Euro Millions - Biggest and best lottery in the World?
We all know that Euromillions is the biggest lottery in Europe, but did you know that Euromillions is actually a world leader as far as lottery games are concerned? If you didn’t take a look at the stats of some of the other major lottery games, then get ready to feel a rush of good old European pride!
Powerball is one of two big lottery games in the United States of America. In order to win the jackpot, players must correctly select 5 white coloured main balls from 55 and 1 red “powerball” from 42. The odds of doing this are 1 in 146,107,962. The biggest Powerball jackpot so far was worth $365 million (€284 million), and was won by a syndicate of eight in February 2006. Play Powerball here.
MegaMillions is the other big American lottery, and requires jackpot winners to correctly select 5 main numbers from 56 and 1 number from 46. The odds of doing this are 1 in 175,711,536. The biggest MegaMillions jackpot so far was $363 million (€283 million) in May 2000. Play MegaMillions here.
El Gordo is Spain’s “biggest lottery in the world” and requires jackpot winners to correctly select 5 main numbers from 54 and 1 additional number from 9. However, this lottery gives away so many prizes that the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3 and jackpots tend to be shared. Read more about El Gordo.
There are many other lotteries in the world, but these three are the biggest apart from Euromillions. So how does our favourite Euromillions lottery compare? Well, jackpot winners have to correctly select 5 main numbers from 50 and 2 Lucky Star numbers from 9. The odds of doing this are 1 in 76,275,360, and the biggest jackpot on record was £126 million (€185 million) in February 2006.
Taking all of this into account, it’s clear that Euromillions is a genuine world leader as far as prize money and the odds of winning are concerned. And unlike the jackpot winners of the two big American lotteries, Euromillions jackpot winners don’t get half their prize money confiscated by the government!