Lotto Betting Special Markets

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Note: *The following article is purely for fun. It is based on individual opinions and does not constitute advice. The drawing of lottery numbers is entirely random. Please always gamble responsibly. #Ad. Find out more on our How Our Site Works page.

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Here in the UK there are many different options for playing or betting on the lottery:

• National Lottery by purchasing a ticket either through their website or at a local retailer.
• Place bets on international jackpots, such as the US Powerball, via services like Lottoland.
• Fixed-odds lotto betting, which allows you to, for instance, wager on drawing three balls in the Irish Lotto with bookmakers including Betfred.

Today, we’re going to look at yet another way to bet on the lottery - Lottery Betting Special Markets. These are a fixed-odds lotto bet, however, they are a unique and different way to bet on the draws you already know and love.

How Most People Bet On Lotto:

Among UK customers, the most popular lottery bets include:

• Three numbers on the 49’s at odds of 700/1* (in a six-ball draw)
• Three numbers on the Irish Lotto also at 700/1* (in a six-ball draw)
• Four numbers on the 49’s at 8500/1* (in a six-ball draw)

These betting options are often favoured because they offer a reasonable probability of winning (relative to winning a jackpot!) coupled with the potential for substantial returns.

Many lottery bettors would only know of fixed-odds lottery betting as Three-ball bets on either the 49’s or the Irish Lotto, however, you can get great fun and entertainment by choosing a Lottery Special Market for your next bet.

Lottery Betting Special Markets

Let’s take a look at some common Lottery Betting Special markets:

All Odd Numbers (50/1*) / All Even Numbers (66/1*)

As the name suggests, you’re betting on whether all numbers will be odd or all numbers will be even.

Interestingly, the odds vary quite significantly. The reason for this is the odds are from the 49’s Lotto which has 49 balls. The total number of balls is 49, with 24 even numbers (2, 4, 6, ..., 48) and 25 odd numbers (1, 3, 5, ..., 49). Since there's one more odd number than even, it's slightly more probable that an all-odd combination could occur than an all-even combination when drawing six balls.

First Ball Odd (7/8*) / First Ball Even (7/8*)

Again, quite self explanatory - will the first ball be odd or even.

For the same odds (7/8*), you can also bet on whether the bonus ball will be odd or even.

The odds are the same for odd and even, despite there being slightly more chance that the first ball is odd (as there’s one more odd ball in the 49’s). However, as the edge is so slight, the bookmaker is probably happy to have slightly different margins to keep the odds the same.

Colour Of First Ball (11/2^†)

There are seven different ball colours for the 49’s (Green, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Brown, Orange & Red) and each colour is included seven times. You can see which numbers are which colour below:

You can’t bet on ball colour for the Irish Lotto, Daily Millions or most major lotteries as they don’t use multi-coloured balls. At the time of writing, it’s only the 49’s, Nifty Fifty and Lotto365 where you can bet on ball colour.

Total Value

This is where you’re betting on the value of all balls as if they were added together. For example, if the results were: 5, 15, 21, 33, 38, 44, 7 the total value would be 163 (5 + 15 + 21 + 33 + 38 + 44 + 7)

The Total Value bet isn’t offered by all bookmakers and where it is offered the odds vary. However, for bet365, you can get the following odds

Odds taken from bet365 and are correct at the time of publishing. For the latest odds check with bookmaker.

Interestingly, the odds vary quite a bit for each range. For example, 101-110 (nine possible total value outcomes) is 16/1^† whereas 151-160 (also nine possible total value outcomes) is only 7/1^†.

The reason for the odds variation is there are more combinations of numbers that add up to numbers in the middle of the range. While each individual number from 1 to 49 has an equal chance of being drawn, when you are betting on the total sum of the seven numbers drawn, the probabilities are different.

In the case of the 49’s Lotto where seven balls are drawn, the most likely total sum is around the middle of the possible range because there are more combinations of numbers that add up to a middle-range sum than there are combinations that add up to a very low or very high sum. For example, with numbers ranging from 1 to 49, the lowest possible sum for seven numbers would be 1+2+3+4+5+6+7 = 28, and the highest possible sum would be 49+48+47+46+45+44+43 = 322. However, there are far fewer combinations of numbers that can add up to 28 or 322 compared to, say, a sum around 175, which is roughly in the middle of the range.

Hi Lo (52/1^† on 49’s)

Hi Lo is a bet where you select if you think each number will be 25 & Over or Under 25. See screenshot below:

Again, this isn’t offered by all bookmakers so check with your usual operator.

Permutations

Aside from Specials Markets, there is also permutations as a way to place a fixed-odds lottery bet. This essentially means covering all combinations of numbers rather than relying on all numbers to be drawn. For example:

Straight Bet (3 Ball)	Permutations Bet - Singles (3 Ball)
Your numbers: 5, 15, 49 Your stake: £1 Your returns: £700 For a straight bet, you only win if you match all balls.	Your numbers: 5, 15, 49 Your stake: £3 Your returns: £18 For singles, you are betting on each number individually - essentially three bets. In the example above, it’s 3 x £1 stake at 6/1 odds for 1 ball. You would win if you got 1, 2 or 3 balls correct.

However, Lottery permutations betting is a whole blog post in itself and one we will publish soon. In the meantime, you can see our bet calculator page for explanations of different permutation bets.

Let us know in the comments if you have any questions about Lottery Betting Specials.

^† Odds taken from bet365 and are correct at the time of publishing. For the latest odds check with your usual bookmaker.

* Odds taken from Betfred and are correct at the time of publishing. For the latest odds check with your usual bookmaker.