Clare Lotto Player Misses One Number—And Still Wins €42,031

One Irish Lotto player came within a single main number of Wednesday’s jackpot. The consolation was hardly small: €42,031.

The winning Quick Pick was purchased on September 9 at Clancy’s Centra in Loughville, on Lahinch Road in Ennis, County Clare. It matched five of the six main numbers—13, 16, 18, 31, 34, and 38—plus the bonus number, 29.

No ticket matched all six main numbers, so the jackpot rolled toward an estimated €2.8 million for Saturday. But this near miss offers a better lesson than another jackpot headline: the bonus ball can separate an ordinary secondary prize from the largest non-jackpot payout in the draw.

Five numbers plus the bonus meant €42,031

Irish Lotto draws six main numbers and then a bonus ball. To win the jackpot, all six main numbers must appear on the same line. The Clare ticket matched five main numbers and the bonus, placing it in the Match 5 + Bonus tier.

That distinction mattered enormously on September 9. Four tickets matched five main numbers without the bonus and received €4,238 each. The lone Match 5 + Bonus winner collected €42,031—nearly ten times as much.

Lower tiers were busy too. Twenty-six Match 4 + Bonus tickets won €164, while 552 Match 4 tickets won €47. In all, more than 58,000 players won prizes across the Lotto and Lotto Plus draws that night.

The takeaway is simple: check the bonus ball even after you know the jackpot is gone. LuckMaker’s latest lottery results lets players review the full draw, while the lottery that issued the ticket remains the authority for validation and claims.

The prize tier changes from draw to draw

A Match 5 + Bonus label does not guarantee the same cash amount every night. On September 7, no one won that tier, and its listed prize was €14,126. On September 5, two Match 5 + Bonus winners received €40,215 each. Wednesday’s single winner received €42,031.

Those figures reflect the game’s prize structure and activity in each draw. Players should not assume that matching the same number of balls will always produce the same payment.

That is why comparing games involves more than looking at the biggest jackpot. Visit /games for ticket prices, schedules, odds, and prize formats. Check the LuckMaker Score at luckmaker3000.com/games, our proprietary 0–100 game rating.

LuckMaker covers 98 games across 25 U.S. states and 9 international markets, including games where bonus balls, multipliers, and add-ons can change how a ticket is evaluated.

A Quick Pick won, but it did not predict the draw

The Ennis ticket was a Quick Pick, meaning its line was generated randomly. That does not make machine-generated selections more likely to win than personally chosen numbers. Every valid combination has the same chance in a fair draw.

If you want a clean random line without leaning on birthdays or familiar patterns, LuckMaker’s Lucky Number Generator can create unbiased selections for supported games. It is a convenience tool, not a forecast.

Whichever selection method you use, save the game, draw date, complete number line, retailer, and ticket image in Ticket Vault. Keep the original ticket secure because a photo is an organizational record, not a replacement for the claim document. The Irish National Lottery has advised the Clare winner to sign the back and contact its Prize Claims team.

A near miss still needs a real plan

€42,031 is far below the jackpot, but it is large enough to deserve deliberate handling. The winner should confirm the claim rules and consider local tax and financial guidance before making major commitments.

LuckMaker’s Lottery Tax Calculator is designed for estimating U.S. lottery taxes, so it should not be treated as an Irish tax calculation. International winners need advice specific to their own jurisdiction and circumstances.

Wednesday’s Clare result is a reminder that “not the jackpot” does not mean “not a major win.” One bonus number turned five matched main balls into the draw’s standout secondary prize. Check every field, store every ticket in Ticket Vault, and let the full prize table—not only the jackpot banner—tell you what the ticket is worth.