How to Bet on the Irish Lotto: Tickets vs Bookmaker Numbers Bets, the New 6/45 Odds and the Real Maths

Updated 16 Oct 2026 · By the IrishBetGuide team

"Betting on the Lotto" means two very different things in Ireland. You can buy a National Lottery ticket and play for the jackpot, or you can walk into a bookie's (or open an app) and bet on which numbers come out of the draw at fixed odds. The rules, the odds and the maths are completely different. The Lotto itself also changed in September 2026, so a lot of what's floating around online is now out of date. Here's how both work, step by step, with the numbers done properly.

18+ only. Draw facts are from National Lottery information as reported in October 2026; check lottery.ie for the current rules. Bookmaker prices below are invented for illustration. Cloudbet, which we link to, holds a Curaçao licence and is not licensed by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), and isn't a place to buy Lotto tickets. If the Lotto is turning into more than a bit of fun, the Problem Gambling Helpline is free and 24/7 on 1800 936 725 (NI: 08000 886 725).

The Lotto after the September 2026 changes

The National Lottery's Lotto game was revamped in September 2026. The headline changes, as reported at the time:

• Six numbers from 1 to 45, down from 47. Fewer balls means better odds of winning each prize tier.
• Three draws a week: a new Monday draw alongside Wednesday and Saturday, all at 7:55pm, shown on lottery.ie and on RTÉ One.
• Prices unchanged: €2 per line, with a minimum of two lines, so €4 to play. Lotto Plus is an extra €1 per line, taking the minimum to €6.
• The Lotto Plus Raffle was retired, and the Lotto Plus 2 jackpot was reported to have increased to €1 million.

Ticket sales close shortly before the draw (reported as 7:45pm). If you're used to the old 47-ball game or the Wednesday/Saturday rhythm, update your mental model before you play.

Option 1: how to play a Lotto ticket, step by step

1. Choose where to buy. In a shop with a National Lottery terminal, or online at lottery.ie with a registered account. You must be 18 or over either way.
2. Pick six numbers from 1 to 45 on each line, or ask for a Quick Pick and the terminal will choose them at random. You need at least two lines.
3. Decide on Lotto Plus. For €1 a line, your same numbers go into the Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 draws as well, which have fixed prizes rather than a rolling jackpot.
4. Choose how many draws. You can play a single draw or several in advance; options reported include 1, 3, 6 or 12 draws.
5. Pay and keep your ticket safe. A shop ticket is a bearer document: whoever holds it can claim. Sign the back. Online, tickets are stored in your account.
6. Check the results. Draw results go up on lottery.ie and the app after each draw. Online players are usually notified of wins automatically.
7. Claim any prize. Small prizes can typically be claimed in a shop; bigger prizes go through the National Lottery directly. Check lottery.ie for the current claim limits and deadlines, and don't leave a ticket in a drawer for months.

Your odds on a Lotto ticket

With six main numbers drawn from 45 and a bonus ball drawn from the remaining 39, here are the odds per line for each prize tier. We worked them out from first principles and they match the figures published with the September 2026 change.

Overall, a line wins some prize about 1 time in 25.4. The jackpot is 1 in 8,145,060 per line, which is the number of possible six-number combinations from 45. Put another way: if you played two lines in every draw, three draws a week, you'd expect to wait on the order of 26,000 years for a jackpot. Play it for the dream and the chat, not for the plan.

What a euro on Lotto Plus is "worth"

Lotto Plus is a useful one to look at, because its prizes are fixed amounts. Using the fixed prize table reported for Lotto Plus 1 and Plus 2 after the change (€1 million for six numbers, €1,000 for five plus bonus, €100 for five, €25 for four plus bonus, €10 for four, €6 for three plus bonus, €2 for three, €3 for two plus bonus), the expected return per line per Plus draw works out at about 24 cent. Since €1 buys you an entry into both Plus draws, that's an expected return of roughly 48 cent per euro spent, with about half of that coming from the tiny chance of the €1 million prize.

In plain English: on average, around half of every euro you put into Lotto Plus comes back in prizes and the rest goes to the operator, good causes and costs. That's normal for lotteries, which are among the lowest-returning forms of gambling, and it's why they're best treated as a small weekly treat.

Option 2: betting on the Lotto draw with a bookmaker

Bookmakers in Ireland have long offered fixed-odds bets on the outcome of lottery draws, including the Irish Lotto. You aren't buying a National Lottery ticket and you can't win the jackpot. Instead, you pick between one and five numbers and bet that they'll all come out in the draw, at odds the bookmaker sets.

How a numbers bet works

1. Choose the draw: Monday, Wednesday or Saturday main Lotto, or sometimes Lotto Plus draws.
2. Choose how many numbers: one, two, three, four or five.
3. Choose whether the bonus ball counts. Some bookmakers offer a "6-ball" version, where your numbers must come out among the six main numbers, and a "7-ball" version, where the bonus ball counts too. The 7-ball version is easier to win and pays less.
4. Pick your numbers and stake. Unlike a ticket, you choose the stake, within the bookmaker's limits.
5. Bet before the cut-off. Bookmakers close betting before the draw; late bets are rejected or voided.
6. Settlement is on the official draw result. If all your numbers come out, you're paid at the odds.

The true odds of a numbers bet

With 45 balls, here are the real chances of your numbers coming out, and the "fair" decimal price that would give the bookmaker no edge at all:

Comparing a bookmaker price with the fair price

Bookmakers pay less than the fair price; that's their margin. Prices vary by bookmaker and change over time, so check them yourself. Here's an invented example to show how to measure the edge on the 6-ball game:

The edge is simply one minus the bookmaker's price divided by the fair price. A pattern you'll often see across bookmakers is that the edge grows as you pick more numbers: the big, exciting payouts on three, four or five numbers are usually where the bookmaker takes its biggest cut. If you do bet numbers, the cheapest bets in margin terms tend to be the one- and two-number bets, but run the sums on the actual prices you're offered.

Ticket or bookmaker bet: which suits you?

If what you enjoy is the dream of the jackpot, only a ticket gives you that. If you prefer knowing exactly what a small bet pays, a one- or two-number bookmaker bet does that, but there's no jackpot, and the money doesn't go to good causes.

The fight over betting on the Lotto

Betting on lottery outcomes is controversial in Ireland. In April 2026, the National Lottery's operator publicly called for a ban on bookmakers taking bets on its draws, as reported by RTÉ and The Irish Times, arguing that it costs the National Lottery sales and, with them, money for good causes. Bookmakers have offered these bets for many years under their existing licences. The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 and the new GRAI regime may change how lottery-style products are treated over time, so it's worth checking the current position before you bet. We'll update this page if the rules change.

Picking numbers: myths and one useful truth

Every draw is random, and every combination of six numbers is exactly as likely as any other. So:

• "Hot" and "cold" numbers mean nothing. A number that hasn't come up for weeks isn't "due"; the balls have no memory.
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 is as likely as any other line. It looks impossible, but it isn't any less likely.
• Systems can't change the odds. Wheeling systems and "coverage" schemes just buy more lines.

The one useful truth: on a ticket, which numbers you pick can affect how much you'd win, even though it can't change your chance of winning. Lots of people play birthdays, so numbers from 1 to 31 are popular. If a jackpot falls on popular numbers, it's more likely to be shared among several winners. Picking some numbers above 31, or using a Quick Pick, doesn't make you more likely to win, but it can make a win less likely to be split. This doesn't apply to bookmaker numbers bets, which pay fixed odds no matter how many others picked the same numbers.

Syndicates: playing with friends or workmates

A syndicate pools money to buy more lines and shares any prizes. It's a great craic, and it lets a group play more lines than any one person would. If you run one, keep it simple and fair:

• Write down who's in, how much each person pays, and how prizes are split.
• Keep a list of the numbers played and photograph each ticket before the draw.
• Agree what happens if someone misses a payment, before it happens.
• Keep it to amounts nobody will miss.

Disputes over syndicate wins are rare, but when they happen they can ruin friendships. A one-page agreement that everyone signs removes almost all of the risk.

Budgeting for the Lotto with three draws a week

The new Monday draw is a quiet but important change. If you used to spend €6 on Lotto and Plus twice a week, doing the same across three draws means €18 a week, or about €936 over a year. That's real money for a game that returns around half of what you spend on average. Decide what you're happy to spend each week across all draws, not per draw, and stick to it. If you also bet with a bookmaker on draw numbers, include that in the same budget.

Licensing and where you bet

National Lottery tickets are sold by the licensed National Lottery operator through shops and lottery.ie. Bookmaker numbers bets are offered by bookmakers under their own licences; from 1 July 2026, remote bookmakers taking bets from people in Ireland need a GRAI licence. Cloudbet is a crypto sportsbook and casino licensed in Curaçao, not GRAI-licensed, and it isn't a place to buy National Lottery tickets. For a comparison of bookmakers' lotto markets, see our guide to betting sites for the Irish lottery, and for the wider rules, our Irish law guide.

Responsible gambling

Lotto feels harmless because the stakes are small, but three draws a week plus online games and bookmaker numbers bets can add up. Warning signs include spending more than you planned, buying extra lines to "cover" numbers you've been playing, or feeling anxious about missing a draw. If any of that rings true, talk to someone. The Problem Gambling Helpline is free, confidential and open 24/7 on 1800 936 725, or 08000 886 725 from Northern Ireland. More on our responsible gambling page.

The short version

Since September 2026, Lotto is six numbers from 45, three draws a week (Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 7:55pm), €2 a line with a two-line minimum, and €1 a line extra for Plus. The jackpot odds are 1 in 8,145,060 per line, and Lotto Plus returns roughly half of every euro on average. A bookmaker numbers bet lets you pick one to five numbers at fixed odds, with no jackpot; the margin usually grows with more numbers. Pick numbers above 31 if you want to avoid sharing a jackpot, never believe in "due" numbers, and set a weekly budget across all draws.