Irish Bookmaker Paddy Power Launches Online Betting on the Lottery
“Paddy Power” by Albert Bridge (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Paddy Power are perhaps Ireland’s best-known bookmaker with a raft of betting shops all over the Emerald Isle including some in Tipperary. With those retail outlets now shut, they have launched an online lotto service so that people can continue to play the National Lottery every week.
As a major Irish brand, it is no surprise to learn people from the area have been taking up this alternative means of playing lotto. Paddy Power have always been at the forefront of sporting events with their tongue-in-cheek take giving a unique edge to the PR campaigns they conduct.
Perhaps best known for sponsoring major horse racing events like the Irish Gold Cup during the Dublin Racing Festival and a series of races at Leopardstown during the period between Christmas and New Year, this is a change in direction from the firm.
In case you are wondering how to create a Paddy Power account, this is how to do it. A Join Now button is prominently displayed on both the desktop version of the site and their mobile platform.
You will then have a sign-up form to fill in. Enter your personal details – name, gender, date of birth and address – as well as your mobile phone number and email. A security question, answer and a password to give your account protection will also be asked for.
To ensure responsible gambling, you can also set up daily, weekly and monthly deposit and betting limits. You must be 18 or over have a Paddy Power account and can also select your preferred currency – either UK pounds sterling (GBP) or Euros – before depositing funds to bet and play with.
If you have never played in a lottery before, then this is how it works. You pick five numbers – they may be ones you like, believe to be lucky or have significance to your friends and family – for each line you play and a pay a unit cost to enter.
Numbered and coloured balls are then drawn out of a tumbler-like machine, traditionally seven. The last of these is called the bonus ball.
For those wanting to bet on the Irish lottery on Paddy Power, there are two types you can go in for: the Irish National Lottery and the Irish Daily Million. Prizes are given out if you have multiple numbers on the same line. You can bet more than once.
Dealing with the National Lottery first, there are 47 balls in each draw. These are held at 7.45pm in the evening every Saturday and Wednesday. Three draws are conducted in each session: the Main draw, Plus 1 and Plus 2. You must enter each draw separately.
Paddy Power are transparent enough here to highlight the odds of picking out numbers from the National Lottery draw. It’s 6/1 for you to have one on your line, 60/1 for two, 700/1 for three, 7200/1 for four and 130000/1 for all five of your numbers to come up.
The Irish Daily Million lotto, meanwhile, has fewer balls to choose from with just 39. A Main and Plus draw take place twice each and every day at 2pm and 9pm local time.
Again seven balls – six and a bonus – are drawn. The odds of having one number drawn here are 5/1, for two it’s 33/1, three is 375/1, four 3250/1 and all five is 50000/1.
The odds are slightly more in your favour with the Irish Daily Million compared to the Irish National Lottery. Both are popular with lotto players with Paddy Power, paying out a maximum €500,000.
