LOTTERY fever is gripping a North-East town after it emerged yesterday that it is home to yet another winner.

Darlington's third lucky punter scooped more than £4,000 on the Irish Lottery last Wednesday, the same week that Anita Wynne won £3.6m and three days before Barry Moss won £7.5m on the National Lottery.

The unnamed winner of the Irish Lottery placed a £1 bet at Stanley Racing's Darlington branch last week.

The gambler bet that four numbers - 6, 17, 25 and 31 - would be among the six drawn on Wednesday night, and they came up, along with 26 and 33.

John Cooper, of Stanley Racing, said that last week's win was the largest amount they have paid out on the Irish Lottery this year.

He added that he could not give odds on the likelihood of another lottery jackpot winner coming from Darlington.

"We can't give the odds for that, but needless to say they would be astronomical," he said.

Sales of lucky dip lottery tickets at Safeway in Victoria Road have risen already since Mr Moss bought his lucky dip ticket there, winning him £7.5m on Saturday's draw.

Nicola Scott, 22, is one of the kiosk staff who could have sold him the winning ticket.

She is working part-time at the supermarket during the summer before she returns to the University of Teesside in September to complete her degree in design marketing.

Nicola explained how pleased all of the staff are for Mr Moss and his partner, Pat Herriott.

"I have met them and they're a really nice couple, they really deserved it," she said.

"On a Saturday you don't really think about handing over a winning lottery ticket. You sell about 3,000, so you're too busy.

"I don't think any of us are jealous of them, though, we're just really happy for them."

Heather Bell, duty manager at the Safeway store said that they are already detecting a boost in lottery sales.

"There has been a slight rise in lucky dip ticket sales already, so we are definitely expecting an increase in sales by Saturday."

However, a spokesman for Supercigs, in Queen Street, Darlington, where Mrs Wynne bought her jackpot winning lottery ticket, said that their sales dropped slightly the week after her windfall.

Ticket sales fell from 5,427 to 5,416, which the spokesman said could be because locals did not expect the town to experience such good luck two weeks in a row