€19m Lotto jackpot will be won this Saturday after seven months with no winner

After the lottery rolled over once again with no winner on Tuesday night, the National Lottery confirmed it had received regulatory approval to hold a ‘will-be-won’ draw.

If the "must-win" Lotto jackpot is not claimed outright on Saturday, the full value of the jackpot prize will flow down to the next winning prize tier.

A National Lottery spokesperson said: “We know that most of our Lotto players would like to see the €19m jackpot won, so we are delighted to be able to make this announcement.”

“While this current Lotto jackpot rollover is truly unprecedented, and has generated so much excitement and participation in the Lotto game, the National Lottery is now pleased to announce that this ‘will be won’ event will take place on January 15.

“In addition, the National Lottery will operate the same ‘will be won’ event going forward, with Lotto jackpots guaranteed to be won no more than five draws after the cap has been reached.”

The current jackpot has been rolling since June 9, 2021, and it has remained capped at €19.06m since Saturday, October 2.

Due to the capped Lotto, the additional funds allocated to the jackpot have been flowing down to the lower prize tiers in each of the subsequent draws.

“Since the Lotto jackpot reached the €19.06m cap last October, we have seen winners at lower prize tiers benefiting from the prize rolldown of approximately €23.9m, the biggest winner of all has been the Good Causes Fund, which will benefit directly from €53m in funding from this Lotto roll cycle alone.

“Over the past number of months, we have worked with our technical suppliers and an independent review team to introduce this ‘will be won’ draw to the game.

"This promises to be the biggest and most exciting night for Lotto players in Ireland in the history of our game,” the spokesperson said.

The National Lottery has also confirmed that a total of 17 new millionaires were created by the Lotto game in Ireland in 2021.

They include five Lotto jackpot winners, nine Lotto Plus 1 top prize winners of €1m and an additional three winners of the Match 5 + Bonus prize who won in excess of €1m due to the flow-down of the jackpot prize fund for the capped €19.06m jackpot roll.