Ireland Is Retiring Lotto Numbers 46 and 47—Here’s What Changes

Ireland’s National Lottery is preparing to do something lotteries rarely do: make its flagship jackpot easier to win.

Beginning this autumn, Irish Lotto will reduce its main number pool from 47 balls to 45, officially retiring numbers 46 and 47. The change is part of the game’s first major update in eight years, alongside a new draw day and a much larger Lotto Plus 2 top prize.

The slogan is simple—fewer balls, better odds—but the underlying math is worth a closer look.

Two fewer balls remove nearly 2.6 million combinations

In the current 6-from-47 format, there are 10,737,573 possible six-number combinations. Moving to a 6-from-45 game reduces that total to 8,145,060.

That eliminates 2,592,513 possible lines, or about 24% of the old combination pool. According to the National Lottery, the jackpot odds for each individual draw improve from roughly 1 in 10.7 million to 1 in 8.1 million.

Another way to express the change: a single line’s chance of hitting all six numbers becomes about 32% better relative to the old format. That is a meaningful rules change, but it is not a shortcut or prediction system. The jackpot remains extraordinarily difficult to win.

This is why comparing games requires more than looking at the biggest billboard number. Ticket price, prize tiers, number field, and current jackpot all matter. LuckMaker covers 98 games across 25 U.S. states and 9 international markets. Check the LuckMaker Score at luckmaker3000.com/games—our proprietary 0–100 game rating—to compare those tradeoffs in one place.

What happens if your favorite number is 46 or 47?

Once the new rules take effect, 46 and 47 will no longer be valid main-draw selections. Players using saved lines, family dates, or long-running personal combinations will need to replace them.

That does not make the retired numbers unlucky, and choosing their replacements strategically cannot reveal the next result. Every valid six-number combination in the new 1-to-45 field will have the same chance of being drawn.

If you would rather start fresh than redesign an old line, LuckMaker’s Lucky Number Generator creates an unbiased randomized selection. It does not forecast a winner; it simply avoids the human tendency to overuse birthdays, repeat familiar patterns, or exclude combinations that look unusual.

Lotto Plus 2 is getting a fourfold top-prize increase

The smaller number field will also apply to Lotto Plus One and Lotto Plus Two. The most visible prize change is in Lotto Plus 2, where the top prize will rise from €250,000 to €1 million.

That is a fourfold increase. The National Lottery says the odds of winning the top prize in each individual draw will improve from the same 1-in-10.7-million range to about 1 in 8.1 million.

The redesign also adds a Friday draw, moving the Lotto family from two drawing nights per week to three. More draws create more chances to participate, but they can also increase total spending if players automatically buy for every date. A fixed weekly entertainment budget matters more than the number of drawings on the calendar.

Old tickets still need to be checked under the old rules

The update will not rewrite past results. Tickets purchased for drawings before the launch remain tied to the 6-from-47 format and the prize rules in effect for those dates.

Check every existing ticket against LuckMaker’s latest lottery results, then save its game, numbers, and draw date in Ticket Vault. Keeping a digital record helps prevent a valid ticket from being forgotten, while the original physical ticket should remain secure and readable for any claim.

Irish lottery prizes are generally handled differently from U.S. lottery winnings. American players comparing a large cash or annuity prize can use LuckMaker’s Lottery Tax Calculator to estimate federal and applicable state or local taxes. For Irish prizes, follow current Irish National Lottery and local tax guidance.

The bottom line

Retiring two balls sounds minor, but it removes nearly 2.6 million possible jackpot combinations. Ireland’s new 6-from-45 Lotto will offer better jackpot odds, a €1 million Lotto Plus 2 top prize, and three weekly draw nights when the changes arrive this autumn.

The sensible approach stays the same: compare games with the LuckMaker Score, use the Lucky Number Generator when you want a clean random line, record purchases in Ticket Vault, check every result, and keep lottery play inside a firm entertainment budget.