The Irish Lottery is one of the longest established European lotteries.  Several online bookies offer betting on the Irish Lottery including Paddypower and Ladbrokes.

An Post National Lottery Company (Irish Comhlacht Chrannchur Náisiúnta An Post) has the license of the National Lottery of the Republic of Ireland. The company was founded by its parent company An Post under a license issued by the Minister for Finance under the National Lottery Act, 1986.

The company is owned jointly by An Post (20%) and the Minister for Finance (80%). Ray Bates directed the National Lottery from its inception in 1987 until his retirement in early 2006. His former chief operating officer, Dermot Griffin, succeeded him as National Lottery director.

An Post obtained the license and commenced operations in 1987. An Post has retained the license in every bid process since then, and will retain the current license until December 31, 2008 unless the Minister for Finance revokes the license before that time.

The "National Lottery Fund" is an account kept at the Central Bank of Ireland. It is used to fulfill the primary objective of the company, which is the funding of good causes. The surplus is paid to the account annually, and the funds are distributed both to private and public projects by the Minister for Finance.

The National Lottery began operations on March 23, 1987 when the company launched its first scratch cards. Since then, the National Lottery has expanded its games to include lottery drawings, television bingo, and television game shows. The Lotto family of games - Lotto, Lotto Plus, and Lotto 5-4-3-2-1 -- accounted for 61% of sales in 2005, while instant scratch card games accounted for 26% of sales. All prizes won in National Lottery games are paid as tax-free lump sums.

You can bet on the Irish Lottery online at Ladbrokes.com and PaddyPower

For example with PaddyPower you can play "Irish Lucky Numbers" where you can bet on all three draws and nominate between 1 and 5 numbers. The Irish lucky numbers game is based on the official Irish National Lottery Draw. There are a total of three draws each Wednesday and Saturday evening. Customers can bet up until 7.30pm GMT. The draw takes place on RTE at 8pm.