{"id":464824,"date":"2026-05-02T10:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T10:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/464824\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T10:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T10:57:14","slug":"national-lottery-harmless-fun-or-gateway-to-gambling-and-do-good-causes-get-much-money-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/464824\/","title":{"rendered":"National Lottery: harmless fun or gateway to gambling \u2013 and do good causes get much money? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI had a call this morning from a gent \u2013 he just rang me out of the blue \u2013 and he was so, so angry,\u201d says Sharon Byrne, chairperson of the Irish Bookmakers Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does his daughters\u2019 birthdays in our shops and thinks it is very unfair he\u2019ll never be able to do that again. Just a random caller.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is referring to a practice that angers the National Lottery<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Bookmakers allow people to bet that two or three particular numbers will come up in the national draw. According to Byrne, many people place this type of bet regularly: selecting numbers that have a personal significance to them. Children\u2019s birthdays and the date of wedding anniversaries are favourites. <\/p>\n

She says the odds offered \u2013 typically 33\/1 on two out of seven numbers being drawn \u2013 give punters a much better chance of a return than the actual lottery does.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Lotto operator seeks ban on bookmakers taking bets on draws amid claims of \u20ac289m sales losses<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

This week the operators of the National Lottery came out swinging at the practice.<\/p>\n

They argue that it is depriving good causes of \u20ac81 million in potential revenue and have called for it to be banned. They point out that the practice is not permitted in 25 out of 27 European Union<\/a> member states.<\/p>\n

\"StaffStaff at Centra on Shandon Street, Cork, celebrate selling a winning \u20ac250m EuroMillions ticket last June. Photograph: Mac Innes Photography <\/p>\n

\u201cI know they [National Lottery] say, \u2018We give it to good causes and you guys [bookmakers] don\u2019t\u2019,\u201d Byrne says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut their business model is very different \u2013 they have a pot of money that is guaranteed. A bookmaker is very different; a bookmaker could actually lose money.\u201d<\/p>\n

After calling for a ban on such betting in bookmakers this week, the National Lottery operator finds itself under scrutiny again. <\/p>\n

At the same time as going to war with Ireland\u2019s gambling industry over betting on its Lotto, it is facing calls for the main draw to be moved beyond the 9pm watershed.<\/p>\n

The lottery exists in a strange place.<\/p>\n

It is marketed as a joyful, harmless punt that benefits good causes. Yet its critics say it is helping to normalise gambling among children \u2013 and question the proportion of the proceeds making their way to charities and community groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing the number of people who have said to us they were never comfortable with how the family movie was stopped on a Saturday night to show the lottery draw,\u201d says researcher Frank Houghton, the principal investigator at the tobacco, alcohol and gambling research group at Technological University of the Shannon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the National Lottery does quite excellently is it manages to portray a fantastically sanitised and philanthropic image of what \u2013 at the end of the day \u2013 is gambling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt serves to normalise gambling. Its advertising is ubiquitous. My concern is always around the impact of such exposure on children. We know we have an underage gambling problem in Ireland \u2013 and yet this isn\u2019t being addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where does every euro spent on the lottery go?<\/p>\n