Is Lottoland a scam? How does Lottoland work?

We are going to address some of the most common questions that we get asked here at Lottoland. Hopefully, these answers will help you to understand a little bit more about how our company works and ease any concerns you may have. We recently paid out a world-record-breaking €90 million to our lucky Lottolander, Christina. Click on the banner below to find out more about her story!

Q. How Does Lottoland Work?

Lottoland offers people in Ireland the chance to bet on a wide range of international lotteries. At Lottoland, you bet on the outcome of the official draw, based on exactly the same prizes as the official lottery. For all intents and purposes, you will have the exact same customer experience as if you were entering the official lottery, except that you are effectively betting on the lottery with us. Lottoland is able to pay out any wins, large or small, and the proceeds can then be withdrawn by you whenever you wish. 

For smaller prize tier payments, we make the payment directly from the funds generated from the total sales for the draw. However, to make the larger prize tier payments, we take out insurance policies to cover the eventuality of a Jackpot win or a substantial payout on your Lotto bet. A portion of the Lotto bet price you pay goes towards covering the cost of this insurance policy. This means that we can pay out for any jackpot win, no matter how big it may be.

Q. Is Lottoland a scam?

No, Lottoland is not a scam! In fact, Lottoland is fully licensed and regulated by the Irish Government and also conducts operations worldwide. Our license is fully reliant on our ability to pay out our Lottolanders’ winnings, swiftly and reliably, while remaining fully transparent with regard to our operations and financials. We must maintain the highest of standards in order to be able to keep our licence, and that includes paying out on any jackpot wins, no matter how big they are.

The most important thing to remember with Lottoland is that you are not buying official lottery tickets, and Lottoland is not affiliated with the official lottery providers in any way. Rather, you are placing a “lotto bet” on the outcome of the lottery draw. For Lottolanders, this closely replicates buying an official paper ticket, but there are a few important distinctions and common questions which we will address below.

Q. How can Lottoland pay out jackpots worth over €1 billion? 

The majority of prizes at Lottoland are paid out of our profits as a normal part of business operations. However, when jackpots reach hundreds of millions of euros, we partner with major insurance companies to ensure a Lottoland customer receives a substantial payout if they win. 

Of course, as everyone knows, the more the risk, the higher the premium, so once jackpots start to hit the half-billion mark, there comes a point where our ticket prices rise to cover these premiums. (Though such instances are rare).

Q. Is Lottoland Safe?

Being licensed in Ireland and the UK means that we have to abide by a number of strictly controlled rules, including those which relate to the security of everyone who uses Lottoland. All personal data - including payment details - will be processed to the highest safety standards at Lottoland. Lottoland.com itself gets only the last four digits of your card number to see, while the full details are stored by our payment service provider Adyen. Adyen must undergo stringent tests by Visa and MasterCard to be certified in accordance with PCI DSS, and so be able to handle the payments annually. 

Lottoland is regulated by both the Gibraltar Gambling Commission and the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, and is licensed by the Irish National Excise Licence Office. There is very strict scrutiny to ensure the safe processing of customer and payment data as part of our licensing conditions.

Q. Does Lottoland donate money to charity?

Lottoland is a private company, and as such, we do not donate the majority of our profits to charity like an official lottery would do. However, we do sometimes partner with charitable organisations and make donations to various causes. One example of this is our 2018 partnership with the Irish Red Cross.

Q. Can I legally bet on Powerball, Mega Millions, Eurojackpot, etc., from Ireland with Lottoland?

Yes, you can bet on any of these lotteries with Lottoland perfectly legally, because you are not ‘playing’ the official lottery. Instead, at Lottoland, you place a lotto bet, meaning that you can legally ‘take part’ in international lotteries. To purchase an official lotto ticket, you must be physically present in the country where the lottery is operated. In many cases, such as the US lotteries, you must also be an official resident in order to collect winnings. Betting on the results with Lottoland provides an alternative way for Irish lottery fans to participate, and means you can win the same amount as the official jackpots. 

One of our main objectives at Lottoland is to provide our customers with international lottery options without having to buy an aeroplane ticket!

Thanks to Lottoland, Irish people looking for bigger jackpots can now place bets on the French Lotto, the German Lotto, the Swedish Lotto, the Polish Lotto, and many more.

Plus, in addition to EuroMillions, we also have EuroJackpot, the other big European lottery, which is still relatively unknown here but every bit as famous as EuroMillions in Germany and Scandinavia. We also offer the massive Spanish Christmas Lottery, better known as "El Gordo", plus the two American giants, MegaMillions and jackpot world-record holder, PowerBall. 

And really, we haven't even scratched the surface here. There's a huge choice of lotteries here, some with very low jackpot odds, others with tougher odds but massive jackpots, and everything in between. Explore all our lotteries to discover just how many we offer. 

Q. Why did the price of Lottoland Powerball tickets keep going up?

Sometimes big lotteries like Powerball have jackpots which rise into hundreds of millions of euros. This is covered by our insurance company, but the insurance premiums rise when jackpots get this high. In circumstances where our insurance premiums are going up, in order to remain profitable, Lottoland must also raise its prices accordingly or stop selling tickets altogether so that we are not operating at a loss. In extreme cases, like the €1 billion Powerball jackpot, options such as the Double Jackpot may be disabled as the cost of a bet would be astronomical. However, apart from the very rare circumstances when there are extraordinarily large jackpots, the prices of bets will remain at the base level.

Q. How are prizes at Lottoland paid out? What if I win the lottery at Lottoland but no one wins the official lottery?

If you win your bet at Lottoland, you win as if you had bought a ticket for the official lottery. This will usually only apply to the first-place jackpot, as lower-tier prizes are static or not affected much by having an extra winner. Here are some possible scenarios for winning a hypothetical €100 million jackpot at Lottoland:

If you have the winning numbers and no one wins the official jackpot, you would win as if you were the only winner and take the €100 million pot to yourself. The official lottery would continue to roll over.

You have the winning numbers, and one person wins the official jackpot. You would win as if you were the second winner of the official lottery, thereby securing a 50% share of the jackpot, or €50 million.

You have the winning numbers, and two people win the official jackpot. You would win as if you were the third winner of the official lottery, taking a 1/3rd share of the official pot, or approximately €33.33 million, and so on.

You have the winning numbers, along with one other Lottolander, and two people win the official jackpot. You would win as if you were the fourth winner of the official lottery, taking a 1/4 share of the official pot, or €25 million.

Q. Do I pay US taxes if I win an American lottery?

At Lottoland, you win the same amount of money as you would if you bought an official lottery ticket. For American lotteries like Mega Millions and Powerball, this means that you get your winnings paid out as an annuity over 30 years, and less than 38% of the total amount would be paid in state and federal taxes (as state taxes on gambling vary from state to state, this is an average). So while you do not pay any taxes, the winning amount you receive will be the same amount as a US-based winner would receive after tax is deducted from their winnings.

Q. Do I pay taxes on my winnings in Ireland?

You do not pay any taxes on your winnings in Ireland because winnings from gambling are not taxable. For most European lotteries like EuroMillions and EuroJackpot, you will be paid the full amount as a lump sum, as most European countries don’t tax gambling winnings. The main exception to this European rule is the Spanish Christmas Lottery and El Gordo Primativa, where your winnings would be less 20% as gambling winnings are taxed in Spain, and you will receive the same amount that a Spanish winner would get after tax.