Some €20 million went unclaimed in lotto prizes last year the National Lottery has said.
Among the unclaimed prizes was a €1 million Euromillions prize which was bought in Co Kilkenny last April.
A spokeswoman for the National Lottery said money from unclaimed prizes was added to the prizefund.
“We add the money into bank holiday draws. For example, we added an extra €2 million to the lotto over St Patrick's weekend this year”.
The spokeswoman said the total amount of unclaimed prizes in Ireland last year amounted to 1.5 to 2 per cent of sales.
The unclaimed €1 million ticket from the Plus Extra draw, an Ireland-only addition to the main Euromillions game, was bought in Supervalu, Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny on the day of the draw, Thursday April 30th, 2009.
The spokeswoman said the Euromillions Plus Extra draw, which is usually €500,000 was doubled to €1 million as a special promotion from the National Lottery to celebrate the May Bank Holiday weekend.
With on average 67 per cent of Ireland's over 18s playing the National lottery every week, there have been 12 unclaimed jackpots totalling over €11 million since Lotto began in April 1988.