Revealed! Irelands Luckiest Lotto Counties
Co. Louth may be Ireland’s smallest county, but when it comes to Lotto wins it has been the luckiest over the last 30 years, a new National Lottery survey reveals.
The National Lottery today unveiled Ireland’s luckiest Lotto Counties calculating the number of jackpot winners since the game launched in 1988 against 2016 Census population records.
The “Luckiest Lotto Counties” survey shows that Co. Louth, known as “the Wee County”, boasts the most Lotto millionaires per head of population since Lotto launched three decades ago, with an incredible 5.9 Lotto jackpot winners for every 10,000 people. The county has had 76 lucky Lotto jackpot winners who have won in excess of €89 million between them.
Coming a close second place is Co. Donegal, which has clocked up 90 Lotto jackpot winners in 30 years, sharing over €116 million in prizes. Census 2016 population figures show there are 5.65 Lotto jackpot winners for every 10,000 people in the county.
The Mayo football players may have suffered an early exit in the race for Sam Maguire this year but Lotto players in the green and red of the western county have had significantly more luck in the lottery game coming third on the Lotto list with 4.44 Lotto jackpot winners per 10,000 people. They have had 58 Lotto jackpot winners sharing over €103 million in prizes.
Meanwhile, Dublin had had 572 lucky Lotto jackpot winners scooping over €856 million in jackpot prizes alone, or 4.25 winners per head of population. That tally places the county 4th on the Lotto league table due to its population of over 1.3 million.
Speaking on the release of the “Luckiest Lotto Counties” survey National Lottery CEO, Dermot Griffin said:
“One of the most frequent questions we are asked is what is Ireland’s luckiest Lotto county. There has always been great rivalry amongst our players all over the country to claim this title so we are delighted to confirm that using the 2016 Census population figures that Co. Louth is Ireland’s luckiest spot”
“But it is important to note that chance has no memory and playing Lotto is purely a matter of luck, regardless of where you buy your Lotto ticket. Whether it is in Laois, Limerick or Louth, you have the exact same chance of winning a prize. However, our Lotto players in Louth have punched above their weight for the last 30 years with considerably more Lotto millionaires per head of population. Congratulations to the county and all its winners!” added Dermot Griffin.
He added: “While Lotto players in Louth, Donegal, Mayo and Dublin have enjoyed most success in the Lotto game per head of population, these findings do not have any bearing on who may be a future Lotto winner! It could be you this weekend when the Lotto Jackpot is set to roll to a mega €6.5 million. This is the highest the jackpot in a while so we are appealing to players to buy their tickets early to avoid queues in store – or play at lottery.ie or through the National Lottery App.”
According to the National Lottery’s findings, players in Co. Laois have been the unluckiest county in Ireland with 1.53 Lotto winners per 10,000 inhabitants despite having 13 Lotto jackpot who have claimed over €24 million since 1988.
Ireland’s Luckiest Lotto Counties
Lucky Ranking |
County |
Population |
Lotto Jackpot Wins |
Lotto Jackpot Wins per 10,000 |
1 |
Louth |
128,884 |
76 |
5.90 |
2 |
Donegal |
159,192 |
90 |
5.65 |
3 |
Mayo |
130,507 |
58 |
4.44 |
4 |
Dublin |
1,347,359 |
572 |
4.25 |
5 |
Carlow |
56,932 |
22 |
3.86 |
6 |
Wicklow |
142,425 |
54 |
3.79 |
7 |
Cavan |
76,176 |
28 |
3.68 |
8 |
Westmeath |
88,770 |
32 |
3.60 |
9 |
Monaghan |
61,386 |
22 |
3.58 |
10 |
Galway |
258,058 |
92 |
3.57 |
11 |
Sligo |
65,535 |
23 |
3.51 |
12 |
Waterford |
116,176 |
40 |
3.44 |
13 |
Clare |
118,817 |
40 |
3.37 |
14 |
Tipperary |
159,553 |
51 |
3.20 |
15 |
Cork |
542,868 |
173 |
3.19 |
16 |
Longford |
40,873 |
13 |
3.18 |
17 |
Kildare |
222,504 |
69 |
3.10 |
18 |
Wexford |
149,722 |
46 |
3.07 |
19 |
Limerick |
194,899 |
59 |
3.03 |
20 |
Roscommon |
64,544 |
19 |
2.94 |
21 |
Leitrim |
32,044 |
9 |
2.81 |
22 |
Meath |
195,044 |
54 |
2.77 |
23 |
Kerry |
147,707 |
37 |
2.50 |
24 |
Offaly |
77,961 |
19 |
2.44 |
25 |
Kilkenny |
99,232 |
24 |
2.42 |
26 |
Laois |
84,697 |
13 |
1.53 |
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on all National Lottery games go back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, community, arts, heritage and the Irish language. In total, more than €5 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 30 years ago. Applications are now open for the 2018 National Lottery Good Causes Awards. visit www.lottery.ie/good-causes-awards.
Don't miss your chance to be the next Lotto winner in your county.
Play responsibly - Play for fun