Biggest Irish Lotto Jackpot For Two Years
Last Updated: Tuesday 27th September 2022, 09:16 am
The Irish Lotto jackpot has climbed to its highest amount for more than two years, setting up the opportunity to win €10.5 million in the next draw on Saturday evening. The top prize has not been won since 8th June.
How Has The Jackpot Got So Big?
The winner of the jackpot on 8th June came forward to claim his prize quickly, revealing that he had spent the night of the draw walking the streets of Galway to get his head round what had happened. While he was starting to make plans for the future, the jackpot reset to €2 million.
It has remained out of everyone’s reach for the remainder of the summer, a run now spanning 19 consecutive rollovers. A number of players have come close to snapping up the jackpot, including two ticket holders in the most recent draw on Wednesday 14th August who matched five main numbers plus the Bonus Ball to land €65,099 each.
Each time the top prize hasn’t been won, though, it has grown a bit larger for the next draw, and now it stands as the largest jackpot of the year after going past the €10.2 million won on Saturday 23rd February.
The last time a larger prize was won was all the way back on 6th May 2017, when two ticket holders split more than €12 million.
Biggest Irish Lotto Jackpots
The record for the largest Irish Lotto jackpot of all time is €18.9 million, dating back to the draw on 28th June 2008. A syndicate of quarry workers from Co Carlow claimed the prize, sharing it between all 16 members of the group.
A couple from Dungarvan in Co Waterford landed €16.7 million in April 2010, while a player from Donnybrook in Dublin picked up €16.1 million in October of the same year. Go to the Winners page for more information about the biggest Lotto prizes given away in Ireland.
The jackpot can keep rolling over as normal until it reaches its current cap of €18.96 million. If there are no winners in the first draw after it exceeds that amount, a new jackpot cap will be set at whatever figure it has reached.
Any additional funds that would usually go to the jackpot are instead given to the next tier down in which there are winners. The top prize will then remain fixed until at least one ticket matches all six main numbers.
