Lotto, the Irish National Lottery's flagship game, began as a 6/36 lottery in 1988. Its matrix has been changed three times in its history, and as of November 2006, Lotto is a 6/45 game. The minimum play has always been two lines of six numbers.
Lotto 6/36: 1988-1992
The first Lotto draw was held on Saturday, April 16, 1988. At 8 p.m. on live Radio Telefís Éireann television, six numbered balls were drawn randomly from a drum containing thirty-six balls. Players could win prizes by matching four, five, or all six of the drawn numbers. If more than one ticket bore the winning combination, the jackpot would be shared equally among the winning tickets; if no winning ticket was sold, the jackpot would roll over for the next draw. Drawings continued weekly until Wednesday, May 30, 1990, when the National Lottery held its first midweek Lotto draw. Since then, Lotto draws have been held twice weekly, on Wednesday and Saturday nights.
In a 6/36 lottery, the odds of matching all six numbers and winning the jackpot are 1 in 1,947,792. At Lotto's initial cost of £0.50 Irish punt (€0.63 euro) for each six-number combination, one could cover all possible combinations for £973,896 (€1,236,848). When the jackpot reached £1.7 million (€2.1 million) for the May bank holiday drawing in 1992, a 28-member Dublin-based syndicate, organized by 43-year-old half-Polish businessman Stefan Klincewicz, tried to buy up all possible combinations and thus guarantee a jackpot win. Klincewicz's team had spent six months marking paper playslips, preparing for the "sting."
The National Lottery tried to foil the plan by limiting the number of tickets any machine could sell, and by turning off terminals Klincewicz's team of ticket purchasers were using heavily. Despite the company's efforts, the syndicate did have the winning numbers on the night -- but two other winning tickets were sold, too, so the syndicate could claim only one-third of the jackpot, or £568,682 (€722,226). Many smaller match-5 and match-4 prizes brought its total winnings to approximately £1,166,000 (€1,480,000), representing only a modest profit after expenses. Klincewicz appeared on the television talk show Kenny Live and capitalized on his short-lived notoriety with a self-published lottery-system book entitled Win the Lotto.
Lotto 6/39: 1992-1994
To prevent a scheme such as Klincewicz's from happening again, the National Lottery changed Lotto to a 6/39 game later in 1992, raising the jackpot odds to 1 in 3,262,623. The first Lotto 6/39 drawing was held on August 22, 1992.To compensate for the longer jackpot odds, the company added a "bonus number" to the drawings. Whereas players previously needed either a match-4, match-5, or match-6 to win, prizes were now also awarded for match-5+bonus, match-4+bonus, and match-3+bonus.
Lotto 6/42: 1994-2006
On September 24, 1994, Lotto became a 6/42 game, which made the jackpot odds 1 in 5,245,786. The National Lottery made this change to generate bigger rollover jackpots, partly so that people living near the border with Northern Ireland would not forsake Lotto for the bigger jackpots on offer in the 6/49 British National Lottery, which started in November 1994. At the same time, the National Lottery introduced computer-generated "quick picks" as an alternative to marking numbers on paper play slips. Some smaller retailers now only offer the quick-pick option.
Lotto 6/45: 2006
In November 2006, the National Lottery changed Lotto to a 6/45 game, raising the jackpot odds to 1 in 8,145,060. It also made the starting jackpot a guaranteed €2 million (up from €1.35 million), increased the match 5+bonus prize to €25,000 (up from €12,000), introduced a €5 match-3 prize, and increased the price of a line of Lotto from €1 to €1.50, keeping the minimum play at two lines. The company said that the structural changes should produce about twenty Lotto jackpots of €5 million and over each year, and at least one jackpot over €10 million.
The first 6/45 draw was held on Saturday, November 4, 2006.
Betting on the Irish Lottery
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.
