EuroMillions

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EuroMillions is a pan-European lottery, launched by Camelot on Saturday February 7, 2004. The first draw took place on Friday February 13, 2004 in Paris. The UK, France and Spain were involved initially, but lotteries from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland subsequently joined the draw on 8 October, 2004.

Draws are held every Friday evening, and take place in Paris. Tickets cost €2 per play in most countries above. In the UK, it is the equivalent in Pound Sterling, rounded to the nearest 10p (although it has been fixed at £1.50 since the draw began). In Switzerland it is the equivalent in Swiss franc, rounded to nearest 10c (although it has been fixed at 3.20 CHF since the draw began). Prizes, aside from the jackpot, are sized according to participation per country.

1 How to play
2 Prize structure
3 Notable wins
4 Distribution of revenue
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] How to play

Select 5 main numbers which can be any integer from 1 to 50
Select 2 lucky star numbers which can be any integer from 1 to 9

During the draw, 5 main and 2 lucky star numbers are then drawn at random from two draw machines containing numbered balls. The machines containing 50 balls is called Stresa, and the one containing nine is the Paquerette

[edit] Prize structure

Main numbers	Lucky stars	Odds	% of prize fund	Estimated Prize (UK)
2	1	1 in 39	24.0%	€ 10.00
1	2	1 in 103	10.1%	€ 11.79
3	0	1 in 367	4.7%	€ 20.45
2	2	1 in 538	4.4%	€ 30.00
3	1	1 in 551	5.1%	€ 45.97
3	2	1 in 7,705	1.0%	€ 144.03
4	0	1 in 16,143	0.7%	€ 205.67
4	1	1 in 24,215	1.0%	€ 308.51
4	2	1 in 339,002	1.5%	€ 9,598.21
5	0	1 in 3,632,160	2.1%	€ 102,838.81
5	1	1 in 5,448,240	7.4%	€ 479,282.39
5	2	1 in 76,275,360	22.0%	JACKPOT

The odds of winning any prize at all are 1 in 24.
16% 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. However, if the jackpot is not won on the twelfth successive week (i.e. eleven rollovers), then the jackpot prize is "rolled down" by distributing it between winners of the next level instead of rolling it forward again.[1]
- Note: An exception to this rule would have been on 3 February 2006, which, if the jackpot had not been won, the jackpot would have been carried over for a thirteenth week (at which point it would have rolled down, if not won on 10 February).

[edit] Notable wins

On 31 July 2005, after rolling over 9 times, the EuroMillions prize of €115m (£77m) was won on a ticket purchased in Garryowen, Limerick, Ireland. The winner was Dolores McNamara, mother of six, and she claimed the prize on 4 August in Dublin. [2]

On 3 February 2006, after rolling over 11 times, the EuroMillions prize of €180m (£126m) was won by three ticket holders, (two in France, one in Portugal), making it Europe's largest ever lottery prize. The three winners therefore won €60 million each.[3]

On 31 March 2006, after rolling over 6 times, the EuroMillions prize of €75,753,123 was won by 1 Belgian man, which is the biggest win ever in Belgium.

On 17 November 2006, after rolling over 11 times, the EuroMillions jackpot reached €183 million. No ticket matched all the winning numbers, so the jackpot was divided among the twenty tickets that matched five numbers and one lucky star. The winners received €9.6 million each (one-twentieth of the jackpot plus the regular match 5 +1 prize). Seven winners came from the United Kingdom, four from France, three each from Portugal and Spain, two from the Republic of Ireland, and one from Belgium.

The UK's biggest single winner revealed to date is Iris Jeffrey, from Belfast, who won £20.1m on 14 July, 2004.[4]