History:
| 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. |
How it works:
Players select five main numbers which can be any integer from 1 to 50 along with two different lucky star numbers from a pool of 9 numbers (The second number set was increased to 11 on the 7th of May 2011).
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.
Any person 18 or over may take part. The age may differ in some countries, such as 16 in the UK. The game is currently available to players in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with syndicated entrants playing via portals such as this one.
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.
Superdraws are special events when the Jackpot is set to €100 million (or €130 million at times), regardless of the expected Jackpot.
The most recent Superdraw (at the time of writing) was 5 February 2010, the sixth anniversary for the €100 million EuroMillions Superdraw. Prior to that there were Superdraws on:
– 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).
Under the old rules, 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)
Under the new rules (as of 7 November 2009), if no one wins the Superdraw jackpot it is now rolled 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.
When to play:
Draws are held every Friday and Tuesday night at in Paris.
Prize structure (based on a standard draw with no rollover):
| Numbers |
Stars |
% of prize fund | Expected winnings(Euro) | Expected winnings(Sterling) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||
| 2 | 1 | 24.0% | € 9 | £6.40 | ||
| 1 | 2 | 10.1% | € 10 | £7.20 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 4.7% | € 17 | £12 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 4.4% | € 23 | £16.50 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 5.1% | € 28 | £19.60 | ||
| 3 | 2 | 1.0% | € 77 | £53.90 | ||
| 4 | 0 | 0.7% | € 113 | £79.10 | ||
| 4 | 1 | 1.0% | € 242 | £169.50 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 1.5% | € 5,085 | £3,559.50 | ||
| 5 | 0 | 2.1% | € 76,275 | £53,392.70 | ||
| 5 | 1 | 7.4% | € 403,169 | £282,218.80 | ||
| 5 | 2 | 32.0% | € 15,000,000 | Jackpot | ||