Lotto fireworks before Hallowe'en as jackpot climbs to a record £5m

THE winner - if there is only one - of tonight's record Lotto jackpot of about £5 million will only have to bank the cheque to earn interest of £1,000 a day.

Up to 2.2 million dreamers are expected to spend at least £1 each on a 5.2 million-to-one chance of winning the bank holiday weekend jackpot. Some 60 per cent of them will buy their tickets today and of those at least 200,000 will wait until between 6 p.m. and 7.45 p.m. this evening - the cut-off point - before putting their numbers to the test.

Although it has not been quantified, many will probably spend that lengthy queueing time in pleasant contemplation of what they might do with all that money - world cruises, holiday homes on the "royal" island of Mustique, country mansions, paying debts, throwing parties, buying land to plant oak trees or the simple pleasure of being able to afford to tell the boss where to go.

But once they had won, instead of doing anything extravagant, it seems most of Ireland's 63 previous Lotto millionaires have been sensible with their winnings. They might have bought a car, paid off their mortgage and gone on a holiday.

Most usually gave a significant donation to charity and some used the money to expand their businesses. One woman went to the extravagant excess of saying she would be able to leave her immersion on all night without worrying about cost.

It appears that Irish Lotto winners have been judicious in following the advice of the National Lottery - find a good financial adviser, put the money somewhere safe, stand back from it for about six months before deciding and, most of all, don't be impulsive.

This weekend the Lottery has added £1 million, the normal practice at the Hallowe'en bank holiday, to bring the pot to the £5 million mark. The previous record was £4,744,563, won only last month by a Tallaght man, originally from Hong Kong.

Before that, a National Lottery spokeswoman said, the previous record was in May last year. The Lottery was defending itself against criticism from Mr John O'Shea, the director of the charity GOAL. Mr O'Shea said it was "obscene that anyone should be handed a prize in excess of £5 million. When will the organisers of the National Lottery decide what figure will satisfy the greed of the very few? That extra £1 million could do a prodigious amount of good for the poorest of the poor".