Every Friday night in Paris there is a burst of excitement as the European lottery, Euro millions, is drawn. This lottery has been in existence since 7 February 2004 and total sales now total many billions of euros and weekly value of tickets sold approaching 100 million euros.
A European lottery was thought of way back in the 1990s but no agreement could be reached until just before its launch. The first operators of the draw were Camelot in the UK (who operate it alongside their own UK lottery draw), the Loterias y Apuestas del Estado in Spain and Francaise des Jeux in France. It became a real European lottery in October 2004 when Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg joined.
Tickets cost two euros or two pounds Sterling although Ireland and Portugal play a 'Plus' option that costs three euros. Since 7 November 2009, the UK promoters have also run the Millionaire Raffle game, which is free but runs alongside the Euro millions draw and produces an extra millionaire every week.
A feature of the European lottery is that it regularly 'rolls over.' This means a jackpot winner is not found one week and so the total is combined with the following weeks jackpot. Clearly this can increase the winnings considerably. For this reason the organizers of the draw decided the Euro millions cannot roll over for more than eleven weeks in succession. This means that a winner must be found on the twelfth week. To do this a player can win the jackpot with five balls and one lucky star rather than the usual five numbers and two lucky stars.
In July 2005 the lottery jackpot rolled over for nine weeks and on the tenth week a lady in Ireland won a total of 115 million euros, which is the biggest payout to date. In February 2007 a Belgian gentleman took home 100 million euros as the second highest jackpot.
One of the most recent winners was Englishman Les Scadding who, together with his wife Samantha, won half of the £90 million jackpot on Friday 6 November 2009 (the other winner also resided in Britain).
It should be noted that jackpots tend to vary according to the contribution of the country concerned and are generally tax free, although, for some reason, this is not true of Switzerland.
Euromillions has therefore made a big impact on the culture of Europe.
To find out more about the lotteries and how to play them go to UK lottery draw.
A European lottery was thought of way back in the 1990s but no agreement could be reached until just before its launch. The first operators of the draw were Camelot in the UK (who operate it alongside their own UK lottery draw), the Loterias y Apuestas del Estado in Spain and Francaise des Jeux in France. It became a real European lottery in October 2004 when Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg joined.
Tickets cost two euros or two pounds Sterling although Ireland and Portugal play a 'Plus' option that costs three euros. Since 7 November 2009, the UK promoters have also run the Millionaire Raffle game, which is free but runs alongside the Euro millions draw and produces an extra millionaire every week.
A feature of the European lottery is that it regularly 'rolls over.' This means a jackpot winner is not found one week and so the total is combined with the following weeks jackpot. Clearly this can increase the winnings considerably. For this reason the organizers of the draw decided the Euro millions cannot roll over for more than eleven weeks in succession. This means that a winner must be found on the twelfth week. To do this a player can win the jackpot with five balls and one lucky star rather than the usual five numbers and two lucky stars.
In July 2005 the lottery jackpot rolled over for nine weeks and on the tenth week a lady in Ireland won a total of 115 million euros, which is the biggest payout to date. In February 2007 a Belgian gentleman took home 100 million euros as the second highest jackpot.
One of the most recent winners was Englishman Les Scadding who, together with his wife Samantha, won half of the £90 million jackpot on Friday 6 November 2009 (the other winner also resided in Britain).
It should be noted that jackpots tend to vary according to the contribution of the country concerned and are generally tax free, although, for some reason, this is not true of Switzerland.
Euromillions has therefore made a big impact on the culture of Europe.
To find out more about the lotteries and how to play them go to UK lottery draw.
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