In early January, ahead of the highly anticipated draw, Lotto players all over the country continued to enjoy even bigger prizes than usual at lower prize tiers due to the capped Lotto jackpot. The additional funds that would usually go the jackpot were instead distributed to the Match 5+Bonus and Match 5 tiers across the first five draws of the year.

On New Year’s Day, 28 players all over the country had extra reason to celebrate after matching five numbers to win €26,380 each. As there were no winners at the Match 5+Bonus tier in the 1^st January draw, this resulted in the additional funds flowing down to the Match 5 tier.

Three Lotto players in Galway, Mayo and Offaly became the biggest winners of the night on Wednesday 5^th January after matching five numbers and the bonus to win an incredible €305,478 each. The Mayo winner scooped their share of the €916,434 Match 5+Bonus prize after purchasing their winning ticket at Mulherne’s Applegreen Filling Station and Gala Shop on Ballina Street in Crossmolina while the Galway winner purchased their winning ticket at Londis in Tí Cloch Mhíle on the Dublin Road in Co. Galway. The Offaly winner won their share of the boosted prize fund after purchasing their ticket online at www.lottery.ie.

Over 154,000 players all over Ireland won prizes across the Lotto and Lotto Plus draws in the Saturday 8^th January draw, including 24 players who matched five numbers to win €33,181 each.

The Wednesday 12^th January draw saw three Lotto players in Clare, Donegal and Dublin win €253,314 each after matching five numbers and the bonus. The winners in Clare and Donegal scooped their shares of the Match 5+Bonus prize fund after purchasing their tickets online while the Dublin winner purchased their winning ticket at the Centra store on Sundrive Road in Lower Crumlin, Dublin 12.

The monumental ‘Will be Won’ Lotto event took place on Saturday 15^th January which culminated with a Mayo player matching all six numbers to win the massive €19,060,800 jackpot. The ‘Will be Won’ mechanism, which was introduced to the game ahead of the historic draw, was not required on the night due to the player matching all six numbers. Laura’s XL store on Hopkins Road in Castlebar was confirmed as the selling location of the record-breaking ticket. As the Lotto jackpot remained capped at €19.06 million for the 15^th January draw, we also saw 149 winners of the Match 5 + Bonus prize tier benefit from additional funds which are usually added to the jackpot. Each of the 149 winners, who bought their tickets in 26 counties, all went on to claim €36,687 each. That night, more than 866,000 players won prizes across the Lotto and Lotto Plus games.

For the first time since June 9^th 2021, we saw the Lotto jackpot return to base level at €2 million in the Wednesday 19^th January draw.

An online player in Dublin became the biggest Lotto Plus One winner of the month after winning the top prize of €1 million in the Wednesday 26^th January draw. On the same night, a Cork player matched five numbers and the bonus to win €102,570 in the main draw. The Rebel county player purchased their winning ticket at the Spar store at the Firgrove service station in Bishopstown, Co. Cork.

During the month of January, we saw two Lotto Plus Two winners scoop the top prize of €250,000 each. A Kilkenny player became the first Lotto Plus Two top prize winner of 2022 on the same night that the €19.06 million jackpot was won after purchasing their winning ticket at Kittys Cabin on Rose Inn Street in the heart of Kilkenny City. In the last Lotto draw of the month, an online player in Dublin won the €250,000 top prize.

The Saturday 29^th January draw also marked the first Lotto Plus Raffle promotion of the year with 105 players all over the country enjoying a massive boost to their winnings as the National Lottery topped up the Lotto Plus Raffle with an additional €1 million. While the Lotto Plus Raffle typically sees between 80 and 120 winners of €500 in every draw, the boosted prize fund meant that each of the 105 winners scooped a prize of €10,024.

Carlow and Waterford were home to two EuroMillions Plus top prize winners during the first month of the year. The Kildare player won their €500,000 prize after purchasing their ticket at the Crookstown Service Station in south Kildare for the 7^th January draw while the Waterford player scooped their prize online for the Friday 21^st January draw.

The 21^st January draw proved to be a big night for three other EuroMillions players in Cork and Galway. The Friday night draw was a big night for the EuroMillions community as that particular draw guaranteed that 100 new millionaires would be made across the nine participating countries in a special raffle draw. The 100 winners of the raffle prize were each guaranteed to win a life-changing €1 million. Three EuroMillions players in Cork (2) and Galway benefited from the event as they became overnight millionaires following the draw. The Galway player purchased their ticket at the Spar store in Ballybrit on the outskirts of Galway while the Cork players purchased their tickets at shops just 20km apart. West Cork was celebrating that weekend after Minihane’s Gala store on Pearse Street in Clonakilty town and Healy’s SuperValu store in Dunmanway in Co. Cork were revealed as the Rebel county selling agents. 

The biggest Daily Million winner of the month also took the title of first official National Lottery millionaire of the year after scooping the top prize in the Wednesday 5^th January draw. The €1 million winner purchased their winning ticket at the Applegreen M4 Enfield Westbound Service Station in Martinstown, Cadamstown, Co. Kildare.