Gamblers playing the National Lottery's new All or Nothing daily €500,000 draw have only a one in 1,352,078 chance of winning it, according to a leading maths expert.

The nightly draw, which started last Thursday, has also been criticised for targeting the "poorer, lower income groups in society".

Fr Peter McVerry, who has been working with the marginalised in Dublin for 30 years, and independent TDs Maureen O'Sullivan and Finian McGrath have all condemned the draw.

The draw, which costs €2 to play, takes place every even­ing at 9.15pm. Players pick 12 numbers between 1 and 24. If you match all 12 numbers drawn or you match none of the 12 numbers, you win €500,000. There are smaller prizes varying from €4 to €5,000 for matching a smaller amount of numbers.

Professor John Hinde, of the maths department at NUI Galway, said, "I calculate the odds of winning as one in 1,352,078. This compares with a one in 5,245,768 chance of winning the Lottery jackpot by matching six numbers from 42."

McVerry said, "A substan­tial amount of the funding for the Lottery itself, that we already have, comes from poorer, lower-income groups in society and this new draw will just continue that. The fact that this new draw is daily will mean that people will lose a lot more money."

Maureen O'Sullivan said, "I think it is being a little bit unscrupulous to launch this draw. It is playing on people's vulnerability because of the downturn in the economy.

"Once some people do these draws the first time they can get hooked as they are afraid that the numbers they picked the first time will come up the next night."

Finian McGrath said, "I think it is excessive and opportunistic for the Lotto to do this in a recession as it particularly targets the unemployed and the poorer sections of society. The idea of encouraging people to gamble every day is setting a dangerous precedent for many poorer families."

The National Lottery said it has given over €3bn to good causes since it started and has had a "very positive response" to the new game.