National Lottery’s annual ticket sales pass €1bn mark for first time

National Lottery of Ireland ticket sales surpassed €1 billion in 2021, rising 14.7 per cent to €1.053 billion, the full-year financial results of operator Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) show.

Operating profits were €25.3 million in 2021, up from €14.6 million in 2020 while commission payments to National Lottery retailers amounted to €55.3 million.

Some €304 million was raised for good causes during the year, or 29 cent in every €1 spent, with this sum rising for the sixth year in a row.

The National Lottery made headlines in the second half of 2021, when the twice-weekly Lotto jackpot was not won by ticket-buyers for more than 50 consecutive draws, generating negative commentary about PLI’s addition of two balls in 2015, lengthening the odds of a winner.

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The unprecedented stretch of rollovers prompted Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan to claim “Shergar would have a better chance of winning Squid Game“.

The jackpot of €19.06 million, the maximum permitted under a cap, was eventually won in January 2022.

PLI said in its annual review that about 1.4 million people a week enjoyed National Lottery games, including scratch cards, last year.

It described the year as “record-breaking”, with National Lottery winners claiming €585.9 million in prizes, an increase of 10.8 per cent on 2020. In total, its games created 31 millionaires in 2021, it said, including 17 Lotto millionaires.

About 90 per cent of all revenue generated from sales of National Lottery games was returned to communities through prizes (56 per cent), funding good causes (29 per cent) and commission to retailers (5 per cent), according to PLI’s figures.

“This is the first year in the National Lottery’s history in which amounts raised for good causes exceeded €300 million and also, in which ticket sales exceeded €1 billion,” said PLI chief executive Andrew Algeo.

”On average, good causes contributions have grown by 9 per cent, while ticket sales have grown by 8 per cent year on year since PLI’s first year of stewardship of the National Lottery.”

Mr Algeo said the year had seen the lottery operator make “further improvements“ to player protection measures, which are intended to reduce the risk of excessive play. This involved commissioning Cambridge Health Alliance, a division of Harvard Medical School, to “identify further opportunities to improve our system of player protection controls both in retail and on our online channels”.

In his forward to the review, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath noted that he is currently examining how the Government can make the system around good causes “better and more transparent”, so communities can see the impact of Lottery funding. It is always necessary “to be cognisant of problem gambling”, he added.

”In this regard, the onus remains on the National Lottery to only create games that conform to the highest standards of player protection, thus ensuring that the National Lottery retains its position in Irish society as a positive force.”

The odds of winning the Lotto on a single line are 10.7 million to one.