Ready to try the Irish lottery? You can learn how to play Irish Lottery at Ladbrokes, discover the rules, the odds, and find out how much you can win. Are you curious to learn? We explain all in.
October 4, 2018 4:25 pmIrish lottery betting is an increasingly popular option offered by a number of top online bookmakers.
It gives punters, both inside Ireland and from elsewhere, the chance to bet on the outcome of the twice weekly Irish Lotto draw.
That may seem like an unusual idea, but it’s attractive to punters as it provides far better odds for matching fewer balls, than playing the lottery in the traditional manner.
Here’s a list of betting sites which have the Irish lottery and below that we’ll show you odds and how to play.
The following is a list of the best bookmakers for Irish Lottery:
The Irish Lotto itself works in the same way as pretty much any other lottery.
Seven balls, comprising six main balls and a bonus, are drawn from a machine containing 47 balls numbered 1 – 47.
Players can pay a £2 stake to select a line of seven numbers and if they correctly match them all, they win the draw’s main jackpot.
Smaller jackpots are then on offer for any players who correctly match at least two main balls and the bonus ball.
The size of those jackpots increase, the more balls are correctly matched.
The main attraction of betting on the Irish Lottery with an online bookmaker, as opposed to entering the actual draw, is you’ll get a payout even if you only match one ball.
When you place your bet you pick your balls (max 5) and select if you want to include the bonus ball in your bet or not.
Payouts are as follows:
Balls | Odds | Odds Inc Bonus |
---|---|---|
One | 6/1 | 5/1 |
Two | 60/1 | 45/1 |
Three | 700/1 | 375/1 |
Four | 8,500/1 | 4,000/1 |
Five | 150,000/1 | 45,000/1 |
So, you’re probably wondering how these odds compare to playing the actual Irish Lotto?
Each Irish Lotto draw offers a main jackpot of at least £1.4 million for matching all six balls but its payouts below that level drop away significantly.
Assuming you’ve picked five numbers at the bookies and included the bonus ball here’s how the payouts compare:
Balls | Lotto Odds | Bookie Odds |
---|---|---|
One | 0 | 5/1 |
Two | 0 | 45/1 |
Two + Bonus | Evens | 375/1 |
Three | 3/1 | 375/1 |
Three + Bonus | 8/1 | 4,000/1 |
Four | 18/1 | 4,000/1 |
Four + Bonus | 54/1 | 45,000/1 |
Five | 550/1 | 45,000/1 |
Five + Bonus | 36,500/1 | 45,000/1 |
Six | Jackpot | 45,000/1 |
The payouts at the bottom end of the spectrum are actually quite a lot better with the boomakers than with the actual Lotto.
However…
Because you only pick a max of 5 balls at the bookies the max you can win is 45,000/1 – you can’t win the full jackpot.
The range of different bets you can place on the Irish Lottery will differ from one bookmaker to the next, but many now offer a wide selection of wagers.
The main type of bet available is a straight bet, odds and payouts as above, where you pick 5 numbers and get a predetermined payout if you match them.
Most online bookmakers also provide a range of other types of bet for punters to place on each Irish Lotto draw. Those can include any or all of the following:
Multiple Bets – Punters can select up to around eight or nine different numbers and bet on the potential multiples which may result when comparing those numbers to an Irish Lotto draw of their choice. Most bookies offering this type of bet will let you bet on multiples from doubles up to five-folds drawn from your chosen numbers. This type of lotto betting is similar to placing Lucky 15, Yankee or similar bets on horse racing.
Single Ball Number Betting – Usually offered on the bonus ball and/or the first ball of a draw, single ball number bets are wagers on what number will appear in that position. They are just as straightforward as they sound and pay out only if a punter guesses the number correctly.
Single Ball Odd/Even Betting – Often provided as a betting option for every ball of a given draw, punters can bet on whether each ball will be odd or even. Some bookies offer individual odds for each ball, whilst others offer odds only for if a player guesses correctly for each of the six or seven (including the bonus) balls of a draw.
Single Ball Over/Under Betting – Some bookies let punters bet on whether each ball of an Irish Lotto draw will be over or under 24 (the mid-way point between one and 47).
Total Value Betting – Punters can place a bet based on the total cumulative value of the six/seven balls drawn. A number of value ranges (21-75, 76-100 etc.) will be provided with differing odds for each of those ranges.
The various different markets described above are generally offered by bookmakers for each and every Irish Lotto draw.
The draws take place twice a week, at 20.00 GMT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Just after each main draw, there are also two supplementary draws known as Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2. A small handful of bookmakers also offer betting markets for those two smaller jackpot draws.