Euromillions - how it started

Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky for some, but it was on that particular day in February 2004 that the first EuroMillions draw took place. That first draw, which was hosted by a trio of companies in the main participating countries – the Francaise des Jeux in France, Camelot in the UK and the Loterias y Apuestas des Estad in Spain – boasted a jackpot of €15 million, and earned Euro Millions the accolade of being “an instant success.”

But that wasn’t really true.

The EuroMillions concept was originally conceived in the early nineties, and it took a decade of wrangling with administration and bureaucratic issues to bring to reality. In retrospect, we can say that the end result was well worth the wait, as the concept itself matured over time like a fine bottle of vintage wine, and some believe that if the concept had been launched immediately it wouldn’t have been the massive success that it was a decade later.