Irish Lotto


Here at Online Lotto we will dig out all of the facts and figures about the Irish Lottery, keeping you up-to-date with all the latest news, results, winners, rollovers and big jackpot wins.

The first Irish Lotto draw took place on Saturday 16th April 1988, and was introduced to replace the Irish Sweepstakes. It was also introduced with the aim of raising money for Irish Good Causes. The rules and the lotto matrix have changed several times since the lotto was introduced, and today players are required to match six numbers from a possible 45 numbers in order to win the jackpot.

Playing the Irish Lottery

The draws for the Irish Lottery take place every Wednesday and Saturday evening at 8.00pm GMT. To play the Irish Lotto, players must first choose six numbers from 45. During the draw, six numbers are drawn initially, and then one further number, a Bonus Ball, is drawn from the remaining numbers which helps players win supplementary prizes


Click here to play the Irish Lotto

Winning the Irish Lottery

To be a winner of the Irish Lottery jackpot you must have matched all six numbers drawn with the numbers on your ticket. You can also win prizes if you match 5 main numbers plus the bonus number, 5 main numbers, 4 main numbers plus the bonus number, 4 main numbers, 3 main numbers plus the bonus number or 3 of the main numbers.

The odds of winning the Irish Lottery jackpot are 1 in 8,145,060, but the overall odds of winning a prize when playing the Irish Lottery are a much better 1 in 42. The biggest jackpot to date was for €19,060,800, which was won one lucky player from Castlebar in Co Mayo, on 15th January 2022.

Besides the main online Lotto draw there are many other games to play on the Irish Lottery including the Daily Million, the Millionaire Raffle (held several times a year), Lotto Plus 1, Lotto Plus 2 and Lotto 5-4-3-2-1. Players in Ireland can also take part in the Euromillions, as Ireland is a participating country.

The Irish Lottery is currently operated and managed by the An Post National Lottery Company, a subsidiary of Ireland’s postal service provider An Post, on behalf of the Irish Minister for Finance. The Irish Lottery itself is governed and regulated by the Irish Government through The National Lottery Act, 1986. However, the operation of the Irish Lottery is up for review in 2013, with several lottery providers currently interesting in taking over.

Meanwhile, if you want to buy tickets to play the Irish Lottery simply and easily from your computer, you can do simply by following the Irish Lottery banner above. Let’s just hope you have the luck of the Irish on your side!