Chasing the 'unwinnable' Lotto: How jackpot odds changed since the 1980s

According to Dr Michael Cronin of UCC's School of Mathematical Sciences, the odds of a two-line Lotto ticket matching six numbers from a possible 47, and winning the jackpot, currently stands at 5,368,787 to 1.

A Lotto player is roughly four and a half times less likely to win the Lotto jackpot now compared to the 1980s.

The top prize in the main Lotto game has rolled over 46 times during the last six months, prompting Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan to call for a reduction in the number of balls in the game.