How we ranked bookmakers for Irish Lotto betting
The order comes from published lotto prices, the terms attached to them, and each operator’s licence entry on the public register. What a site pays us has no bearing on its place, and neither does the size of a jackpot it advertises.
Lotto promotions and the terms behind them
A lotto offer earns credit when it pays winnings in cash and says plainly whether a free bet returns the stake. A free bet that pays winnings only, carries a short expiry, or can only be used on one-number lines at a reduced price lowers a placing, because its real value shrinks the moment you read the small print.
Deposits, withdrawals and payout of lotto winnings
Debit card and bank withdrawals settled within the published window raise a placing. A site that holds lotto winnings for manual review on every withdrawal, or charges a fee below a set amount, drops down.
Lotto prices and the range of draws covered
We convert each published price to an implied probability and set it against the true chance from a 6-from-47 draw. A three-number price returning above 80% of stakes over time, as 700/1 does, raises a placing; one below 70% lowers it. Separate prices for the Plus 1 and Plus 2 draws count in a site’s favour.
Mobile betting slip and number selection
A slip that lets you pick from a 1-47 grid, shows the potential return before you confirm and states the draw closing time scores well. Hidden cut-off times or a slip that drops your selection lower a placing.
Licence on record and draw settlement rules
A current remote betting licence on the GRAI register, or a legacy Revenue remote bookmaker licence still in force, is the entry condition rather than a bonus. Beyond that, clear settlement rules raise a placing: which draw counts, what happens if a draw is voided, and whether the bonus ball is included. Vague rules lower one.
Customer support on lotto bets and settlements
Support that answers a settlement query through live chat in Irish evening hours, when the draws happen, raises a placing. A site reachable only by email form, or one whose replies simply repeat the general terms without addressing the specific bet, sits lower on the list.
A lotto bet is not a lotto ticket
When you buy a Lotto ticket from the National Lottery, your money goes into a prize pool and you share it with everyone else who matched the same numbers. When you bet on the Irish Lotto with a bookmaker, none of that applies: you are backing a fixed-odds outcome on the same draw, and the bookmaker sets the price before a ball drops.
The difference changes almost everything about how the bet should be judged. A ticket is valued by the jackpot, the rollover and how many others might share it. A bet is valued like any other market in a sportsbook, by comparing the price on offer with the real chance of the outcome.
That is why this page reads more like a guide to a horse-racing market than to a lottery.
There is also no jackpot to chase. You choose between one and five numbers, and every number you choose has to appear among the six main balls for the bet to win. Pick three and get two right, and the bet loses outright; there are no consolation tiers the way a ticket has Match 3 or Match 4 prizes. The return is fixed at the moment you place the slip, so a €2 bet at 55/1 pays €112 including the stake whether one other person backed the same pair or ten thousand did.
How the Irish Lotto draw works
The Irish Lotto is run by the National Lottery and drawn on Wednesday and Saturday evenings at around 20:00. Six main numbers and a bonus ball come out of a pool of 1 to 47, and the same night carries two further draws, Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2, run one after the other.
Each of those three draws is a separate event for betting purposes. Bookmakers that cover the Irish Lotto usually price the main draw and both Plus draws, so a single Wednesday evening can offer three independent markets on the same pick of numbers.
The six-ball and seven-ball versions
Most lotto bets count only the six main balls. Some bookmakers also price a seven-ball version, where the bonus ball counts as a winning number too. Because seven balls give you more chances to be right, the prices are shorter: Ladbrokes, for example, published 6/1 for a single number on the six-ball draw and 5/1 on the seven-ball version. Read which version your slip is on before confirming it, because the two look almost identical on a phone screen.
The ticket odds published in the draw rules give a sense of scale: the jackpot sits at roughly 1 in 10,737,573, and even Match 3 is about 1 in 54. A bet on one to five numbers works on different arithmetic entirely, which is the subject of the next section.
What lotto prices pay against the true chance
The figures below use the six-ball prices William Hill published for one to four numbers and set each against the exact chance that all your picks land among six balls drawn from 47. The last column is what the price hands back per €100 staked over the long run.
| Numbers picked | Published price | True chance | Return to player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 number | 6/1 | 1 in 7.83 | 89.4% |
| 2 numbers | 55/1 | 1 in 72.07 | 77.7% |
| 3 numbers | 610/1 | 1 in 810.75 | 75.4% |
| 4 numbers | 8000/1 | 1 in 11,891 | 67.3% |
Where the bookmaker margin hides
Start with the single number, because it is the easiest sum. Six of the 47 balls will be drawn, so any one number has a 6 in 47 chance of appearing, about 12.8%. A price of 6/1 implies a chance of 1 in 7, or 14.3%. The gap between those two figures is the bookmaker’s edge, and it works out at about 10.6% of everything staked on that market.
Add a second number and the true chance drops to about 1.39%, or 1 in 72. At 55/1 the bookmaker is pricing it as though it were 1 in 56, and the return to you falls to around 77.7%. By four numbers, at 8000/1 against a true chance of 1 in 11,891, roughly a third of every euro staked stays with the bookmaker over time.
The pattern holds right up the ladder.
Five numbers is where it bites hardest. The true chance of all five landing is about 1 in 255,656, so a price of 150,000/1 returns around 58.7%, and Ladbrokes’ published 124,991/1 returns closer to 48.9%. For comparison, a typical football match-result market carries an overround of a few per cent, and even a big-field handicap at a racecourse rarely asks for the margin a five-number lotto line does. The headline number on a five-pick price is large precisely because it is so far below the fair figure of about 255,655/1, and that is worth holding in your head whenever a promotion leans on it.
Prices differ between bookmakers
The ladder is not set by the National Lottery, so each bookmaker writes its own. Ladbrokes listed three numbers at 700/1, which returns about 86.5% against William Hill’s 610/1 at 75.4%, while William Hill was the longer of the two on two numbers. Shopping around for the specific number of picks you intend to play matters more here than in most markets.
Should you buy a ticket or place a bet?
Neither option is a sound way to make money, and the honest comparison is about what kind of losing suits you. A ticket gives a slim chance of a life-changing sum; a bet gives a fixed, smaller payout at odds you can calculate before you stake.
The rows below set the two side by side on the points that decide which one you are actually buying.
National Lottery ticket | Bookmaker lotto bet |
|---|---|
| Jackpot and rollovers paid from a shared prize pool | No jackpot; payout fixed by the price at the time of the bet |
| Prize can be split with other winners | Return is never shared, whoever else backed the same numbers |
| Smaller prizes for partial matches such as Match 3 | Every number picked must land or the bet loses |
| Return per line depends on sales and the number of winners | Implied probability and margin can be worked out in advance |
| Draw results published by the National Lottery | Bets settled on those same official results |
Lotto betting under Irish licensing
A bet on a lottery draw is a betting product, not a lottery. That distinction matters for licensing: a bookmaker taking Irish Lotto bets needs a betting licence, and does not need, or hold, a lottery licence to do so.
Remote betting licences from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland commenced on 1 July 2026. Since then, a licensed operator has had to meet the obligations already commenced under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, which include age verification, paying out winnings, a ban on accepting credit cards and closing an account when you ask. Taking online bets from Irish customers without a licence is a criminal offence.
The GRAI has said that legacy Revenue remote bookmaker licences continue until they expire or are revoked, so during the changeover you may find either type on a site’s footer. Both are betting licences, and neither covers casino games such as slots or roulette, which wait on gaming licences in a later phase.
What we check first is whether the company name on the footer matches an entry on the GRAI register at grai.ie.
Lotto promotions and free bet terms
Lotto markets attract a particular kind of offer: bet on the Saturday draw and get a free bet, or a price boost on a three-number line. Treat each one as a sum, not a headline.
A free bet almost always returns winnings only, without the stake. Use a €5 free bet on a single number at 6/1 and a winner pays €30, not €35, which cuts the value of the token to about €3.83 on average once you account for the 12.8% chance of the number landing. Check, too, whether a free bet can be used on lotto at all; many sportsbook tokens are restricted to sports markets.
Inducements and the 2024 Act
The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 contains restrictions on inducements, including free bets offered to encourage gambling. Some of the Act’s obligations already bind licence holders, while others wait on a commencement order, and the inducement rules are among those to check on the GRAI’s own pages rather than assume.
Until a given provision is commenced, the operator’s terms remain the place where an offer’s limits are written, and they are what we read.
Hot numbers, systems and other myths
Results pages love a frequency chart, and lotto betting slips sit right beside them. The draw does not read the chart.
Each Irish Lotto draw uses the same 47 balls and has no memory of previous results. A number that has gone fifteen draws without appearing still has a 6 in 47 chance next Wednesday, exactly the same as the number that came out on Saturday. “Due” numbers and “hot” numbers describe the past and say nothing about the next draw.
Systems built on staking more after a loss deserve the same treatment. Doubling a single-number stake after each miss does not change the 89.4% return of the 6/1 price; it only raises the amount exposed to that margin, and a run of ten misses in a row, which happens about one time in four, turns a €2 opening stake into a €2,048 eleventh bet.
The one choice that does change your expected return is how many numbers you pick, and which bookmaker’s ladder you pick them from.
Placing an Irish Lotto bet, step by step
The sequence below follows the slip on a typical bookmaker lotto page, from licence check to settlement. The order matters, because the draw cut-off is fixed and a late slip is simply refused.
- Step 1
Check the licence on the register
Look up the operator's company name on the GRAI register at grai.ie, or the Revenue register of remote bookmakers, before you open an account or deposit. - Step 2
Choose the draw you want to back
Pick the main draw, Lotto Plus 1 or Lotto Plus 2 on Wednesday or Saturday. Each is priced as its own market and settled on its own result. - Step 3
Confirm six-ball or seven-ball version
Check whether the bonus ball counts. The seven-ball version pays shorter prices, so the same pick returns less if it wins. - Step 4
Pick between one and five numbers
Select from the 1-47 grid. Every number you choose has to be drawn for the bet to win, with no partial payouts. - Step 5
Work out the implied probability
Divide one by the decimal price and compare it with the true chance, such as 6 in 47 for a single number, before staking. - Step 6
Check settlement and the cut-off
Read the closing time on the slip and the rule for delayed or voided draws, then confirm the stake and the potential return.
Five questions before you stake
Most of what decides a lotto bet happens before the draw, at the slip. These are the questions I find readers skip most often, and each one has a number behind it.
First, how many numbers, and what does the price return at that count? On the ladder above, a single number gives back close to 90% over time and five numbers gives back about half. If you want the longest odds, you are paying for them in margin.
Second, is this the six-ball or seven-ball market? Third, which of the three draws does the slip cover? Fourth, does any free bet return the stake, or winnings only? And fifth, is the operator on the register?
If any of those answers is unclear from the slip or the terms, it is cheaper to ask support before the cut-off than to argue about settlement after the draw.
Keeping lotto betting in proportion
A lotto bet is quick to place and is settled twice a week, three draws a night, which makes it easy to repeat without noticing how much has gone on it. Set a weekly amount before the first slip and treat it as spent the moment you stake it. Every licensed bookmaker must close your account if you ask, and deposit limits and time-outs are available in the account settings. No pick of numbers and no staking system changes the margin in the price, so chasing a loss only raises the amount exposed to it. If betting has stopped being a bit of fun, the support services listed below are free and confidential.
What to carry into your next lotto slip
If you keep one figure from this page, keep 6 in 47: the true chance of any single number landing, and the yardstick against which every lotto price can be measured. A ranking like this one moves when a bookmaker rewrites its ladder, so a site lengthening its three-number price would climb, and one dropping its licence would leave the list entirely. The prices and register entries were last compared on 7 August 2026. Before your next slip, check the draw, the ball count and the free bet terms, in that order.
Irish Lotto betting: common questions
Is betting on the Irish Lotto legal in Ireland?
Yes. A bet on the outcome of a lottery draw is a betting product, so a bookmaker needs a betting licence to offer it to Irish customers. Look for a GRAI remote betting licence, or a legacy Revenue remote bookmaker licence still in force, and check the company name against the public register.
What odds do bookmakers give on one Irish Lotto number?
Six-ball prices for a single number commonly sit at 6/1, as published by both William Hill and Ladbrokes. The true chance of one number landing is 6 in 47, about 12.8%, so 6/1 returns roughly 89% of stakes over time. Seven-ball versions, where the bonus ball counts, pay shorter at around 5/1.
Why do the odds get worse as I add numbers?
The prices rise, but more slowly than the true odds lengthen. Two numbers at 55/1 return about 77.7% against a true chance of 1 in 72, and five numbers at 150,000/1 return around 58.7% against 1 in 255,656. The more numbers you pick, the bigger the bookmaker’s share.
Do I win anything if only some of my numbers come up?
No. On a bookmaker lotto bet every number you pick has to appear among the balls that count for that market. Pick three and match two, and the bet loses in full. This is the main difference from a National Lottery ticket, which pays smaller prizes for partial matches such as Match 3.
Can I bet on Lotto Plus 1 and Plus 2?
Bookmakers that cover the Irish Lotto usually price the main draw and both Plus draws as separate markets. Each is settled on its own official result, so a slip on Plus 1 is unaffected by what happens in the main draw. Check which draw is selected before you confirm the slip.
Does a free bet on the lotto return my stake?
Almost always not. A free bet typically pays the winnings only, so a €5 token on a single number at 6/1 pays €30 if it lands, rather than €35. Some free bets also cannot be used on lottery markets at all, so read the token’s terms before choosing your numbers.
Are some numbers more likely to be drawn than others?
No. Every ball has the same chance in every draw, and the draw has no memory of past results. A number missing for weeks is no more “due” than one drawn last Saturday. Frequency charts describe what happened, and they carry no information about the next set of balls.
Is a lotto bet better value than a Lotto ticket?
They are different products. A bet pays a fixed price you can check against the true chance before staking, and it is never shared with other winners. A ticket offers a jackpot and partial-match prizes from a shared pool. Neither is a way to make money, and the bet’s return depends heavily on how many numbers you pick.
More about online casinos
Compare these on the number of picks you actually play. A site with the longer three-number price can be the shorter one on two numbers, so the ladder for your own count of picks decides.