Daily Million: How to Play Ireland's 2pm and 9pm Draws

In Ireland's Daily Million, how to play means choosing six numbers from 1 to 39, or taking a Quick Pick, and paying €1 for each line. The National Lottery holds two Daily Million draws every day, at 2pm and 9pm, and a ticket goes into the next one available: buy before 2pm and your line is in the 2pm draw, buy after 2pm and it waits for 9pm. No prize category rolls over from one draw to the next, and the top prize is €1 million for a single winning line, shared equally when more than one line matches all six.

Five steps, two cut-offs: playing a Daily Million line

How to play a Daily Million line runs from playslip to prize, and the clock matters at more than one step. The game is promoted by Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) under licence from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

1. Mark six numbers, or ask for a Quick Pick

Each playslip panel has boxes numbered 1 to 39; a line is six of them, each marked with a vertical stroke. Mark the panel's Quick Pick box instead and the National Lottery's computer system picks six at random, or skip the playslip and ask a National Lottery agent for Quick Picks. Online, at lottery.ie or in the National Lottery app, you can key in numbers or press QP. The minimum play is one line per draw, at €1 a line.

One quirk of random selection, in the rules' words: Quick Pick selections for any given draw "may be duplicated".

2. Beat the 2pm or 9pm cut-off

Sales close at 2pm and 9pm ("precisely", says lottery.ie's Daily Million Plus page), and the rules put a ticket into the next available draw. Just before 2pm means the 2pm draw, just after means 9pm, and after the 9pm close it's the next available draw. Read the ticket to confirm the slot: lottery.ie says to "check the ticket to see the draw time", and under the rules the ticket records the draw date and time.

3. Check the ticket while you can still cancel it

Under the rules, it is "the sole responsibility of the Player" to check that the lines on the ticket match the playslip and that the printed draw date and time are the ones wanted.

If something is wrong, cancellation is the only remedy: take the ticket back to the terminal that issued it within two hours of purchase or before that day's sales close, whichever is earlier, and you're refunded the ticket price. For a draw on the day of purchase, the window shuts when sales close for that draw: a 2pm ticket has to be cancelled before 2pm.

4. Hold it against the right draw's result

Each draw produces six winning numbers and then a Bonus Number, drawn from the 33 numbers left. Match the date and slot first; 9pm numbers say nothing about a 2pm ticket. The Daily Million draw list on lottery.fm shows each draw by date and by 2pm or 9pm slot. For an official check, the National Lottery app can scan a ticket, as can any National Lottery retailer. Under rule 5(5), a line can win in only one prize category per draw and is paid the highest prize won.

5. Claim within 90 days of the draw

All prizes must be claimed within 90 days from the date of the draw, or they're forfeited. For prizes that may only be claimed at Prize Claim Centre Agents and Lottery Headquarters, a 90th day falling on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday pushes the deadline to 5.30pm on the next working day.

The National Lottery calls the ticket a bearer instrument and advises signing the back of a winning one. For a shop ticket, the amount decides where you claim:

• Up to €100: any retailer, a Prize Claim Centre Agent or headquarters.

• €101 to €2,500: a retailer (at the agent's discretion), a Prize Claim Centre Agent or headquarters.

• €2,501 to €14,999: a Prize Claim Centre Agent or headquarters. Any prize up to €14,999 can also be claimed by post, at your own risk, with the ticket signed.

• €15,000 and above: headquarters only; the National Lottery asks winners to get in touch as soon as possible on 1800 666 222.

Match 6 is paid by cheque only, at the National Lottery, 1GQ, George's Quay, Dublin 2. Prizes below Match 5 + Bonus may be available for payment from the day after the draw. Online wins have their own payment route, set out on lottery.ie's claims page.

The prize ladder: fixed amounts and a shareable €1 million

Below the top prize, each category carries what the rules call a fixed prize value, and lottery.ie says no category rolls over when it isn't won.

The million is per draw, not per winner. The rules set the Match 6 prize at €1,000,000, but if more than one line matches all six in the same draw, the prize pool is shared equally among the winning lines, each share rounded to the nearest euro. In an ordinary draw, a sole Match 6 line takes the full €1,000,000.

A €5,000,000 ceiling can scale the fixed amounts down. Under rule 5(3)(j), if the total of a draw's prizes, calculated under the Match 6 rule and the fixed amounts, would exceed €5,000,000, each fixed amount is multiplied by €5,000,000 minus the Match 6 prize value, divided by the total cost of the fixed prizes won in that draw, and rounded to the nearest euro. Fixed prizes can then pay less than the table shows; the draw's published result has the actual amounts.

What the Bonus Number adds. It only counts with five, four or three main numbers, lifting a line one category above the same count without it. It never replaces a main number, and two main numbers win nothing, Bonus or not.

Twice a day, the same odds each time. The odds of winning any Daily Million prize are 1 in 28, according to lottery.ie. The 9pm draw takes no notice of the 2pm numbers, and numbers that have come up often in past draws tell you nothing about the next one, because each draw is random and independent.

Plus, Advance Play and the draws that pay differently

Daily Million Plus is a second draw for the same numbers. Mark the Daily Million Plus box at the top left of the playslip, ask for Plus with a Quick Pick or select it online, and for an extra 50 cent per panel your numbers also go into a separate Daily Million Plus draw. Its ladder is smaller: "Win or Share €500,000" for six, then €5,000, €250, €50, €15 and €5, with a €2 Scratch Card for Match 3, and no category rolls over. The National Lottery's How to Play guide gives the chance of any prize as 1 in 14 for "Daily Million and Daily Million Plus".

Advance Play counts draws, not days. Tick the Advance Play box and one ticket covers up to seven draws, costing your panels multiplied by the number of draws. The first is always the next available draw, and you can't choose the dates or times. With two draws a day, a run of Advance Play draws takes in both slots, and the ticket prints the date and time of the first and last draw it covers. A winning ticket still valid for later draws is handed back after the claim.

Event Draws follow their own structure. The National Lottery can announce and designate a draw as an Event Draw, with prizes paid on a pari-mutuel basis (a category's prize pool shared equally among its winners), a fixed basis or both, as it decides with the Regulator's approval. If nobody matches all six in an Event Draw, its Match 6 prize pool may be allocated to other categories. The ladder above covers ordinary draws.

Age and ownership. The rules bar the sale of a Daily Million ticket to anyone under 18, though someone 18 or over may buy one as a gift for a younger person; an under-18 winner's prize is paid to a parent or legal guardian unless the National Lottery expressly authorises otherwise. A ticket belongs to whoever signs it (until then, whoever holds it), and if several people sign, they must agree who is paid.

Tax. In Ireland, lottery winnings are tax-free; that's general information, not tax advice.

If gambling has stopped feeling fun, free and confidential support is available day and night from GamblingCare.ie on 1800 936 725.

Always confirm winning numbers, prize amounts, and deadlines with the official operator before acting on a ticket — the operator's published results are the only ones that count.

Sources

• The National Lottery (Ireland) · viewed 19 October 2026 · How to Play Daily Million · Daily Million game information, prize table and odds on lottery.ie

• The National Lottery (Ireland) · viewed 19 October 2026 · How to Play Daily Million Plus · Daily Million Plus game information on lottery.ie

• The National Lottery (Ireland) · viewed 19 October 2026 · How to claim your prize · The National Lottery's prize-claim guide on lottery.ie

• Premier Lotteries Ireland DAC · Issue 6, dated 29 October 2024 · Daily Million Rules · Premier Lotteries Ireland's Daily Million game rules (PDF)

• The National Lottery (Ireland) · date of issue September 2026 · How to Play: Your handy guide to playing National Lottery games · The National Lottery's How to Play guide (PDF)

• lottery.fm game facts database · facts as of 20 October 2026 · Daily Million — game facts · Daily Million game facts on lottery.fm