€19m Lotto jackpot will be won this weekend...will it be you?

It's got to be won! That's the simple message from the National Lottery after it confirmed it will hold a must-win draw this Saturday for the staggering at €19 million jackpot that has rolled over for more than seven months without a winner.

Approval for a must-be-won draw was granted by the Regulator of the National Lottery this week.

The monster prize has not been won since 9th June and has been capped at €19 million since early October.

Additional money, normally allocated to rollover jackpots, instead flowed down to lower prize tiers.

This Saturday, if there is still no winner of the jackpot, it will flow down to the winners in lower tiers. This will likely result in several winners.

National Lottery spokesperson Fran Whearty said that must-win draws will be held in the future to prevent such long rollovers from happening again, explaining that jackpots are "guaranteed to be won no more than five draws after the cap has been reached".

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland Mr Whearty urged players to play responsibly at the weekend because they are "as likely to win with one ticket, as with multiple".

A statement on that National Lottery's website read:

"We have some exciting news to share, Ireland’s biggest ever Lotto Jackpot of €19,060,800 Guaranteed WILL-BE-WON this coming Saturday 15th January.

"On Saturday night, if the ‘Will-Be-Won’ Lotto jackpot is not won outright, the full value of the jackpot prize will flow down to the winner(s) of the next winning prize tier.

"The current Lotto jackpot has been rolling since Wednesday 9th June 2021 and has remained capped at €19.06 million since Saturday 2nd October. Since then, Lotto players have benefitted from additional prizes worth approximately €23.9 million as prize funds have been boosted at the Match 5 + Bonus and Match 5 tiers.

"Many of our Lotto players want to see this amazing Jackpot won and we are delighted to be able to make this happen. For more information on the new game rules please click here. We are asking all our Lotto players to play early in-store or online before 7.45pm Saturday 15th January.

"If you’re buying a lotto ticket, make sure you only spend what you can afford to lose, remember playing lotto is a game of chance. Play responsibly. Play for fun.

"It could be you!"

Operator of the National Lottery, Premier Lotteries Ireland, and the Regulator of the National Lottery were brought before the Oireachtas finance committee last December.

Both assured members that there was nothing amiss with the lotto draw and that the jackpot rollover was highly unusual.

Their appearance followed interventions by Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan, who described the situation as "unsustainable".

He welcomed the announcement that a must-win draw will be held on 15th January.