Hopeful members of the public spent more than €559 million last year on National Lottery games and scratch cards, an indication that many believe the promotional slogan, "It could be you".
The National Lottery published its annual report yesterday, claiming a strong set of results for 2003 and a 4.9 per cent increase in sales on the previous year.
A record €186.7 million, 8 per cent more than in 2002, was raised for distribution by the Government to "good causes", including sport, the arts and health. Some €294.3 million was returned to players in prizes, an overall prize payout level of 52.6 per cent. Thirty-four people became Lotto millionaires in 2003.
The National Lottery said 86 cent of every euro spent on National Lottery games was returned to the people of Ireland, either as prizes or as funding for good causes.
The Lotto games, including Lotto, Lotto Plus and Lotto 5-4-3-2-1, account for 70 per cent of total sales at €392.3 million. Sales for the Lotto game itself were marginally down on 2002, at €279.7 million. However, the National Lottery said this was "more than offset" by the performance of Lotto Plus.
Since the foundation of the National Lottery 17 years ago, some €2 billion in funding has aided projects in the sports, arts, culture, community, Irish language and health sectors.
National Lottery director Mr Ray Bates said the body's operating costs, at 14 per cent of sales, were among the lowest of any national lottery in operation. He said it was a figure that marked the efficiency of the National Lottery's operations and one of which the body was "very proud" because it meant maximising the "bottom line".
"We're not here to run a lottery - we're here to raise money for good causes by running a lottery," he said.
He praised the National Lottery's "extraordinary figures".
"We are convinced there isn't a community or a parish in Ireland that has not already felt the benefit and the goodness coming from our 'good cause' expenditure by the Government."
He also said the possibility of playing Lotto games on mobile phones, as reported in the media, was still at a very early stage and would be considered as part of an overall process of designing and introducing new games.
He gave assurances, however, that children would not be able to use mobile phones to gamble in the event of the introduction of such a game, because the process would probably involve registration with verifiable details of the player's age. It might also involve depositing money into a secure account, he said.