EuroMillions

History Of Euromillions:

EuroMillions tickets first went on sale on 7 February 2004 with the debut EuroMillions draw taking place on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris. The EuroMillions lottery has grown considerably from the original three organising countries of the UK, France and Spain. Lottery organisers from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Switzerland have also joined in the fun and excitement of EuroMillions. The format has changed slightly over the years with the addition of an extra draw each week and extra balls being added to the star number ball set in 2011 and then again in 2016.

Euromillions has produced some amazing lottery winners! You can read about some of them in our News archive including Colin and Chris Weir, Cassey Carrington and Dave and Angela Dawes.

How To Play Euromillions:

Lottery players select numbers from two different ball sets:

- 5 main numbers are chosen from a pool of 50 possible numbers (1 – 50)
- 2 “star” numbers are chosen from a pool of 12 possible numbers (1 – 12)

A EuroMillions line thus contains a total of 7 numbers.

To win the jackpot a player must match all 7 numbers to the 7 numbers drawn. Organizers use two machines to provide the winning numbers for each draw. “Stresa” which is used to provide the 5 main numbers and “Paquerette” which is used to provide the 2 lucky star numbers.

Any person 18 or over may take part in the EuroMillions draw on PlayHugeLottos.com. 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.

EuroMillions Rollovers And Superdraws

The EuroMillions jackpot cap was revised in 2012 with the maximum jackpot amount possible being set at €190 million. This means that the jackpot cannot increase beyond €190 million. Once its reached its jackpot cap it can roll over four times before it must be won. If there are still no winners, then the jackpot prize will ‘roll down’ and be shared by the next prize tier.

EuroMillion Superdraws are special events when the Jackpot is set to €100 million (or  sometimes €130 million), regardless of the current prize funds. Superdraws usually take place twice a year with jackpots of either €100 million or €130 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 Euromillions:

Originally there was only one draw per week held on a Friday night. In 2011 another draw was added to the format. EuroMillions draws are now held every Friday and Tuesday night at in Paris at 20:55 CET.

EuroMillions Prize structure (standard draw with no rollover):