Cost and odds of winning National Lottery to rise

The price of National Lottery tickets is to rise from €3 to €4 next month.

It means the price of a minimum two-line play will rise for the first time in nine years in a series of changes being introduced by the new operator, Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI).

Adding the extra Lotto Plus option will mean tickets will cost €5, according to the Irish Times.

PLI are to add two new numbers to the playslip, raising it to a 47-number format and lengthening the odds of picking all six numbers from just over eight million to one to 10.7 million to one.

The company said there would be bigger payouts for some smaller prizes, players who match five numbers and the bonus ball will win €100,000, and there will be a prize for matching two numbers plus the bonus number.

PLI Chief executive, Dermot Griffin, said it would also mean better odds of winning a prize from one in 42 to one in 28, and that there will likely be up to 10 jackpots of more than €10m each year.