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The Irish Lottery had its start in 1987, and is available to anyone, even if they are not a resident of Ireland. The Irish Lottery can easily be played online. The Irish Lottery offers a guaranteed minimum jackpot of €2 million and the prize fund can roll over as many times as it takes until it is won.
The Irish Lottery offers short odds – the chances of winning any prize are one in 42, or one in 8,145,060 for the jackpot, which is 40 per cent better than with the National Lottery.
Whether playing online or in-store, players will need to select six main numbers. Players can either pick these using the number grid available, or opt for a Quick Pick to generate the numbers on their behalf.
The Irish Lotto Draw take place twice a week on both Wednesday and Saturday. Players will need to decide which draw they would like to enter or whether to play in both draws.
If a player adds 'Plus' to their ticket an extra cost €1 per line will occur (minimum of two lines). Players will now get automatic entry to the Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 draws, along with the Plus Raffle. Three extra chances to win! If players have selected Plus, it will appear on their ticket as "PLUS: YES".
Before a players play-slip is complete they will need to decide how many draws they would like their ticket for. The options include 1, 2, 4 or 8 draws. Some online betting websites such as Jackpot.com will allow players to purchase bets for up to a year in advance, or by subscription.
Numbers Matched | Prize |
---|---|
Match 6 | Jackpot – minimum €2 million |
Match 5 + Bonus Ball | Approximately €100,000 |
Match 5 | Varies (3.22% of Prize Fund) |
Match 4 + Bonus Ball | Varies (0.81% of Prize Fund) |
Match 4 | Varies (5.24% of Prize Fund) |
Match 3 + Bonus Ball | Varies (3.49% of Prize Fund) |
Match 3 | Approximately €9 |
Match 2 + Bonus Ball | €3* |
Players who hold a winning ticket must claim their prize within 90 days of the applicable draw date(s).
Remember – The ticket is the only valid proof of a game played and must be presented to claim a prize, always sign the back!
Prizes may also be claimed at the players own risk by posting it to The National Lottery, Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1.
The first Lotto drawing was held in its original 6/36 format, six numbered balls were drawn from a lottery machine containing 36 balls. Players could win a share of a guaranteed £250,000 jackpot by matching all six numbers, or win smaller prizes by matching four or five numbers. If no winning ticket was sold, the jackpot rolled over for the next draw.
The National Lottery introduced a midweek Lotto draw on Wednesday nights and draws have been held twice weekly since that time.
Lotto became a 6/42 game on, which made the jackpot odds 1 in 5,245,786.
The National Lottery increased the cost of a line of Lotto from £0.50 to £0.75. At this time it also doubled the game's starting jackpot to £1 million and increased most of the game's smaller prizes by 50 percent.
The cost of a line of Lotto became €0.95, and the starting jackpot became €1.269 million (the euro equivalent of £1 million).
The cost of buying two lines increased from €3 to €4 and players must now choose from 47 instead of 45 numbers, lengthening the odds of winning the jackpot to almost 11 million (approximately 10.7 million) to one.
Match | Prize | Odds of Winning |
---|---|---|
6 Numbers | Jackpot | 1 in 10,737,573 |
5 Numbers + Bonus Ball | Estimated €100,000 | 1 in 1,789,596 |
5 Numbers | Varies | 1 in 44,740 |
4 Numbers + Bonus Ball | Varies | 1 in 17,896 |
4 Numbers | Varies | 1 in 918 |
3 Numbers + Bonus Ball | Varies | 1 in 688 |
3 Numbers | Estimated €9 | 1 in 54 |
2 Numbers + Bonus Ball | €3 Daily Million entry with Plus (2 lines) | 1 in 72 |
Remember – there’s no real way to predict the set of winning numbers as drawings are completely random, but there are tried and tested ways to increase your chance to win. The probability that you will win the next draw is monumental – but it can still be tons of fun to try!
Just a few thoughts before we get into it –
Remember – there’s no real way to predict the set of winning numbers as drawings are completely random, but there are tried and tested ways to increase your chance to wina
But first of all – Four-leaf clovers! Are we right or are we right? Four-leaf clovers are an ancient Irish symbol of luck, faith, hope, and love. Another legend has them standing for fame, wealth, health and faithful love. Not a terrible idea having one in hand before we get started!
We will pop in some fun strategies, bonus tips and Lucky Charms for good measure!
. The probability that you will win the next draw is monumental – but it can still be tons of fun to try!
There is a selection of lottery games—and they each have different odds of winning.
According to a poll run by mathematician Alex Bellos, seven is not surprisingly the most popular lucky number in the world.
Seven days of the week, seven wonders of the world, seven continents, seven seas, and the list goes on.
Other traditional lucky numbers include three (as in “good things come in threes”) and four.
Horoscopes: Lucky Numbers for Today
If you’d like to find lucky numbers without having to play around with numbers yourself, your daily horoscope is a good place to turn.
Many horoscopes include predictions of which days will be lucky for you (and you can try playing the lottery on those days).
Choose Rarer Numbers
Picking certain numbers may offer you a slight advantage, not for your chances of winning, but for your payout.
If you win a lottery jackpot, there is a chance that you might have to split the payout with players who picked the same numbers, so you might as well try to select rarer numbers to improve your odds of keeping more of the payout for yourself.
The simplest way to find lucky numbers to play is simply to use a generator. Lucky number generators use numerology, or perhaps simply randomness, to find numbers for you.
In Lotto 6/52, on average, one lottery number will be a repeat hit from the last drawing 56 percent of the time.
Just a note About #LotteryStrategies
Finding and playing lucky numbers is based on fun more than facts. Mathematically, every number has an equal chance of being chosen as a winner.
Remember that there are disadvantages to using traditional lucky numbers as lottery numbers: a lot of other players will be using them, too. That means that if these numbers do win, players chances of having to split the jackpot are high.
Not only does the Irish Lotto offer players “top prize” payouts, but it has multiple ways and chances to win. As previous results and jackpot payouts will show, the Irish Lotto offers players of any income a chance to win and dream BIG!
Match | Prize | Odds of Winning |
---|---|---|
6 Numbers | Jackpot | 1 in 10,737,573 |
5 Numbers + Bonus Ball | Estimated €100,000 | 1 in 1,789,596 |
5 Numbers | Varies | 1 in 44,740 |
4 Numbers + Bonus Ball | Varies | 1 in 17,896 |
4 Numbers | Varies | 1 in 918 |
3 Numbers + Bonus Ball | Varies | 1 in 688 |
3 Numbers | Estimated €9 | 1 in 54 |
2 Numbers + Bonus Ball | €3 Daily Million entry with Plus (2 lines) | 1 in 72 |
The odds of winning any Irish Lotto prize are 1 in 29.
The base jackpot stands at €2 million, although it often rises far above that amount due to regular rollovers. The biggest prize in the game’s history was €18.9 million, which was won by one ticket belonging to a syndicate of 16 quarry workers from County Carlow in June 2008.
*Approximate Odds
Absolutely not! The Irish Lotto was launched in April 1988 and is still going strong over 32 years later. Unfortunately, fake wins with other institutions have become a regular occurrence – so here are a few tips to keep you and your money safe!
Did you receive a notification that you have won a prize in a lottery? Perhaps the Microsoft Lottery? If so, don’t get too enthusiastic as this is almost certainly a scam. Players need to find the winning numbers in a newspaper, the internet, or on TV and compare them to their ticket.
Win notices from foreign lotteries are even more suspicious. Not only do foreign lotteries have the same restriction as domestic lotteries, but it is also illegal to sell tickets for foreign lotteries across international borders.
Therefore, unless a player actually was in a foreign country and bought a lottery ticket, foreign lottery notifications are frauds.
A lottery scam is a type of advance-fee fraud which begins with an unexpected email notification, phone call, or mailing (sometimes including a large check) explaining that “You have won!” a large sum of money in a lottery.
If you receive a letter or email claiming that you won a prize for the New Jersey Cash 5 but did not enter, it is strongly recommended that you:
The biggest note to remember – It’s impossible to win a lottery without buying a ticket!
Irish Lotto is popular with players all over the world due to its favorable odds of winning a multimillion-Euro prize by matching all six main numbers drawn and a second prize tier, with an average payout of €100,000 for matching five numbers and the Bonus Ball. The National Lottery (Irish: An Crannchur Náisiúnta) is the state lottery of Republic of Ireland. It was created when the Republic of Ireland government passed the National Lottery Act, 1986 to help raise funds for good causes.
The eligible causes are sport and recreation, health and welfare, national heritage and the arts, the Irish language, and the natural environment. National Lottery players have raised €5.5 billion for Good Causes across the country since it began selling products back in 1987.
By playing Irish Lotto games, players in Ireland have made a vital contribution to the many thousands of projects, clubs and organisations in communities all over the country since the National Lottery’s inception 32 years ago. Almost 30c from every €1 spent on National Lottery games going back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage and the Irish Language.
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Stay up to date with all the latest Lotto news and Lotto Results by following us on social media.