The Lotto is set to move to three draws per week with the addition of a Monday draw from next week.
The National Lottery has announced a raft of changes to Lotto, Lotto Plus 1, Lotto Plus 2 and Lotto 5-4-3-2-1 that will come into effect with Saturday’s (5 September) draw.
The number of balls in Lotto and Lotto Plus draws will decrease from 47 to 45.
The Lotto Plus 2 top prize will increase to €1m, giving players three opportunities to win at least €1m when playing Lotto and Lotto Plus.
The prize tables for all Lotto games are also changing, and the Lotto 5-4-3-2-1 will now be known as Lotto Pick & Player. The number of balls will also be reduced to 45.
The new Monday draw adds to existing Lotto draws on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Prices will remain the same at €2 per line, and the minimum number of lines will be unchanged at two per draw.
The price of Lotto Plus also remains unchanged at €1 per line. Lotto Pick & Play will continue to offer players the option to wager between €1 and €5 on Lotto draws, same as Lotto 5-4-3-2-1.
The odds of winning any prize on Lotto will improve from one in 28.7 to one in 25.4 for each line played, and the odds of winning any prize on Lotto played with Plus go from one in 9.6 to one in 8.5.
With the balls reducing from 47 to 45, the odds of winning improve across all prize tiers.
The odds of matching all six numbers will fall to one in 8,145,060, and matching five and the bonus will be a one in 1,357,510 shot.
The odds of matching five (one in 35,724), matching four and bonus (14,290), matching four (772), matching three and bonus (579), matching three (48) and matching two and bonus (64) also shorten.
The expected average payouts will also change across all prize tiers, and players who match five plus the bonus can now anticipate a €75,000 prize.
Matching five will lead to an average win of €1,200, matching four and the bonus will earn around €120, matching four will win €40, and matching three and the bonus will win €20.
The prizes for matching three numbers or matching two numbers and the bonus ball will be fixed at €4.
The Lotto jackpot will start at €2m each cycle and rise to a reduced maximum of €16m. The capping mechanism will remain the same, with a ‘Must Be Won’ rolldown triggering at the fifth draw at cap.
To find more information on all the changes, see here.
