LOTTO fever of a different sort has raised temperatures south of the Border as Irish punters rush to buy tickets for this weekend's British draw and its unprecedented £40 million jackpot.
No British lottery vendors are authorised in this State but that has proven no impediment to sales here. Local entrepreneurs have organised couriers to ferry tickets north of the Border, although it remains unclear whether this is legal.
A Dublin sandwich bar with an established UK lottery trade is selling about eight times its nor mat quota. Mr Joe Chetty of the Multi Bite delicatessen on Pearse Street charges the customers £1.25 for a £1 ticket. He hands the tickets to a courier who travels north, plays in premises around Newry. and returns verification slips to the customers before Saturday's draw. Mr Chetty and his courier share the 25p per ticket for their endeavours.
"This week has been unbelievable," said Mr Chetty. "On a normal week I would sell between 80 and 100 tickets. Now I'm selling seven or eight times that."
In Templeogue. Co Dublin. newsagents ran out of slips yesterday afternoon but expect a fresh supply this morning. In Cork they charge the customers £1.50 for the extra distance. while at Paul's shop in Swords, Co Dublin, sales have increased tenfold and the place is " phenomenally busy".
"The whole legal position is very dubious," said Famon who was working in Paul's yesterday. "As far as we are concerned it is legal, but the guards tell us it is not. We have had a visit from the local guards and we do not know what will happen in the long term but we will just keep doing it for the meantime."
The National Lottery said the legality of selling British lottery tickets in the Republic was not a matter for it. A spokeswoman said the increase in sales of British tickets was not affecting its own sales.
"We know the activity (of buying British lottery tickets) exists but, because our sales figures have remained fairly steady, we do not know whether people are playing the British lottery as well said the spokeswoman.
A senior garda said yesterday the sale of British lottery tickets was not an offence but the importation and distribution of slips may be an offence under the 1956 Gaming and Lotteries Act.
The Revenue Commissioners said any win in the British lottery by an Irish resident would be subject to the same rules as the National Lottery and would not be subject to tax.