The National Lottery wants the Government to stop bookmakers taking bets on its draws, arguing it is being undermined and losing out on some €289 million in annual sales because of the practice.
Without the existence of a “secondary market” in betting shops and online, the lottery operator says it would have been able to contribute an additional €81 million to good causes such as sports and the arts in 2024.
In a report on the socioeconomic impact of the lottery, due to be published today, the National Lottery cites research suggesting that bets totalling €828 million were placed in bookmakers on its draws last year, with 35 per cent of players saying they would play the lottery properly if this option was not available.
National Lottery chief executive Cian Murphy told The Irish Times the secondary market is estimated to be only slightly smaller than the actual draw. He said betting on the lottery has been operating in a “grey zone” whereby it is neither explicitly legal nor illegal, but has been tolerated.
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With the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland set to commence the issuance of gambling licences later this year, Murphy said the National Lottery is worried it will become fully legalised.
Against the backdrop of a growth in online gambling in Ireland, he said this could lead to even greater expansion as operators invest more in promoting secondary markets and building new products around it.
“We are concerned that they will legalise it,” he said, adding that in the UK and 25 of 27 European Union member states betting on the lottery on secondary markets was banned using either primary legislation or regulation.
“The legal advice we have for Ireland is that either of those routes will be robust. We are not being prescriptive on how it needs to be banned, but we believe it needs to be banned.”
Premier Lotteries Ireland, which operates the lottery, says the “regulatory gap” means the value of the lottery licence is between €118 million and €250 million lower than it would otherwise be.
The economic analysis drawn up for the operator by consultancy firm Indecon also estimates that retailers are down about €238 million in sales due to the presence of lottery betting, with 1,929 fewer jobs supported and lost exchequer revenue of about €12.7 million.
Overall, the report found that in 2024 the lotto supported €2.1 billion in economic output, with total funding to good causes of €239.3 million. National Lottery sales through retailers were about €700 million in 2024.
There have been previous efforts to stop the secondary markets in bookmakers, including legislation introduced in 2018 by Jim O’Callaghan, then Fianna Fáil justice spokesman and now Minister for Justice.
