Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 May 2024
169. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he is aware it is alleged that our country has a relatively low win rate of the lotto in comparison to lotteries in other jurisdictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20694/24]
View answerI have contacted the Office of the Regulator of the National Lottery regarding your query on win rates of the National Lottery. The Regulator has informed me that, in relation to the odds of winning the National Lottery, the odds of winning the Lotto jackpot, which must be at least €2 million, are 1 in 10.7 million.
Other National Lottery draw based games on sale offer players shorter jackpot odds and longer jackpot odds. For example:
• Daily Million has a guaranteed top prize of €1 million and the odds of winning are 1 in 3.3 million; and
• EuroMillions, which is played in 10 jurisdictions, has jackpots ranging from €17 million to over €250 million and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 139.9 million.
The odds of winning the jackpot in every National Lottery game are published on lottery.ie.
In relation to the Lotto win-rate, the Regulator informs me the Lotto jackpot was won 10 times in 2023 and 10 times in 2022.
Lottery games vary across jurisdictions in their design - the number of numbers required to be matched, additional star numbers, bonus numbers, pool or pools from which numbers or stars are selected, minimum jackpot prize, maximum jackpot rollovers – these can all vary.
The numbers of tickets bought in each jurisdiction vary hugely, as this is highly influenced by the size of the population in each jurisdiction. As a rule of thumb, lottery games with higher participation have longer odds of winning the top prize.
The jackpot “win rate” of any lottery game depends on how many people are purchasing tickets in the game combined with the odds of winning the jackpot and the extent to which the game incorporates a “must-be-won” feature. The win rate can vary from year to year due to the random chance nature of lotteries alone.
It is therefore to be expected that there will be differences in win rates in different jurisdictions over the short to medium term.
