The National Lottery, which is set to be awarded a second licence by the Government, created 30 new millionaires last year, bringing the total number of Lotto millionaires to 161 since its establishment in 1987.

The largest jackpot won in 2000 was £5.2 million (€6.6 million) and was shared between two winning tickets.

The Department of Finance is currently considering the National Lottery's bid for the second lottery licence. Two other bids were submitted at the first phase of the selection process, one from the Autotote Lottery Corporation and another from Sisal. Neither proceeded to the second phase, which closed on February 28th last.

An Post chief executive Mr John Hynes said it was still awaiting a decision. "In the meantime, we will continue to concentrate on our core business of running the National Lottery in a way that optimises funds for beneficiaries, minimises costs and rewards players so that their interest in playing our games continues."

In 2000 the National Lottery achieved both a modest increase in the surplus raised for good causes and in the prizes paid to players of the Lotto and Lotto games.

The surplus increased by just 2 per cent to £128.2 million compared with £125.5 million, reflecting the maturity of the lottery. Mr Hynes said the total surplus generated since its inception was £1.2 billion or 33 pence of every £1 spent on its products. The total prize money increased by 5 per cent to £203.7 million and is equal to 52.2 per cent of Lotto sales during 2000.

The funds raised were allocated by the Government to good causes. The largest proportion was paid to youth, sport, recreation and amenities which benefited to the tune of £58.1 million. Art, culture and heritage causes received £48 million, health and welfare got £25.4 million while £1.9 million went to Irish-language projects.

Lotto sales increased to £390.1 million and were mainly driven by the success of its TeleBingo game. In its first full year of operation, TeleBingo achieved sales of £15.6 million.

The National Lottery also launched Lotto Plus in October 2000, which has generated sales of £7.3 million in the first two months.

Sales of the main Lotto game were slightly weaker though, at £248 million compared with £251.9 million in 1999 and Lotto 5-4-3-2-1 had sales of £9 million.

Instant scratch card games were also down on 1999 levels which were helped by a special £1 million Millennium draw. In 2000, however, instant games sales were still very strong at £110.3 million.

Its operating costs were also reduced to 14.9 per cent of sales at £58.2 million. Of this, £24.3 million was paid to Lotto agents in commission and bonuses. The remaining £33.9 million went towards funding the company's other operating expenses.