The jackpot has not been claimed in over 7 months.
The Lotto has announced that this Saturday’s (15 January) draw will result in one person taking the €19.06 million jackpot home, in a “must-win” draw.
The National Lottery made the announcement via a statement on their website.
“We have some exciting news to share, Ireland’s BIGGEST ever Lotto Jackpot of €19,060,800 Guaranteed WILL-BE-WON this coming Saturday 15 January,” the National Lottery said.
This Saturday Ireland's biggest ever #Lotto Jackpot WILL BE WON. Guaranteed.
Play early so you don't miss out. #ItCouldBeYou
— The Irish National Lottery (@NationalLottery) January 12, 2022
“On Saturday night, if the ‘Will-Be-Won’ Lotto jackpot is not won outright, the full value of the jackpot prize will flow down to the winner(s) of the next winning prize tier.
“The current Lotto jackpot has been rolling since Wednesday, 9 June 2021 and has remained capped at €19.06 million since Saturday 2nd October.
“Since then, Lotto players have benefitted from additional prizes worth over €23.9 million as prize funds have been boosted at the Match 5 + Bonus and Match 5 tiers,” they added.
No Lotto players have won the jackpot since one lucky Galway person won €2,475,303 seven months ago.
The length of time since someone had won the Lotto jackpot had become something of a controversial topic.
Fine Gael TD for Kildare North Bernard Durkan called several times for an “urgent probe” into the National Lottery draw, arguing that the current jackpot was unwinnable.
“This didn’t happen in Ronan Collins’ day. The jackpot has been stuck on €19 million since September. What’s going on?,” Durkan said.
“I call on the chief executive of Premier Lotteries Ireland, Andrew Algeo, to drop a couple of balls as a mark of good faith and make the draw more winnable.
“In 1988, there was 36 balls, 39 in 1992, 42 in 1994, 45 in 2006 before reaching a hefty 47 in 2015.
“Mr Algeo; tear down those balls,” he added.
Representatives of both Premier Lotteries and the regulator of the National Lottery appeared before the Oireachtas Finance Committee to receive approval for the “must-win” draw last month.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some tickets to buy…
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