Irish Lotto odds

The odds of every prize

Six numbers from 1 to 45 since the draw of 5 September 2026, when the game went from 47 numbers to 45 and a Monday draw was added. A play costs €2, and a ticket holds at least two plays (€4). 52.15% of sales go to prizes. Match 3 and Match 2 + Bonus pay a fixed €4; every other prize is a share of its tier's fund, split equally by the tier's winners, so the amounts shown are the National Lottery's typical values. The jackpot starts at €2 million and is capped at €16 million; above the cap the money rolls down to the next tier with a winner. Lotto Plus, an optional extra draw, is not included.

Draws: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

What 1 in 8,145,060 means

Playing one line in every draw, 3 draws a week, you would wait on average about 52,000 years for the jackpot.

About 53% of winning plays win only the smallest prize, €4, twice what the play costs.

How the odds are worked out

There are 8,145,060 ways to choose 6 numbers from 45. Exactly one wins the jackpot.

To match k of your 6 numbers, you need k of the 6 numbers drawn and 6 − k of the 39 numbers not drawn. That is C(6, k) × C(39, 6 − k) combinations, and the chance is that count divided by 8,145,060.

The bonus ball is drawn from the 39 numbers left. If you matched k numbers, your other 6 − k are among those left, so the bonus lands on one of them with chance (6 − k) / 39.

Questions