Euro Millions
Euro Millions is one of the biggest lottery games in the world, with no less than nine European countries participating. The Euro Millions draw itself takes place every Friday and the game boasts a minimum jackpot of €15 million.
Euro Millions was launched on Friday 13 February, 2004 by three founding nations – France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Within a matter of months another six Euro Millions countries got involved, namely Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland.
The Euro Millions game itself is easy to play. Euro Millions Participants need to select five numbers from the range 1 to 50 and two supplementary numbers (referred to as Lucky Stars) from the range 1 to 9. Euro Millions Players have to match all five main numbers and both Lucky Stars to win the jackpot.
The odds of winning the Euro Millions jackpot are 1 in 76,275,360, so it sometimes happens that nobody wins it outright. In that event the Euro Millions jackpot is rolled over and added to the jackpot fund for the next Euro Millions draw.
EuroMillions Sets British Record
Winning the EuroMillions jackpot on Friday 12 February has enabled Nigel Page and Justine Laycock to set a new record for the biggest lottery win in the nation’s history. The couple, who are from Cirencester in Gloucestershire, owned one of the two lottery tickets that won the £112 million jackpot, and their £56 million share of the prize is £10.5 million bigger than the previous record of £45.5 million. That previous record was jointly held by a lottery syndicate and by Les and Samantha Scadding, who shared another massive EuroMillions jackpot in November 2009.
Continue reading EuroMillions Sets British Record.
This rollover principle has created some staggering Euro Millions jackpots in the past, and the biggest individual Euro Millions winner so far is Dolores McNamara from Ireland who won a staggering €115.6 million. The biggest Euro Millions jackpot of all is €183 million, a sum that has been won on two occasions. On one it was shared by three Euro Millions jackpot winners, and on the other it was “rolled down” and shared between twenty Euro Millions players who matched five main numbers and just one Lucky Star.
The Euro Millions rolldown facility mentioned a moment ago comes into play when there is a special superdraw that guarantees a jackpot payout, or when the Euro Millions jackpot has already rolled over a designated number of times. From 6 March, 2009, the Euro Millions jackpot pool will be capped at €185 million, and excess prize money previously allocated to the jackpot fund under the old rules will by allocated to winners of smaller Euro Millions prizes.
There are twelve Euro Millions prize levels in all, and the odds of winning any prize at all are 1 in 24, so even if the jackpot eludes you, there is still a great chance that you will pick up a nice consolation prize!
Euro Millions tickets can be purchased from lottery retailers in person or you can play online. Buying Euro Millions tickets online is generally the best option because it helps you to avoid the risk of losing your ticket. As with many other lottery games, if you lose your Euro Millions lottery ticket and someone else finds it, they will be able to claim your prize, so buying Euro Millions tickets online really is the most sensible way to take part. It also allows you to play from the comfort of your own home!
Although Euro Millions is by no means the oldest lottery in the world, it is without doubt one of the biggest and most popular. In fact, Euro Millions has been so successful that it is being used as a model for an even bigger World Lottery that will be launched at some point in the future.
But that’s the future. Right now you’d find it very difficult to find any lottery that has what it takes to beat the fun, excitement and sheer profit potential of Euro Millions.