Irish Lotto
Next estimated jackpot:
€2,000,000
About Irish Lotto
Enter the Irish lotto for a chance to win great prizes! On this page, you can learn all you need to know, including how to play the Irish lottery and see the Irish lottery rules, discover the next jackpot, and explore your odds of winning.
Irish Lotto draws are held on Wednesday and Saturday evenings at 7:58 PM local time.
Irish Lotto Overview
Launched in 1988, Irish Lotto is the longest and most popular lottery game in Ireland. In order to enter, participants must choose six numbers between 1 and 47. The price of a ticket is €1.00 per line and players have to enter a minimum of two lines. In order to win a prize, you must match at least two numbers and the bonus Ball.
Irish Lotto also has two supplementary games called Irish Lotto Plus 1 and Irish Lotto Plus 2. Entry into Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 is gained by paying an additional €1.00 per line when entering the main Irish Lotto game on Wednesday and Saturday. As players must purchase a minimum of two entries, the total minimum cost of entering the Plus games is €2.
Irish Lotto Plus 1 was launched in 2000 and has a guaranteed €1 million, players must match all six main numbers from a possible 47. There are seven additional fixed prizes for players who match fewer numbers.
Irish Lotto Plus 2 can also be played alongside Irish Lotto and offers prizes up to €250,000. Players keep the same numbers they played in Irish Lotto when entering Lotto Plus 2 and an entirely new line of winning balls is drawn, giving the player additional chances to win.
All players who play Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 also receive an entry into the Lotto Plus Raffle, which offers multiple prizes of €500 in each draw. With the Lotto Plus Raffle, you get a raffle number between 0000 and 9999, and you can win a prize if you match the four-digit code in the exact order it has been drawn.
Irish Lotto & UK Lotto Comparison
Draw Days
Starting Jackpot
Record Jackpot
Ticket Price
Next Jackpot
Irish Lotto
Wednesday and Saturday
€2 Million
€19 Million
€1
€2,000,000
UK Lotto
Wednesday and Saturday
£2 Million
£66 Million
£2
£7,400,000
You may also find these pages useful:
Statistics
Check out the latest Irish Lotto statistics, updated in real-time after each drawing.
Number Generator
Generate your own Quick Pick results for a future draw, as many times as you like.
Irish Lotto Prizes and Odds
The Irish Lotto jackpot starts at €2 million and has no rollover or jackpot cap. However, Must Be Won draws are held whenever the jackpot has been at its cap for five consecutive draws. With Must Be Won draws, if no one matches all the numbers to win the jackpot, the money rolls down to the other players in the lower prize tiers. The Irish Lotto Plus 1 jackpot is worth €2 million while the Irish Lotto Plus 2 is worth €250,000. In total, there are eight different prize tiers for each game.
The odds of winning the Irish Lotto jackpot are 1 in 10,737,573, whilst the overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 29. More information on all the prizes and odds can be found in the table below.
| Prize Level | % of Prize Fund | Average Prize | Odds of Winning | Winners in Last Draw | Avg. Winners Per Draw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match 6 | Set Jackpot Amount | €4,744,340 | 1 in 10,737,573 | 1 | 0.1 |
| Match 5 + Bonus | 5.37% | €112,661 | 1 in 1,789,596 | 0 | 0.9 |
| Match 5 | 3.22% | €1,733 | 1 in 44,740 | 26 | 30.6 |
| Match 4 + Bonus | 0.81% | €168 | 1 in 17,896 | 85 | 76.6 |
| Match 4 | 5.24% | €52.56 | 1 in 918 | 1,140 | 1,450.7 |
| Match 3 + Bonus | 3.29% | €26.73 | 1 in 688 | 1,661 | 1,924.8 |
| Match 3 | 15.93% | €9.30 | 1 in 54 | 16,710 | 23,113.7 |
| Match 2 + Bonus | Daily Million + Plus Quick Pick | €3 | 1 in 72 | 13,572 | 13,401.8 |
| Prize Level | Lotto Plus 1 Prize | Lotto Plus 2 Prize | Odds of Winning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Match 6 | €1,000,000 | €250,000 | 1 in 70,737,573 |
| Match 5 + Bonus | €5,000 | €2,500 | 1 in 1,789,596 |
| Match 5 | €500 | €250 | 1 in 44,740 |
| Match 4 + Bonus | €50 | €25 | 1 in 17,896 |
| Match 4 | €20 | €10 | 1 in 918 |
| Match 3 + Bonus | €10 | €5 | 1 in 688 |
| Match 3 | €3 | €3 | 1 in 54 |
| Match 2 + Bonus | 2 Daily Million Quick Picks | 2 Daily Million Quick Picks | 1 in 72 |
Top 5 Biggest Irish Lotto Jackpots
1
Jackpot: €19 Million
Date: 15th January 2022
Winners: 1x (Castlebar)
The biggest win in Irish Lotto history went to a family syndicate in Castlebar, County Mayo. The single ticket won after a special “Must be Won” draw was held after the top prize had not been won for over six months and had been at the cap for nearly three months! The win changed Irish Lotto rules forever and a jackpot cap rollover limit was put in after this draw, meaning once the cap is hit it must be won within the next five draws.
2
Jackpot: €18.9 Million
Date: 28th June 2008
Winners: 1x (Bennekerry)
It was a syndicate of 16 quarry workers from Bennekerry, County Carlow that were the record holders for nearly 14 years after their €18.9 million win in June 2008. The record jackpot was reached in just under two months after lottery fever took over Ireland and players flocked in their thousands to enter the biggest jackpot the game had seen at the time. Each player took home €1.1 million each, including two workers who were on holiday at the time and had quite the surprise when they came back to work!
3
Jackpot: €16.7 Million
Date: 14th April 2010
Winners: 1x (Dungarvan)
Only one person knows the identity of the winner of the third biggest jackpot of all time, and that’s the owner of the shop who sold the ticket after the winner decided to remain anonymous. The shop owner in Dungarvan, County Waterford, said the win couldn’t have happened to a nicer person after the winner got in contact with them before claiming the win.
4
Jackpot: €16.3 Million
Date: 23rd October 2010
Winners: 1x (Dublin)
The €16.3 million win was also the 400th millionaire made by the National Lottery in Ireland. The anonymous winner did state that he chose his own numbers when he bought his ticket at the Donnybrook Fair supermarket in Dublin, and that he planned to share his winnings with his family.
5
Jackpot: €16.1 Million
Date: 28th July 2007
Winners: 1x (WA)
The biggest ever Irish Lotto prize at the time was won by the Cunningham Family in County Cork, setting the record that was quickly beaten the following year. The Quick Pick ticket was bought at Twomey’s Centra Shop in Farranree and the family of seven came forward to claim their prize at the lottery headquarters a few days later.
History of the Irish Lotto
When the lottery was launched, there were only 36 numbers to choose from and draws only took place once a week on Saturdays. Jackpots were also smaller and they were starting at 250,000 Irish pounds.
The second draw, which takes place on Wednesday evenings, was added in 1990. The number selection rose to 42 in September 1994 and again to 45 in November 2006. In September 2015, it rose to 47 numbers.
In 2000, Lotto Plus 1 was added as a supplementary game, followed by Lotto Plus 2 in 2002. In 2015, the Raffle Draw was added which gives the Irish Lotto players another chance to win prizes.
Irish Lotto Quick Stats
Below you will see the current hot and cold numbers for Irish Lotto, meaning these are the numbers that have been selected a frequently and rarely in recent draws. More stats like these can be found using the button below to see all the Irish Lotto statistics.
Hot Results
- 27
- 29
- 42
- 38
- 10
Cold Results
- 36
- 33
- 26
- 46
- 11