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Irish National Lottery celebrates 30th anniversary of its first Lotto draw

Over the course of the last three decades, Irish Lotto changed hundreds of lives for the better and National Lottery found a perfect way to mark the 30th anniversary of this game. They took a walk down the memory lane, reminding us of the first jackpot winner this game created all the way back on April 16th 1988.

 

That was the day when Brigid McGrath went down in history as the first player to scoop the Irish Lotto jackpot. She collected £147.000, which would amount to €2.000.000 in today’s money. The fortunate Donegal resident became instant celebrity – you could see her face on the front of every newspaper in the country and she even appeared on the Late Late Show with Gay Byrne. McGrath celebrated the victory by buying a cosy cottage in Letterkenny Town and treated her kids to new houses, as well.

 

She purchased the golden ticket at the Proctor’s Newsagents in Letterkenny. The owner Brendan Proctor still remembers how exciting it was to discover someone became jackpot winner inside his store. He received a call from the lottery officials the next day and it was amazing to find out one of the members of his local community scooped this incredible amount of cash.

 

According to Dermot Griffin, chief executive of the National Lottery, the total paid out in all Irish Lotto draws in the last 30 years amounts to €4.400.000.000. The largest prize ever won was worth almost €19.000.000 and it was collected by the Dan Morrissey Syndicate from Carlow in June 2008.

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