Could this be Co Monaghan's lucky night? As the Lotto jackpot goes over £6 million, the Border county is the only one in the State yet to record a millionaire.
Tonight's prize will be the third-largest in its 13-year history and it might become the second, depending on the number of people who plan to "have a go" today.
The largest jackpot was in November 1996 when it reached £7,486,025 and there were two winners. The second-largest was in May 1997 when one winner from Cork took home £6,216,048.
The director of the National Lottery, Mr Ray Bates, said he would "bet my immortal soul that it won't reach £7 million but it could go a good chunk over £6 million". He is advising people to "buy early" because there will be a huge rush tonight.
Customers in Co Monaghan have been taking his advice and shops and garages are recording brisk sales of tickets. Ms Brigid Quinn, of Cloughvalley Stores in Carrickmacross, said sales were "flying", and there was someone working "more or less" full time on the lotto machine. "But I expect tomorrow will be worse. I know the lottery people are saying to buy early but everyone always just leaves it to the last minute," she said.
The Monaghan sales are mirroring what is happening across the State, including Holland's newsagents in Williamsgate Street, Galway, which has had three lotto winners. "The last one we had was about six or eight months ago for £2.5 million and one 12 months before that for about £3.5 million," said newsagent Mr Brendan Holland.
It has been called a "lucky shop", but Mr Holland says: "My standard response to that is, `God loves a trier and the Government appreciates your donation'."
Tonight's jackpot has what the National Lottery calls "the Jurassic Park effect". This refers to people who rarely go to the cinema, but have been to see Jurassic Park because "everyone is talking about it", says Mr Bates. In the same way, there will be people who don't buy Lotto tickets but will for the big jackpots to be part of it, he says.
He insists more players don't reduce your chances of winning. "There are 5.2 million ways to pick six numbers out of 42," he says. People who do the Lotto play at least twice, so your chance of winning is at minimum one in 2.6 million.
