Biggest Jackpot Ever
The jackpot does not get any bigger than €190 million on EuroMillions. The top prize is capped at this amount and it has only grown this high on two previous occasions. Adrian and Gillian Bayford banked the top jackpot (worth £148.6 million) on Friday 10th August 2012, before a Portuguese player equalled the record on Friday 24th October 2014.
The current euro-pound exchange rate also means that Friday’s jackpot has the largest sterling value ever seen in the 13-year history of EuroMillions. It is estimated that a single UK winner in the next draw would receive an astonishing £169 million, surpassing the £161.6 million scooped by Chris and Colin Weir in July 2011.
Bigger Prize Pools In All Tiers
Now that the jackpot has reached its €190 million cap, the money that would normally be added to the top prize will instead be distributed among players in the next tier in which there are winners, which is most likely to be the ‘Match 5 + 1’ tier. For example, in the draw on Friday 29th September, there was a prize of £195,868 for the UK player who matched five main numbers plus one Lucky Star, whereas the equivalent prize on Tuesday 3rd October was £981,944 because some funds were diverted to this tier after the jackpot hit €190 million.
All the surplus funds from the jackpot will go to the next winning tier down on Friday, so the prizes are likely to be even larger for matching five main numbers plus just one Lucky Star. The value of all prizes varies from draw to draw depending on the number of winners in each tier, but the lure of such a gigantic jackpot is likely to propel ticket sales across Europe and ensure the prize pools will be bigger than normal in each category.
Support Good Causes
Every ticket sold for EuroMillions goes towards supporting good causes across the nine participating countries. If you enter in the UK, for instance, you will be helping projects in the areas of heritage, sport and arts, as well as health, education, environment and charitable causes.
Jackpot Can’t Stay High Forever
As the jackpot has now reached its €190 million maximum, the countdown is on until it has to be won. Take a look at the Jackpot Cap page for more details, but the top prize can only stay at €190 million until Tuesday 17th October at the latest and it could be cracked at any time before then. Imagine how disappointed you’d be if you didn’t take the chance to play now and then found out the jackpot had been won!
Anyone Can Win
It does not matter whether you are playing for the first time or have played thousands of times in the past, anyone can win big EuroMillions prizes. Jane Park, from Midlothian in Scotland, won £1 million in 2013 when she bought a lottery ticket for the very first time at the age of 17.
As long as you take part, you have a chance of winning, and you can get involved now by visiting an authorised retailer in any of the participating countries or by choosing numbers online. Good luck!