National Lottery Unveils Exciting Changes to Lotto & Lotto Plus Games!

The National Lottery has today announced a series of exciting new changes to its Lotto and Lotto Plus games, all with one clear ambition: to create more millionaires across the country. The game updates, the first for Lotto in eight years, will come into effect this autumn.

Less Balls. Better odds. More chances to win.

As part of an exciting evolution of the Lotto game, the number of balls will be reduced from 47 to 45, marking the official retirement of numbers 46 and 47 from play.

This significant game enhancement delivers better chances of winning across every prize tier in Lotto, Lotto Plus One and Lotto Plus Two. Each of the individual draws will see the odds of winning the jackpot or top prize improve from 1 in 10.7 million to 1 in 8.1 million.

Whether it's a smaller win or a staggering jackpot, players will now enjoy better odds of winning across every prize tier, in every draw.

Lotto Plus 2: Another Millionaire-Making Opportunity

The Lotto Plus 2 top prize will also increase from €250,000 to €1 million, creating more opportunities to make brand-new millionaires. The Lotto Plus 1 top prize will remain at €1 million. This means that for every Lotto draw, when you play with Lotto Plus, players will have three ways to become a millionaire.

Three Ways to Become a Millionaire, Three Times a Week

Players will also have more chances to play and win each week, with a new Lotto draw being added on Monday. Players can choose to play Monday, Wednesday or Saturday, meaning they have three ways to win big, three times a week.

Each of the Lotto draws on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday will be livestreamed at 7:55pm on www.lottery.ie and broadcast before the RTÉ Nine O’Clock News on RTÉ One.  

The date for the introduction of these game changes will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

National Lottery CEO Cian Murphy said: “These changes mark an exciting new chapter for our flagship game - Lotto. We’ve been listening to our players, and these enhancements have been designed with our players front of mind and with the goal of creating the best possible game experience."

"By removing two balls, the odds of winning have improved across Lotto and the Plus games, while the enhanced Lotto Plus 2 prize and an additional draw night will give players even more chances to win."

"Together, these changes are all about delivering more winners and more millionaires, reinforcing Lotto’s position as Ireland’s Millionaire Maker.”

There are no changes to the price to play either Lotto or the Lotto Plus games. Consistent with the current rules, the minimum purchase will remain two lines at a cost of €4. Similarly, it will continue to cost €6 to play two lines of Lotto with Lotto Plus, which includes both the Lotto Plus One and Lotto Plus Two draws.

Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage and the Irish Language. In total, €7 billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 39 years ago. In 2024 alone, €239.3 million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.          

Responsible Play is a core focus for the National Lottery which has a range of safeguarding measures in place to protect players both online and in-store. The National Lottery strives to ensure its player protection measures operate to the highest standard and remain best-in-class.

18+ Play National Lottery games responsibly, play for fun.