Europe’s luckiest city
The Irish National Lottery is held every year. Jackpots are collected over several months and the prize money only grows year on year.
Castlebar is the administrative centre of County Mayo in Ireland. It is a pretty small town with a population of 15,000 or less and is a pretty homely place with a typical small town feel. And it is Castlebar that is known for its lucky residents. The town has already made a splash across Europe four times – its residents have won over eighty million euros in the lottery in total.
2014
The first super-prize arrived in the county of Meio in 2014. At that time the jackpot took a very long time to play and it was in April that the final lottery was held. 15 million dollars was awarded to the lucky person who guessed all the numbers on the lottery ticket. And it was an anonymous player from Castlebar who was lucky.
2019
The year 2019 was won by a syndicate of players. Inspired by their compatriot’s positive experience, the Irish decided to create a syndicate. It is a special group of people who come together to win the lottery. The syndicate members share their winnings equally amongst themselves. As you might guess, one of the tickets from the Castlebar Syndicate wins. The winnings are a whopping 29 million euros, divided amongst all the participants.
2020
The €17 million for a single person received by a resident of County Mayo is a record sum at the time of the 2020s. The jackpot had been maturing for months and the location of the winner came as no surprise to anyone. Once again, the prize went to a resident of Castlebar.
2022
Even before the next draw it was announced that the Irish National Lottery jackpot would be drawn in January 2022. It had been seven months since any of the jackpots had hit the jackpot, the length of time that lottery rules required for the jackpot to mature.
The jackpot was $80 million, but it was shared by four winning tickets. The chance of guessing 6 numbers out of 47 is one in ten million. Interestingly, before the pause in seven months, the jackpot was won for three consecutive draws. And that’s before a gap of 62 draws, which was a record in lottery history.
As on previous occasions, the winner chose to remain anonymous. According to Alan Mulroy, the manager whose shop purchased the coveted coupon, there was no manipulation – he had purchased the winning ticket on a shared basis and the participant was ready for the jackpot draw. A sign was even put up on the shop before the lottery kicked off, encouraging people to visit Castlebar, Europe’s luckiest town.
The excitement, by the way, was enormous. There was record sales activity – more than in 28 years on aggregate. Practically every second Irishman entered the draw and Mulroy admitted that he hadn’t seen such queues for lottery tickets in a long time. Numbers 2, 9, 16, 30, 37, 40 and the bonus ball 23 won. Moreover, the lottery participant didn’t choose these numbers himself, he made an ordinary auto-betting. The Castlegar resident’s winnings totaled €19 million after tax.