The chances are that the vast majority of readers have played some kind of lottery game in the past.
You know the drill: you pick your six or seven lucky numbers and then cross your fingers, toes and any other appendage for that matter in the hope that your numbers are called and you scoop the jackpot prize.
And your chances of winning the big cash? On the UK lotto, your jackpot odds are 45,057,474 to 1, and on the EuroMillions draw your odds are a cool 139,838,160 to 1.
Yes, holding that ticket is fun and allows you to dream big for a while, but in reality many bettors aren’t spending their money in this way.
Instead, many are turning to the advantages presented by the Irish Lotto for their lottery gaming needs….
How Does the Irish Lotto Work?
Every week, the Irish National Lottery is drawn on a Wednesday and a Saturday.
The object is to pick out your numbers from the 47 available and hope that these are matched by the big money balls draw from the machine – so far, so ordinary.
The difference is that you can play the Irish Lotto with your chosen bookmaker, but that the format of the game is much different.
Here, you are paid out at fixed odds, rather than as a percentage of all winning tickets. And the beauty is that you can land a payout for matching just one ball, with your payout increasing exponentially for every number you match.
You can pick as many balls as you want per line, from one to five, and there are other games where you can pick up to seven numbers.
And you choose your stake too. You can pay £1 per line, £5 or £50….the choice is yours.
Here’s how the payouts look when you play the odds of the Irish Lotto, this may differ slightly from betting site to betting site:
Irish Lotto Betting Odds
| Balls | Odds Without Bonus Ball (6) | Odds With Bonus Ball (7) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 to 1 | 5 to 1 |
| 2 | 60 to 1 | 45 to 1 |
| 3 | 700 to 1 | 375 to 1 |
| 4 | 8,500 to 1 | 4,000 to 1 |
| 5 | 150,000 to 1 | 45,000 to 1 |
As you can see, you might not land that multi-million euro win here, but the opportunity to enjoy consistent, exponential gains is much greater here than it is with any other lottery draw.
When is the Irish Lotto Draw Made?
There are two Irish Lottery draws, and these take place at 20:00 (GMT) on Wednesday and Saturday.
There are three draws within each session: the main draw, a second draw and then the third.
You can play these additional draws by purchasing more tickets with the same numbers as the main draw, although you have to specify at the time of purchase which draws you want to be eligible for.
Remember, your Irish Lotto ticket is based upon the balls drawn in the main Irish National Lottery, and while seven are drawn you can dictate how many numbers you want on your ticket.
Betting on the Irish Lotto
A quick reminder that there are six and seven ball versions of the Irish Lottery, and you can decide which one you wish to play.
You can pick from one to five balls on a line and you also decide on how much you want to stake.
To give you an even greater understanding of why playing the Irish Lotto can be better than purchasing a traditional ticket, here’s a guide how the payouts stack up:
Irish Lotto and National Lottery Payouts
| Balls | National Lotto Odds | Bookie’s Lotto Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | n/a | 6 to 1 (5 to 1 with bonus ball) |
| 2 | n/a | 60 to 1 (45 to 1 with bonus ball) |
| 3 | 8 to 1 | 700 to 1 (375 to 1 with bonus ball) |
| 4 | 49 to 1 | 8,500 to 1 (4,000 to 1 with bonus ball) |
| 5 | 1499 to 1 | 150,000 to 1 (45,000 to 1 with bonus ball) |
| 6 | 2 million+ to 1 | N/A |
As you can see, there can be considerable benefits to playing Irish Lottery games with the bookmaker – the numbers speak for themselves! Please note that the odds shown for the Irish National Lottery may vary slightly from those in the table depending on the numbers of winners. The Irish Lotto that the bookies provide has fixed odds which may vary between sites.
In addition to a straight bet as described above, some bookies offer a range of additional options when it comes to betting on the Irish Lotto.
There are multiple bets, where you can pick up to nine numbers and bet on a variety of multiples within those selections, from doubles and trebles up to five-folds – sort of like placing a Lucky 15 wager on the horses.
And then there’s single ball betting, on which you can bet on the first number drawn, even/odd numbers, over/under per ball (e.g. over/under 24) and so on.
You can even have a flutter on total value betting with some providers. Will the cumulative total of the numbers drawn be 100 or more? Will it fall into specified groups, such as 21-49, 50-75 etc?
Other Irish Lotto Draws
In addition to the Wednesday and Saturday draws, there is also the Daily Million game to consider. The format is exactly the same as the regular Irish Lotto although this is a 39-ball game, based on the daily Irish National Lottery draw.
Here you’ll again need to match between 1 and 5 numbers depending on how many you have picked to get a payout of around 5/1 for 1 number up to around 55,000/1 in the 6 number draw and between 4/1 and around 16,000/1 for the 7 number draw.
There are two Daily Million draws every day at 14:00 and 21:00 (both GMT), and with just 39 numbers available your chance of winning the jackpot are actually better here than they are with the UK Lotto draw.