Irish lottery hits record sales

Turnover at the national lottery was €750 million in 2016, a 12 percent increase over last year’s results.

Ireland.- The Irish National Lottery reported that turnover in 2016 was €750 mllion, a 12 percent rise over the previous year. Of that amount, €422 million was returned to people through prizes, whilst €213 was given to social causes in Ireland.

The increased turnover was driven by an increase in lottery sales, as they increased 77 percent to €40 million in 2016, local media reported. Nevertheless, that increase didn’t impact on game sales in shops, as they only increased 10 percent last year. The operator of the national lottery, Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) said that the growth of the lottery was due to an increase in investment and better use of sales outlets, the number of stores grew from 4002 to 5390 last year.

CEO of Primer Lotteries, Dermot Griffin, said: “Several important initiatives were activated during the year, including the continued refresh of our game portfolio, major investment in our online and retail channels and the launch of the new National Lottery App.”

Last month, it was reported that Prime Minister Leo Varadkar recognised the organisation and its accomplishments as it raised over US$5.96 billion for good causes all around Ireland since it was first introduced in 1987. “There isn’t a community, town or townland in Ireland that hasn’t benefited from the National Lottery in some way since its foundation. That includes financial support for sports clubs, disability, local social and health services, artistic projects, and the Irish language. 30 cents in every euro spent on the lottery goes back to good causes,” he said.