Lotto Ireland: Europe’s Widest Lottery Range

From time to time, Ireland surely has offered Europe’s most variety of lotteries in a single country. The Ireland Lotto has had many variants. In fact, at present, even though Ireland is part of Euro Millions along with eight other countries, it is the only country that has a Plus variant for the Euro Millions!

The Ireland lotto began in 1988. The lotto is also shown live on Ireland’s national public service broadcaster, the Radio Telefis Eireann. A lotto ticket costs euro 3 in Ireland which is the costliest in the world. Euro Millions can be played for only euro 2 in all the other eight countries it is held in Europe. But the Ireland Lotto announces its own special prizes too from time to time. They give out things like diamonds, sports cars and consumer goods for various Ireland-specific prizes. They have all sorts of other guaranteed prizes including holiday vouchers. Ireland Lotto also adds extra funds to its Lotto jackpot on special occasions like Christmas and bank holidays.

Ireland Lotto ran a 6/36 variant from 1988-92, a 6/39 from 1992–94, 6/42 from 1994–2006 and 6/45 from 2006–present.

It was in 2000 that the National Lottery of Ireland came up with the Lotto Plus option for the main play section. At a price of pound 0.25 more, players had the option to add more numbers for a fixed, non-rolling forward jackpot worth about pounds 250 thousand.

Two years later, the National Lottery added the Lotto Plus 2 and started offering additional number options to players for half a euro per line. The fixed jackpots for Lotto Plus I and Lotto Plus II were euro 300 thousand and euro 250 thousand respectively. In 2006, when the Ireland Lotto went for the 6/45 format, the Lotto Plus jackpots were further raised. As in the main draw, players can win additional smaller prizes for the Lotto Plus sections. The Ireland Lotto also has a scratch card win that lets you try your hand at other small winnings in consumer goods.

Lotto Ireland also offers a unique variant called the Lotto 5-4-3-2-1. It is again based on the main draw and was begun in 1997. This variant really improved lottery sales in Ireland. Ireland already has a Plus variant for the Euro Millions and often raises that too on occasions like Halloween and Christmas.

Lotto Ireland also launched a Monday Million lottery with a weekly draw based on a 6/39 matrix for a fixed, non-rolling jackpot of euro one million. Players have to shell out euro one for each line but the entire drawing process is televised live every Monday evening. The odds of winning the jackpot in the Monday Million lotto are about 1: 3,262,623. The variant also offers several fixed and smaller prizes including scratch cards. Ireland has also introduced a Millionaire Raffle and Telly Bingo for its lotteries.

The Ireland Lotto spends a lot on marketing and advertising its tickets particularly to the youth. It uses the main mass media for campaigns and branding. Eligibility for the Ireland Lotto is 18 years of age and you do not need to be a resident of the country to play.