IT COULD have been you.
Okay, chances are that the one winner of last night’s lotto draw was not you. But that did not stop an estimated 86,000 lotto tickets being bought per hour during peak times yesterday as punters vied for the chance to win the second biggest jackpot in Irish Lotto history.
By the time the draw came about yesterday, the pot had reached €16,717,717 so it is not surprising that sales for the mid-week Lotto were above average.
“I’d say we sold at least 50 per cent extra,” Manish Sikri, manager of The Happy Shop on Burgh Quay in Dublin said. “Usually on a Wednesday we do 2,000 but today we sold more than 3,000 tickets.”
Many of the shop’s customers were also volunteering what they would do with their winnings.
“Most people are telling us that they would get out of this country. A lot of people are struggling at the moment because of the loss of business or cuts in their job hours or other difficulties associated with this recession,” he said.
However, not everyone was planning an imminent escape.
“I think I would stay in the country, I wouldn’t see myself leaving,” Anthony Cahill from Blanchardstown, Dublin, said.
“Obviously I’d look after my family. They come first and then you’d look after yourself – get a house. get a car and then you’ld look after your finances, quit your job, have a great craic and live the rest of your life out a millionaire.” Emer Murphy from Cabinteely, Dublin, who is in a 14-member syndicate at work, said there was great excitement about the draw.
“Everyone’s been talking about it all day at the photocopier . . . it’s a bit of banter. Even without a recession I think people would be just as excited about the idea of winning €16 million.”
Last night’s winning ticket was bought in the southwest.
The biggest jackpot to date – €18.9 million – was won in 2008 by the Dan Morrissey syndicate.