Euro Lotto

The Euro Millions lottery was in the beginning set up by the national lotteries of France, Spain and the UK and was unveiled in early February 2004.  The first Euro Millions lottery draw occurred on February 13th 2004 in Paris. The UK, France and Spain were the only European states participating at the start but lotteries from Austria, Belgium, the Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland also came on board in October 2004.

The Euro Millions lotto or the European lotto, as it is commonly branded, gathers the ticket sales of all 9 partaking European nations resulting in a huge EuroMillions lottery jackpot. With the number of nations joining the European Union on the increase, this will clearly lead to new countries registering with the EuroMillions. An increase in the quantity of individuals playing the Euro Millions will lead to a continuing increase of the already huge EuroMillions lotto jackpots.

How To Play The EuroMillions

Each player must choose 5 main numbers from 1 to 50 and 2 “Lucky Star” numbers from 1 to 9.  During the draw, 5 main and 2 lucky star numbers are then pulled out at random from two draw machines containing numbered balls.

Euro Millions Prizes

The chances of picking up the Euro Millions lotto jackpot is a remote 1 in 76 million but the probability of winning a cash prize is a generous 1 in 24.  If no one matches the drawn numbers to win the jackpot in a given week, it is carried forward to the next week which results in an ever growing EuroMillions prize fund.  New rules brought in on the 9th of February 2007 limit the number of successive “rollovers” to eleven, with the jackpot rolling down to lower prize levels in the eleventh draw if the prize is not won.

The new rules also established Euro lotto "Super Draws" which occur twice yearly and present jackpots in the region of £100 million.  The difference with “Super Draws” is that the jackpot must be won in the week of that draw; therefore, if no ticket holder manages to match all the numbers drawn then the jackpot will be paid out to the next tier in the prize structure. 

Some Memorable EuroMillions Payouts

• In February 2008, the “Super Draw” jackpot of €130 million was won by 16 people who matched the 5 main numbers and 1 “Lucky Star” number.

• On 10 August 2007, a forty year old ex- Royal Mail postal administrator from Scotland secured a Euro Millions jackpot of €52.6 million.  Up till now, this is the biggest lottery win ever in the United Kingdom.

• On 17 November 2006, having rolled over eleven times, the EuroMillions jackpot reached €183 million and was divided among 20 fortunate ticket purchasers.

Choose Your Playing Method

Typically, to participate in the EuroMillions lotto you would have to be a citizen of one of the nine participating member states.  However, with the establishment of lottery ticket sales agents you can now acquire your desired quantity of Euro Millions lotto tickets on the internet regardless of where you reside globally.  If you desire a boost in your odds of winning the Euro Millions, you may like to consider signing up to an e-Lottery EuroMillions syndicate.  As an e-Lottery syndicate member you receive a thirty-six times better chance of scooping the jackpot in comparison to all those people purchasing tickets in the normal manner.  With e-Lottery there are very few geographic barriers preventing members from joining and consequently the existing membership is made up of individuals from no fewer than 133 worldwide nations.