Bookies reject proposal to ban bets on the Lotto  

Three Fine Gael senators have sponsored the amendment to the National Lottery Act 2013 to outlaw betting on the Irish Lotto draw. File picture: MacInnes

Bookmakers have rejected the idea that their offering of bets on the National Lottery should be outlawed.

The Seanad will on Thursday discuss a private members bill from three Fine Gael senators which would ban the practice. The amendment to the National Lottery Act 2013 prohibits the use of the National Lottery or its products in betting offers by entities other than the National Lottery. The amendment is sponsored by Fine Gael senators Barry Ward, Micheál Carrigy, and Emer Currie.

Since the formation of the National Lottery in the 1980s, punters have been able to put bets on the outcome of the draw with bookmakers.

For example, a bet which matched three numbers in the National Lottery draw would have won €9 and the minimum ticket price is €4. However, betting €1 on three numbers in the bookies would net you between €330 and €400. The chances of winning the lottery were brought into focus in recent months when there was no jackpot winner in over 60 draws, before a player in Mayo won €19 million last month.

However, Mr Ward said the key issue around the bill is not the likelihood of winning, but rather that money which is spent betting on the National Lottery in bookmakers does not have the "social dividend" of supporting good causes.

'[G]ood causes fund should benefit. This is about defending the social dividend,' said Senator Emer Currie, one of the sponsors of the amendment,  Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The licence to operate the National Lottery states that Canadian firm Premier Lotteries must allocate 65% of its gross revenue from gaming — which is its total ticket sales minus prize money — to good causes each year. This funding supports sports teams, community groups and heritage causes. Mr Ward said: 

It is diverting money away from good causes and into the belly of profit-making companies.

He accepted that while there is no guarantee that everyone who places these bets would do the Lotto instead, he said there would be between €20m and €140m going back into the fund depending on whose figures you read, a proportion of which would help community groups.

Mr Ward said he "does not buy" the argument from bookmakers that removing the products would cause the closures of shops.

Ms Currie echoes this, saying that there "should be a social dividend" from the National Lottery.

"If it's money that is being spent on the lottery, then good causes fund should benefit. This is about defending the social dividend."

A Government spokesperson said on Tuesday that it will not oppose the bill at Committee Stage but said that "there are complex legal matters in relation to the issue".

A spokesperson for Paddy Power parent company Flutter said that the fact that the bets have existed for three decades shows that there is room for both products: 

Our numbers product has been offered in Paddy Power shops for almost thirty years. The success of the National Lottery during that time suggests that both products are distinct and can exist side by side. 

A spokesperson for the Irish Bookmakers Association said that the bill would represent "a loss in consumer choice, a net loss to Revenue, and the potential loss of hundreds of jobs".

"Crucially, it will not have the desired policy outcome of increasing the Good Causes Fund," they added.

The association said "it is unlikely that betting shop customers will simply move to playing more National Lottery games" if the product is removed.