ON Wednesday the destination of the single biggest prize fund in the history of the State may be decided when the National Lottery Jackpot is expected to hit the £6 million mark, exceeding the previous record by over £1 million.
Last Saturday's balls failed to turn up the magic numbers for millions of expectant punters, leaving the £4,826,344 main prize unclaimed and reducing seven Match 5 winners to a mixed state of elation and despair elation at being £5,000 richer, despair that this was 0.1 per cent of what they might have won had the Fates not intervened and spiked the balls.
When the final ball of six came to rest on Saturday evening, it produced the millionaire unfriendly combination of 1, 2, 12, 13, 16 and 18.
More than two million playslips had been recorded for last weekend's draw, of which 1.42 million were put through the system on Saturday alone.
There has not been such a unified groan of national frustration since Tom Cruise adopted an Irish accent for Far and Away.
The jackpot will now roll over for the sixth time and is expected to reach £6 million by Wednesday.
"There is a huge novelty factor," said a National Lottery spokeswoman.
"The game is jackpot driven. When the jackpot is higher, more people tend to play. They want to be involved in the excitement."