The National Lottery achieved record sales of €679 million last year, boosted by a doubling in the sales of its EuroMillions game. EuroMillions sales reached €145.3 million, up from €59.1 million in 2005 and now account for 21.4 per cent of revenue. Ciarán Brennanreports.

However, sales in its key group of Lotto games continued to slip, totalling €361.9 million compared with €377.2 million the previous year.

National Lottery director Dermot Griffin said that sales of its core Lotto product had not taken a hit from the introduction of the Europe-wide EuroMillions game, but reflected changes in Irish society during the economic boom where the minimum prize-fund had not kept pace with the rate of change. "We introduced the EuroMillions without cannibalising any other game to a great extent, but the Lotto games were a bit flat and we did need to refresh them," he said.

"When the Lotto was introduced first with a jackpot of €1 million, you were made for life. But the Lotto game wasn't what it was when we introduced it. Players wanted a bigger game and more excitement."

Since the minimum jackpot was increased to €2 million in November, sales of Lotto, Lotto Plus and Lotto 5-4-3-2-1 games increased by about €10 million in the fourth quarter. However, the National Lottery did not reveal how much of this was due to the increase of the price per line from €1 to €1.50 or from an increased number of players.

"More people are playing than before we made the change."

Scratchcard sales, which represent 23 per cent of turnover, totalled €157.4 million, down €4.1 million, while TellyBingo sales fell to €14.5 million in 2006 from €18.7 million in the previous year.

A total of €218 million was raised for good causes during 2006, up €15 million from 2005, the company said.

While total costs rose by €11 million to €99 million, they were maintained at 14.6 per cent of sales. Costs of sales amounted to €79.8 million in 2006, which included agents' commissions and bonuses of €42.1 million.