Irish National Lottery sees sales jump in ‘will be won’ draw

The Irish National Lottery experienced a jump in sales last week as excitement built ahead of the ‘will be won’ draw that took place on Saturday night.
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The Irish National Lottery experienced a jump in sales last week as excitement built ahead of the ‘will be won’ draw that took place on Saturday night. 

After seven months and 62 rollovers, somebody has finally won the jackpot in the Irish lottery, scoring €19m after successfully winning on all six numbers. 

The ‘will be won’ mechanism, which was introduced to the game ahead of the historic 15th January draw, was not required on Saturday night due to the player matching all six numbers.

Last week it was reported that the ‘will be won’ format will continue in the future, with new rules stating that the jackpot must be won within five rollovers after the maximum jackpot of €19m has been reached. 

In the lead-up to the draw on Saturday night, reports emerged that the lottery’s app crashed, such as the demand from players eager to have the chance of winning the life-changing sum. 

A National Lottery spokesperson told Focus Gaming News that retail partners had given feedback stating that sales were ‘incredibly strong’ in the lead up to Saturday’s draw, giving a boost to good causes in Ireland. 

In December, the CEO of Premier Lotteries Ireland, Andrew Algeo, stated that a must-win draw “would ensure that such an improbable long wait for a capped jackpot win cannot occur again”.

This followed on from Bernard Durkan, the Fine Gael Teachta Dala, who demanded an audit and investigation into the lottery after so long without a jackpot winner. 

Another spokesperson added: “We would like to say a big thank you to all of our players as you all contributed in excess of €250m last year by playing National Lottery games, including Lotto. These funds will be distributed to communities, projects and individuals all over Ireland which will make a difference in every town and village throughout the country.”