£6m lure to bring out the vote

THE booths will be busy today, catering for the last-minute rush as thousands of people mark their slips to decide the National Question: not the formation of the 28th Dail, but the outcome of tonight's National Lottery jackpot.

Play early and play often is the National Lottery's message as the jackpot climbs to an estimated £6 million.

The result will be announced shortly after 8 p.m., and if a winner is not found, a recount will take place on Saturday when a record jackpot sum would be likely.

Tonight's jackpot is the second-biggest in the Lotto's nine-year history. It is the first, however, to go to an eighth draw.

"When it reaches this sort of level, public interest goes into over-drive," said a spokeswoman for the National Lottery. "It's not that people spend more money, but more people are brought into the game.

Last Saturday an average of £2.25 was spent by players for the £4,978,490 jackpot. Just before the draw, about £8,000 was being wagered each minute through the Lotto's 2,000 agents nationwide.

The biggest Lotto jackpot to date was £7,486,025, shared last November by two winners, a couple in Cavan and an anonymous syndicate. The biggest single winner was a man living in Tallaght but originally from Hong Kong, who last September scooped £4,744,563. This year's biggest Lotto jackpot of £2,688,433 was won last month by a mother of five from Drogheda.

Meanwhile, the National Lottery yesterday kicked off a new scratch card game with a troupe of Moulin Rouge-style dancers at Dublin Castle. Adopting a French theme, the Fame & Fortune game offers the chance of winning instant prizes of up to £10,000 or up to £250,000 on a weekly TV game show.

Players can also enter for trips to the French capital on Concorde, with £500 spending money, by collecting the letters P, A, R, I and S from Fame & Fortune scratch cards. The game show, presented by Marty Whelan, runs from election night, June 6th, for 13 weeks.