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EuroMillions

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A map of the countries that participate in EuroMillions. Blue are the original countries and red are the countries that subsequently joined.

EuroMillions is a pan-European lottery, launched by the Française des Jeux in France, the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado in Spain and Camelot in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2004. The first draw took place on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris. Initially only the UK, France and Spain were involved, but lotteries from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Switzerland subsequently joined the draw on 8 October 2004.

Draws are held every Friday night at 21:30 CET[1] (20:30 GMT/WET) in Paris. A standard EuroMillions ticket costs €2.00, £2.00 or CHF3.00 per line played. This increases to €3.00 if one plays with the "Plus" option, currently only available in Ireland and Portugal. The cost in the UK increased from £1.50 to £2.00 per line on 7 November 2009 as a result of the EUR/GBP exchange rate remaining closer to 1.00 than to 0.75 and the inclusion of entry in the Millionaire Raffle.

All prizes, including the jackpot, are tax-free (except in Switzerland) and are paid in lump sum.

Play

  • The player selects five main numbers which can be any integer from 1 to 50;
  • The player selects two different lucky star numbers from a pool of 9 numbers.

Additionally several multiple bet options are available, in which a player can indicate that they want to play the same numbers for multiple draws.

During the draw, five main and two lucky star numbers are drawn at random from two draw machines containing numbered balls. The machines containing fifty balls is called Stresa, and the one containing nine is the Paquerette. Players can check results on several websites and applications, particularly the websites of the national lotteries involved.

The gameplay will change on Saturday 7 May 2011, when the number of "lucky stars" in the Pacquerette machine will increase from 9 to 11. A prize for matching two main numbers and no lucky stars will also be introduced on the same date. A second weekly draw, held every Tuesday, will take place from Tuesday 10 May 2011 onwards.[2]

Who can play

  • Any person 18 or over who resides in a country involved in the lottery. The age may differ in some countries, such as 16 in the UK.[3]
  • The game is currently available to players in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Prize structure

The prize structure is as follows:[4]

Main
numbers 		Lucky
stars 		Probability of winning % of prize fund Expected winnings (euro) Expected winnings (Sterling)
Fraction Decimal
2 1 1 in 39 0.0256 24.0% € 9 £6.40
1 2 1 in 103 0.00971 10.1% € 10 £7.20
3 0 1 in 367 0.00272 4.7% € 17 £12
2 2 1 in 538 0.00186 4.4% € 23 £16.50
3 1 1 in 551 0.00181 5.1% € 28 £19.60
3 2 1 in 7,705 0.00013 1.0% € 77 £53.90
4 0 1 in 16,143 0.0000619 0.7% € 113 £79.10
4 1 1 in 24,215 0.0000413 1.0% € 242 £169.50
4 2 1 in 339,002 0.00000295 1.5% € 5,085 £3,559.50
5 0 1 in 3,632,160 0.000000275 2.1% € 76,275 £53,392.70
5 1 1 in 5,448,240 0.000000182 7.4% € 403,169 £282,218.80
5 2 1 in 76,275,360 0.0000000131 32.0% Jackpot Jackpot
Booster fund 6.0%

The booster fund is available to contribute to the jackpot, for example to boost the initial jackpot in a sequence of growing jackpots. The amount utilised each week is determined in advance by the participating lotteries.

  • The odds of winning any prize at all are 1 in 24.
  • The odds of getting none of the 50 main balls but getting both lucky stars is approximately 1 in 62. This means that it is less likely than getting 2 main balls and one lucky star (1 in 39). However, there is no prize for only getting 2 lucky stars.
  • 6% of the prize fund is allocated to a "Booster Fund" which can be used to boost the jackpot prize.
  • The figures for estimated prize are just a guide, and the actual amount varies according to the total in the prize fund and the number of winners for each prize. (Estimated prizes as per reverse of UK playslip)
  • If the Jackpot is not won, it rolls over until the following week.
  • Effective 7th November 2009 new rules were put in place regarding rollovers. See: http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/help/abouteuromillions/gameprocedures.ftl
    • Prior to this date the Jackpot could rollover up to 11 times. If there were no jackpot winner(s) in this rollover, then the jackpot would be distributed to the next prize level with winners.
    • The new rules introduce the Jackpot Pool Cap. When the Jackpot reaches or exceeds €185,000,000, the Jackpot will be €185,000,000 and any additional prize money rolled over will be added to the jackpot pool for the next lower prize level (5 main numbers + 1 Lucky Star).
    • If the €185,000,000 Jackpot is not won, the Jackpot will be increased by €5,000,000 each week until it is won, and again any additional prize money will be added to the jackpot pool for the next lower prize level.

The structure of the draw is changing on the 10th May 2011, with the Lucky Star being drawn from a pool of 11 numbers. This change to the draw has adjusted the thee probabilities of winning each prize:[5]

Main
numbers 		Lucky
stars 		Probability of winning % of prize fund
Fraction Decimal
2 0 1 in 23 0.0484 18.0%
2 1 1 in 46 0.0219 17.6%
1 2 1 in 156 0.00639 6.5%
3 0 1 in 327 0.00306 3.7%
2 2 1 in 821 0.00122 2.3%
3 1 1 in 654 0.00153 2.2%
3 2 1 in 11,771 0.0000850 0.5%
4 0 1 in 14,387 0.0000695 0.7%
4 1 1 in 28,773 0.0000348 0.7%
4 2 1 in 517,919 0.00000193 0.8%
5 0 1 in 3,236,994 0.000000309 1.6%
5 1 1 in 6,473,989 0.000000155 4.8%
5 2 1 in 116,531,800 0.0000000086 32%
Booster fund ?

EuroMillions Trust

The participating national lotteries in the EuroMillions game have each established a EuroMillions Trust account. This is used for the settlement of all amounts due and for holding amounts in respect of future prizes. This trust arrangement protects the participating lotteries between them from a default from one of the national companies and ultimately the players interests.

Event draws

Event draws are special events when the Jackpot is set to a guaranteed amount (often €100 million or €130 million at times), regardless of the expected Jackpot.

The first Event draw of 2011 will take place on Tuesday 10 May to mark the introduction of the second weekly Euromillions draw and changes to the game format (11 lucky stars instead of 9 and a new "match 2 main numbers and no lucky stars" prize tier).

Prior to that there were Event draws on

  • 1 October 2010 (€100 million);
  • 5 February 2010 (€100 million);
  • 18 September 2009 (€100 million);
  • 6 March 2009 (€100 million);
  • 26 September 2008 (€130 million);
  • 8 February 2008(€130 million);
  • 28 September 2007(€130 million);
  • 9 February 2007(€100 million).

If the jackpot (Match 5 and 2 Lucky Stars) is not won then the money will not rollover to the next week but be distributed between the winners of the next lower level.

(This is a change to the game rules.[6] Before April 4, 2011 any jackpot would roll over to the next week - as happened with the 5 February 2010 which rolled over to 12 February 2010 when the €129 million prize was split by two winners. And before 7 November 2009, if the jackpot was not won then the money was distributed between the winners of the next lower level, as happened on 28 September 2007)

Notable wins

Date Prize money Winner Other details
25 March 2011 €138,210,534 or £121,722,017 2 winning tickets (Belgium and Portugal) Anonymous
08 October 2010 €129,818,431[7] or £113,019,926[8] One UK Winner Anonymous.[9]
14 May 2010 €100,037,101[10] or £84,451,321[11] One UK winner Pat Sharpe.
12 February 2010 €129,618,406[10] or £112,016,226 2 winning tickets (Spain and UK) UK winners Nigel Page and Justine Laycock from Cirencester won £56,008,113.20

Guardian Newspapers BBC News

6 November 2009 €102,199,675[12] or £91,141,671[13] 2 winning tickets (both UK) Two winners shared the jackpot prize, receiving £45.5 million each, the largest lottery prizes ever paid out in the UK.[13] One of the winning tickets was held by a syndicate of 7 people from Liverpool (each receiving £6.5 million); the other by a couple in Wales.[14]
18 September 2009 €100 million or £89 million Syndicate of 15 players Each member wins more than €6 million.
8 May 2009 €126 million or £110 million[15] Unnamed 25-year old Spanish woman The jackpot had rolled over on six previous occasions. As there was only one winner, this represented the largest ever jackpot to have been won by a single ticket holder in European history.[15]
6 March 2009 €100 million 2 people Two winners shared the jackpot prize, receiving €50 million each.
26 September 2008 €130 million 15 people There was no winner with all 5 numbers and both lucky stars. The super-draw jackpot of was won by those people who had 5 numbers and 1 lucky star, winning a total of nearly €9.2 million each.
5 September 2008 €119 million 2 people Two winners shared the jackpot prize, receiving nearly €60 million each.
8 February 2008 €130 million 16 people There was no winner with all 5 numbers and both lucky stars. The super-draw jackpot of was won by those people who had 5 numbers and 1 lucky star, winning a total of over €8.6 million each.
28 September 2007 €130 million 14 people There was no winner with all 5 numbers and both lucky stars. The super-draw jackpot of was won by those people who had 5 numbers and 1 lucky star, winning a total of over €9.8 million each.
31 August 2007 €39 million or £29.1 million Vaccaro Joseph (alias Jimmy) After winning the French guitarist immediately resigned from his job as a statistician at LuxGSM.
10 August 2007 €52.6 million or £35.4 million Angela Kelly The 40-year-old former Royal Mail postal administrator from East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, at the time won the largest lottery win ever in the United Kingdom.[16]
9 February 2007 €100 million or £67.9 million Unnamed Belgian man He won the EuroMillions jackpot with a ticket bought in a newspaper shop in Tienen. This is the biggest lottery win in Belgium and the third-biggest individual win in EuroMillions history.
17 November 2006 €183 million or £124 million 20 people (7 British, 4 French, 3 Spanish, 3 Portuguese, 2 Irish, 1 Belgian) The EuroMillions jackpot had rolled over eleven times. No ticket matched all the winning numbers for the twelfth draw, so the jackpot was divided among the twenty tickets that matched five numbers and one lucky star. Each ticket holder won 5% of the jackpot plus the regular match 5 +1 prize (a total of over €9.6 million or £7.1 million each). Seven of the twenty tickets were sold in the United Kingdom, four in France, three each in Spain and Portugal, two in Ireland and one in Belgium.
31 March 2006 €75,753,123 or £56,608,222 Unnamed Belgian man After rolling over six times, the EuroMillions jackpot was won. This was the second biggest win ever in Belgium, and the third-biggest prize won by a single person.
3 February 2006 €183 million or £134 million 3 people (2 French, 1 Portuguese) After rolling over eleven times, the EuroMillions jackpot was won by three ticket holders, two in France and one in Portugal.[17] They each received €60 million.
29 July 2005 €115 million or £77 million Dolores McNamara After rolling over nine times, the EuroMillions jackpot was won on a ticket purchased in Garryowen, Limerick, Ireland. The winner was a 45-year-old mother of six; she was the biggest individual winner in EuroMillions history until May 2009. She claimed the prize on 4 August 2005 at the Irish National Lottery's headquarters in Dublin.[18]

Distribution of revenue

In the UK, the total Euromillions revenue is broken down as follows:[19]

Breakdown of UK Euromillions revenue
0.5% in profit to Camelot
4.5% in operating costs
5% in commission to the retailers.
12% to the Government (Lottery Duty)
28% for the Good Causes
50% to winners

EuroMillions Ball Frequencies

Main Ball Frequencies (As of 1 April 2011).[20]

Ball Frequency Ball Frequency Ball Frequency Ball Frequency Ball Frequency
1 40 11 42 21 45 31 35 41 36
2 35 12 45 22 33 32 32 42 38
3 39 13 35 23 36 33 32 43 34
4 46 14 41 24 37 34 31 44 38
5 36 15 39 25 37 35 38 45 38
6 38 16 37 26 38 36 43 46 31
7 39 17 36 27 30 37 44 47 35
8 38 18 33 28 25 38 41 48 28
9 45 19 46 29 42 39 30 49 40
10 31 20 33 30 36 40 35 50 53

Lucky Star Ball Frequencies.

Ball Frequency Ball Frequency
1 85 6 88
2 70 7 90
3 92 8 82
4 71 9 78
5 90

EuroMillions Plus (Ireland and Portugal only)

In June 2007, with the success of the main EuroMillions game, the Irish National Lottery launched EuroMillions Plus. For an extra €1 per line, players could enter the additional draw with the top prize each week of €500,000. Sales of the main EuroMillions in Ireland for 2006 were over €145 million; this success led to the introduction of 'Plus'. Portugal followed Ireland in the middle of 2009.

UK Millionaire Raffle

Since November 2009 one UK player every week has won a guaranteed million Pounds Sterling.

On Christmas Eve 2010 (Friday, 24th December 2010), the UK Millionaire Raffle was increased to 25 winners in one evening. That meant that at least 25 people in the UK are millionaires from this one draw.

Prices per line in the UK increased by 50 pence to £2.00. The 50 pence was added to cover the expense of the new Millionaire Raffle.[21]

Belgian Winner Profiles Scandal

In June 2009, a Belgian newspaper claimed the National Lottery made up the profiles it announces of the EuroMillions winners.[22] The names of Belgian winners are not normally released, except for a summary profile such as "a woman in her forties with two children." The newspaper claimed these profiles were entirely made up for commercial reasons, to make them more identifiable to the majority of players. For example, one winner who was an elderly woman from Blankenberge was turned into "a family with three children from Gent." A high-placed former employee claimed he was ordered to make up the profiles,[23] while the directors of the lottery claimed no such order was ever given.[24] Simultaneously, there were claims that the National Lottery had covered up a major case of fraud in which sellers of tickets had swapped winning tickets for losing ones, keeping the earnings to themselves; though it was not clear whether this involved any winning EuroMillions tickets as well.[25] The National Lottery admitted there was such a case of fraud, but said it was a very minor case only involving a single ticket worth 2.5 EUR.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ Paragraph 7.1 (in French. Translation: "The draws for the Euro Millions game take place on Friday evenings at the time specified by the organisers of the game, which is around 21:30 (CET), Paris time."
  2. ^ "More chances to win on EuroMillions". UK Press Association. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  3. ^ Home | The National Lottery
  4. ^ "EuroMillions prize calculations". National Lottery. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  5. ^ "EuroMillions prize calculations". National Lottery. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  6. ^ https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/help/abouteuromillions/gameprocedures.ftl#int_prizefund
  7. ^ http://www.leparisien.fr/societe/euro-millions-un-britannique-remporte-seul-les-129-millions-d-euros-09-10-2010-1102423.php
  8. ^ http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/euromillions/results/prizeBreakdown.ftl?drawNumber=348
  9. ^ Wallop, Harry; Evans, Martin; Britten, Nick (21 October 2010). [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8078223/EuroMillions-jackpot-113-million-lottery-winner-decides-to-remain-anonymous.html "EuroMillions jackpot: �113 million lottery winner decides to remain anonymous"]. The Daily Telegraph. London. {{cite news}}: replacement character in |title= at position 23 (help)
  10. ^ a b http://www.leparisien.fr/flash-actualite-monde/record-de-l-euro-millions-battu-au-royaume-uni-a-129-818-431-euros-09-10-2010-1101427.php
  11. ^ http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/euromillions/results/prizeBreakdown.ftl?drawNumber=327
  12. ^ http://www.lejdd.fr/Societe/Actualite/Euro-Millions-So-british!-148582/
  13. ^ a b BBC News - Britons share £90m lottery prize
  14. ^ BBC News - UK Lottery winners are unveiled
  15. ^ a b Keeley, Graham (2009-05-12). "£110m winner of EuroMillions jackpot was ill in bed with flu". London: The Times. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
  16. ^ "Post worker scoops £35m jackpot". BBC News. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  17. ^ "Three winners scoop EuroMillions". BBC News. 2006-02-03. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  18. ^ "Lottery winner claims £77m cheque". BBC News. 2005-08-04. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  19. ^ Correspondence with help at national-lottery.co.uk, 8 November 2007.
  20. ^ Euromillions Results
  21. ^ http://www.euro-millions.com/news/uk-millionaire-raffle.asp
  22. ^ "Nationale Loterij liegt over winnaars". De Morgen. 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  23. ^ "Ex-topman: "Moest liegen over winnaars Euro Millions"". De Morgen. 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  24. ^ "Loterij: "Directie gaf nooit opdracht voor fictieve profielen"". De Morgen. 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  25. ^ "Nationale Loterij hield miljoenenfraude verborgen". De Morgen. 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2009-06-12. [dead link]
  26. ^ "Nationale Loterij ontkent miljoenenfraude". De Morgen. 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2009-06-12.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hKBJ6_EVZ-3837ZrA3FQvUyWVkdQ?docId=N0182971300898984669A

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