21/01/2013

New Lotto Bill Gives Benefit Investigators Power To Check Winners

A new Lotto Bill will give social welfare investigators the powers to find out if Lotto jackpot winners are still claiming benefits.

However the new law will not require the National Lottery to pass on the names of winners automatically.

Under the law the name of a particular person, whom the Department of Social Protection are suspicious about, will be passed to the National Lottery where it will be checked against Lotto winners.

An estimated 70% – more than 300 of the country's 452 Lotto millionaires – have opted to keep their identities a secret and the Department of Social Protection currently has no powers to find out their names.

This means it is technically possible for Lotto millionaires to continue to receive social welfare payments, even though they would fail the means test if the department was aware of their €1m-plus windfall.

(H)


Related Irish News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

09 May 2019
Tipperary Lotto Player Wins €1m
A lotto player in County Tipperary has won the top prize of €1 million in last night's Lotto Plus 1 draw. The winning ticket was purchased at the Applegreen store in Moangarrif, Clonmel. The Lotto Plus 1 numbers on Wednesday, 08 May, were: 2, 4, 13, 17, 23, 27 and the bonus ball was 26.
14 August 2012
Lotto History Made By Matching Winning Tickets
Lotto history was made when two winning tickets with the same numbers were sold in shops just half a mile apart. The newsagents who sold the matching tickets believe the winners are likely to be from the same family.
30 July 2008
National Lottery Porsche Winners Fail To Claim Prize
The countdown has begun for five winners of Porsche sports cars who haven't claimed their prizes, according to lottery chiefs. The Porsche Cayman sports cars are worth over €100,000 each and were won during May in special Lotto draws for players who matched five numbers and the bonus number.
01 July 2008
Quarry Winners No Longer Dig Deep After Scooping Lotto Jackpot
A 16-strong syndicate of quarry workers are getting used to their new millionaire status, after claiming their record jackpot prize in the Irish lotto. Some of the men even managed to clock in for work despite scooping a share in Ireland's biggest ever Lotto windfall.
21 March 2024
BCC Unveils Refreshed Strategic Plan For Belfast City Centre
New plans to support the most vulnerable in Belfast while growing the economy, regenerating neighbourhoods and achieving climate targets have been published in a refreshed strategic plan for the city. First published in 2017, the Belfast Agenda set out joint vision for the city up to 2035.