpots claimed in the capital. However, Louth, Ireland’s smallest county, has actually had more winners for its size than anywhere else.
Laois Lotto Win
The latest Lotto millionaire bought their ticket in McSorley’s Centra store in Portlaoise, Laois. The store had only been open for 11 days and its owner, Martin McSorley, could not believe his luck after selling a winning entry so quickly.
He said: “As a retailer, the next best thing to winning the Lotto is to sell a winning ticket to one of your customers. Some retailers could wait years to sell a life-changing Lotto jackpot prize so to do it within a matter of days is very special for everybody involved in the shop.
"As a brand new local business, we don't have regular customers at the moment so somebody came into our store last Saturday to probably suss us out for the first time. It's just mad to think that they essentially left the store as a millionaire.
"We are truly delighted for them, whoever they are and I hope that they continue to keep shopping with us for many years to come."
The winning Lotto Plus 1 numbers for Saturday were 4, 23, 32, 33, 38 and 46. Be sure to check the latest Irish Lotto Results after every draw to see if you are a winner.
15th July 2020
