History:
| The Mega-Sena is the largest lottery in Brazil, held by the Caixa Econômica Federal bank. Draws happen twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The drawings consisted of picking from 2 spinning from spherical metal cages. Numbers were picked in pairs and formed a 2 digit decimal number from 01 to 60. Since draw No. 1140, the two cages were replaced by a single acrylic globe containing the balls numbered from 01 to 60, all colored, one color for 0 to 10, another from 10 to 20 and so forth, six colors in all. This procedure has made the draw faster and greatly reduced the possibility of repeated numbers. |
When 6 unique 2 digit numbers are drawn, the draw is concluded. Caixa is still the manager of most Brazilian lotteries, especially the most popular ones, such as Mega-Sena, Quina and Loteca (former Loteria Esportiva).
The profits of Brazilian state (federal) lotteries are used to fund amateur sport promotion and elementary education.