Wednesday's €17 million draw will now be the second highest in the history of the game.
A Lotto player in a rural Kerry village was just one number shy of winning the third highest jackpot for the Irish lotto of all time on Saturday night.
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Wednesday’s €17 million Lotto jackpot will now become second highest in the history of the game to date.
The Lotto player in Kerry came one number short of the €16,419,005 jackpot after matching five numbers and the bonus to win €257,723.
The winning Normal Play ticket was purchased on the day of the draw at Carson’s Daybreak store in Beaufort village at the foot of Carrantuohill mountain.
Owner of the winning store, Melvin Carson said following the game that his "heart nearly stopped" when the National Lottery called him on Sunday morning.
"I knew I must have sold a big winner," he said.
"What a story that would have been, to have a €16 million euro winner in such a small Kerry village.
“It’s not the jackpot prize but it’s still a brilliant prize for one of my customers to win."
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As there was no winner of the €16,419,005 jackpot on offer in last night’s draw, Wednesday’s jackpot is now estimated to roll to €17 million, the second-highest jackpot ever to be on offer in the history of the game in Ireland.
The current Lotto jackpot has been on an unprecedented roll without a winner since June and is now edging very close to reaching the current jackpot cap.
The Lotto jackpot is currently capped at €18.96 million and this represents the record-breaking Lotto jackpot win by the Dan Morrissey syndicate in Carlow in June 2008.
Once the jackpot exceeds the cap, no more money will be added to the jackpot prize until it is won. The funds that would normally go to the jackpot will be distributed to the next lower prize tier.
If the jackpot is won at an amount higher than €18.96 million, that amount will become the game’s new jackpot cap.
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