Excitement is building all over Ireland ahead of Friday’s special EuroMillions Megadraw, with a guaranteed jackpot of a staggering €130 million.
The National Lottery today advised players dreaming of winning big to buy tickets early to avoid queues as retailers all over the country report brisk sales for the special €130 million draw.
The National Lottery also revealed details of a new survey reflecting the popularity of lottery syndicates, particularly amongst groups of workers.
National Lottery CEO, Dermot Griffin, said: “Ireland has a great record with EuroMillions, with a total of 12 jackpot wins since the game launched in 2004. Seven of those were syndicates. There is massive excitement around Friday’s special Mega EuroMillions Draw with a guaranteed jackpot of €130 million giving our players a chance to win a truly life-changing amount. People in Ireland have been huge supporters of EuroMillions since it launched and we would dearly love to have an Irish winner on Friday, whether it be a single player or a syndicate.”
Mr Griffin said syndicates are especially popular when jackpots are high, with groups of workers, families or friends coming together to play. “It can be fun and rewarding to be part of a National Lottery Syndicate.”
“Every so often EuroMillions gives back to its players by offering special draws. With a massive jackpot of €130 million Friday we are advising our players to buy their tickets early in store to avoid queues or to play online at www.lottery.ie or through the National Lottery App.”
Meanwhile new research shows that almost a third of all Irish adults – or more than 1.1 million people – take part in National Lottery player syndicates, with work syndicates the most popular.
The findings from a poll of 1,000 adults aged over 18 years carried out by Red C in February shows 61% of syndicates play EuroMillions compared to the 39% that play Lotto.
The average number of people in a syndicate is about 11 with most syndicates formed in work, (45%). Families make up the second most popular syndicates, (32%) while 23% are groups of friends.
Of those who are part of a syndicate 57% say they join for fun. 21% do so to avoid missing out on a possible big win; 21% feel a syndicate gives them a better chance of winning some money while 16% feel it gives them a better chance of winning a jackpot.
48% of syndicate players take part in a game once a week or more often, while 13% take part at least once every 2 to 3 weeks. 15% take part once a month.
Here is the roll call of the lucky twelve Irish EuroMillions jackpot winners to date:
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on National Lottery games go back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage and the Irish language. In total more than €5 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 30 years ago. In 2017 alone, the National Lottery raised over €225 million for such good causes.