The 2026 Irish Lottery Christmas Millionaire Raffle is Underway!
On the 1st of November, tickets went on sale for this year's Christmas Millionaire Raffle! Will you be entering? Read on for a run-down of the game!
What is the Christmas Millionaire Raffle? Rules, Prizes, and Key Dates
The Christmas Millionaire Raffle is an annual raffle with the winning numbers drawn on New Year's Eve. Players purchase entries at €25 each for the chance to win some amazing prizes, including a grand prize of €1,000,000. The other prize tiers on offer are also impressive: €500, €1,000, €5,000, €10,000, and €100,000. In total, there will be 8,500 prizes available. Assuming that tickets sell out completely, that gives each ticket roughly a 1 in 70 chance of winning. Not great prize odds compared to regular Irish Lottery games, but fantastic considering the value of the prizes up for grabs.
Unlike a lottery, only a limited number of Christmas Millionaire Raffle tickets go on sale. Once 600,000 entries have been sold, sales are closed for the draw. Players don't get to pick their own numbers; entries are simply sold in consecutive order, from 000001 to 600000.
The last date to claim before prizes expire will be the 31st of March, 2027- the Lottery advises players to keep their tickets safe and sign the back of them (to protect against theft), as they are the only proof of your win. Without the ticket, you won't be able to claim any prizes at all!
Millionaire Raffles of Christmas's Past
The first annual Irish Millionaire Raffle launched in 2009, and initially the draws took place at different times of the year, with draws being held in Spring and Summer. However, every draw since 2015 has taken place on New Year's Eve, fixing the raffle as an end-of-year tradition.
The Raffle is a popular and eagerly anticipated event, and it's always reported where the prize is won. Notably in 2016, the winning ticket was sold in Co. Cork but went unclaimed… The year after, the million-euro winner turned out to be a professional footballer: Kevin O'Connor, who played for Preston North End and had been visiting family in Ireland – his uncle had purchased the winning ticket for him as a present from a shop in Castlebridge, Co. Wexford.
How to Get Involved
To get an entry, all you need to do is head to your nearest lottery retailer and purchase an entry! You can also make your purchase online on the official Irish Lottery website. All the same, check out our Tickets Page and see if any of this week's jackpots look tempting!
