The National Lottery offers many games where you can bet and hope luck strikes this time. But have you tried playing the Irish Lotto? Do you know how to play it?
If not, you’re at the right place. We’ll explain how does the Irish Lottery work, its rules, what Irish lottery prizes you can win, and more.
How Does The Irish Lottery Work?
As we said, you’re one step closer to becoming a millionaire/winning a jackpot by playing the Irish Lotto.
Before we tell you how it works and how many numbers in Irish Lotto there are, let’s stroll down history and learn when the Irish National Lottery games of luck began.
Brief History of The Irish National Lottery
Interestingly, the ‘lotto’ wasn’t the first game introduced by the National Lottery. Instead, it was the scratches (scratch tickets or cards) in March 1987.
Consequently, the scratches opened the way to other lucky games with valuable prizes like the ‘Lotto’ in April 1988. Afterwards, more games started showing up (EuroMillions, Lotto Plus, TV Bingo, instant games, etc.).
You might also be interested in: How does Lotto Hotpicks work?
How Many Numbers in Irish Lotto Are There?
Playing the Irish Lotto is quite simple.
To make things more convenient, the National Lottery of Ireland offers a mobile app. Consequently, the mobile application lets you bet on a lotto ticket from anywhere in the world. But you must be 18 years old to participate in the lottery draw or any other instant games they offer.
The Irish Lotto is a six-ball drawing game. Hence, the players need to choose 6 numbers from a pool of 47 lotto numbers.
Once you put your favourite numbers on the lotto ticket, you wait for the draw and see which six (randomly) chosen numbers from the “jumping” lotto balls are the winning ones. Additionally, the Irish Lotto also offers two bonus games — Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2. Eventually, these bonus games increase your chances of winning the lotto draw.
* To play the Irish Lotto, you must purchase 2 lines.
Read More: Is Today My Lucky Day to Gamble?
To find out whether you’re the jackpot winner of a minimum €2 million, follow closely the draws every Wednesday and Saturday at 7:55 pm. Or, better yet, you can watch them live on RTÉ One.
Bonus Info: The Irish Lotto jackpot cap is set at €19.06 million.
How To Play Irish Lottery?
How the Irish Lottery is played depends mainly on whether you want to play online or pay for lotto ticket(s) in-store.
If you’re playing online:
- You must create an account with the Irish National Lottery.
- Complete two lines (minimum) on the ticket shown on your screen. At this point, you can choose between multiple options:
- Type in the preferred numbers — 1-47;
- If you played before, you could use the numbers you chose the last time you played (they’re automatically saved).
- You can also use the ‘Quick Pick’ numbers option. This feature chooses random numbers instead of you.
- Lastly, make a ‘My Favourite Numbers’ list. Every time you play online, you can quickly scan through them.
- The ‘Lotto Plus’ is optional.
- ‘Advance Play’ draw – lets you choose how many draws your numbers will play in (1, 2, 4, or 8).
- ‘Click Play’ — before submitting the lotto numbers, you can check whether all’s good.
When paying for a lotto ticket in-store, you should:
- Get a lotto payslip at a dedicated place where lotto tickets are being sold.
- Fill out the payslip with your six chosen numbers in each panel.
- You can also choose ‘Quick Pick’ — in the ‘Quick Pick’ panels on the payslip, just mark the box.
You can also try playing another lotto game the Irish National Lottery offers – The Pick 3.
How To Play Irish Lottery 3 Numbers – Pick 3
The Pick 3 lottery gives you three chances to win prizes like a nice sum of money (up to €500).
How is that possible? Because there are 3 draws a day — every day! The draws take place at 1 pm, 6 pm, and 9 pm.
Here’s how it’s played:
- Choose three numbers (0-9).
Extra Info: The order of your numbers matters for some types of play. Try to remember it!
- Now choose which type of play you’d like to bet on (Straight, Box, Straight/Box, Pair, & Combo).
- Determine the number of plays, i.e. draws you want to make.
- Set the amount of money you want to bet (€0.50 or €1).
Important: The betting amount you choose determines the value of the prize. Therefore, €0.50 = €250, whereas €1 = €500.
- Ensure your selections are correct and confirm your bets.
* Combo bets work differently. Check the official website of the Irish National Lottery.
Conclusion
To conclude, everything said — playing the Irish Lotto isn’t at all complicated. At least it isn’t now that we know all the Irish lotto rules, how does the Irish Lottery work, what the prizes are, etc.
If you’re aiming to win the €2 million jackpot, be aware that 26% of your fellow Brits are playing too.
FAQ:
Do you get anything for 2 numbers on the Irish Lottery?
Unfortunately, ONLY 2 matching numbers on the Irish Lottery won’t win you anything.
How much do you get for 4 numbers on the Irish Lottery?
If you get four matching numbers on the Irish Lottery, you’re entitled to 5.24 per cent of the prize fund.
How many numbers do you need to win something on the Irish Lottery?
To be eligible for at least the minimum Irish Lottery prize, you need two matching numbers + a Bonus Ball.
What number does the Irish Lottery go up to?
The Irish Lottery numbers don’t go above 47. In other words, you can play the numbers starting from 1 to 47.
How much is the Irish Lottery?
As we’ve mentioned in our how does the Irish lottery work article, you need two lines (minimum) per draw to play the Irish Lotto.
Therefore, you won’t spend more than €4. That is unless you need more lines – which will cost you €1/line.