Lottery games are games of chance which involve many participants who buy tickets and want to hit a huge jackpot. Most of the today’s lotteries let the participants choose numbers from a lottery ticket upon buying it, then random numbers are to be drawn and whoever of the participants has guessed the right numbers – he wins certain prizes according to the rules of the lottery.
In some countries, lotteries are banned by the governments, while in others, there are national or state lotteries which are organized by the governments of the countries. Usually, they restrict and regulate the lotteries to some extent. From the beginning of the 20th century till the end of the Second World War, lotteries had been banned in many countries, including most of Europe and The United States. After the war, the they started reappearing in separate countries around the world and the main goal of the governments was to gain profits out of taxes.
The rules of the lotteries in the different countries may vary. The prizes may be fixed amount cash prizes as well as fixed non-cash prizes (apartments, cars and etc.) and in this case the organizer of the lottery takes the risk not to be able to sell enough tickets in order to cover the cost of the fixed prizes (in case someone wins them, of course). In order to avoid such a risk, most organizers choose to form the prizes as a fixed percentage of the overall value of the tickets that have been sold.
The motivation of the people who buy tickets so that they can participate in the lottery, comes from the huge jackpots (in some cases $400-500 million and even more). Others buy tickets because of the thrill they want to feel during the drawing of the numbers and during they check whether they have guessed the numbers. Many people consider that buying lottery tickets is a waste of time and money but if you have fun from the thrill and expectation of success as well as the fact that a winning ticket would bring millions of dollars to your bank account, then participating in lotteries is justified for you.
The chances for you to win a jackpot may vary depending on the lottery you are participating in and there are several factors affecting your chances to win – the count of possible numbers, the count of winning numbers which are to be drawn, whether the drawing order is important, whether there is a bonus ball to be drawn apart from the others and etc. An example of a lottery which involves drawing of a bonus ball is an American lottery, called Mega Millions, where 5 balls are drawn out of 56 and apart from them a bonus ball is drawn out of 46. As you may guess, the bonus ball makes the chance to win the jackpot very low – 1:175,711,536. In the Italian lottery, SuperEnalotto, the participants must guess 6 numbers out of 90 which reduces the chance to win the jackpot further more to – 1:622,614,630.
Apart from the huge jackpots for guessing all the numbers, most of the lotteries feature smaller prizes for guessing part of the numbers which have been drawn. You could get a prize for guessing three, four or five numbers, however, the prizes would be tiny compared to the millions you would get by guessing all the numbers, of course.
EuroMillions
EuroMillions (Euro Millions) is a multinational lottery which first appeared in 2004 and its first draw was on February 13-th 2004 in Paris. At first, the participants in EuroMillions could be from the United Kingdom, France or Spain and afterwards, 6 months later, the lottery became available to people in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxemburg, Portugal and Switzerland, as well.
The draws of this lottery are done every Tuesday and Friday in Paris, France. The price of the standard EuroMillions ticket depends on the country where you live and your local currency, therefore, the price can be €2, £2 or 3 CHF. The winnings from the lottery are tax-free in all participating countries except for Portugal, Spain and Switzerland where a tax started being collected from the beginning of 2013. The biggest jackpot ever won in EuroMillions is €190,000,000, however, the jackpot is usually somewhere between €30,000,000 and €90,000,000.
Rules
Countries where you can participate: Austria, Andorra, Belgium, France, Ireland, Isle of Man, Lichtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
A person may buy an EuroMillions lottery ticket only if he is 18 years old or older and lives in one of the participating countries. Nowadays, of course, by taking advantage of the online lottery platforms, it is possible to buy an EuroMillions ticket from almost any part of the world.
When a player fills out his ticket, he chooses 5 numbers from 1 to 50 and apart from them he chooses 2 additional lucky numbers out of 11 numbers.
Payouts
The pay out of the EuroMillions winnings has been changed over the years and the last change has been done in 2010. Below you may find details as to how many numbers you need to guess in order to grab the jackpot, as well as what you will win if you guess a certain amount of the 7 numbers which are drawn.
- 5 numbers and 2 lucky numbers
- odds: 1:116,531,800
- win: current jackpot
- 5 numbers and 1 lucky number
- odds: 1:6,473,989
- win: €310,751
- 5 numbers
- odds: 1:3,236,994
- win: €51,792
- 4 numbers and 2 lucky numbers
- odds: 1:517,919
- win: €4,143
- 4 numbers and 1 lucky number
- odds: 1:28,773
- win: €201
As you have already noticed, the amount of the winnings decreases if you have guessed less than all the 7 numbers which have been drawn.
Powerball
Powerball is an American lottery game which is organized by an American lottery association that is a non-profit organization. The minimum Powerball jackpot is $40,000,000 although it often goes into the 9 digit sums. The drawings are done in Tallahassee, Florida, every Wednesday and Saturday. The standard lottery ticket with one line costs $2. Every Powerball participant who fills out a line needs to choose 5 numbers out of 59 and 1 additional number out of 35. Therefore, there are two barrels with balls during the drawing in Powerball – one full of 59 white balls and the other full of 35 red Powerball ball
The history of Powerball lottery started in 1992 when it replaced Lotto America which had been created in 1988. Since then, it has been present in all states in USA, except for Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming where no lottery tickets are being sold at all. Powerball is the first lottery which uses two barrels with balls which decreases the chance someone to win the jackpot, however, it increases the jackpot amounts significantly. Later on, the two barrels had been implemented in many other lotteries around the world, including the European Euromillions.
Rules
Countries where you can participate: United States of America.
A Powerball lottery ticket can buy any American citizen who is 18 years old or above, except for several states which are as follows: Nebraska – 19+; Arizona, Iowa and Louisiana – 21+.
As we mentioned above, the minimum bet in Powerball is $2 which is the price for playing with one line. Each and every line contains 5 numbers out of 59 (white balls) which are located in the first barrel, and 1 number out of 35 (red balls) which are located in the second barrel. Players win if they guess at least three of the white balls in the first barrel or one of the red balls in the second one. If a player guesses the five white balls and the red ball, he wins the Powerball jackpot.
Payout
Below you can find what you would win if you guessed a certain amount of the balls:
- 5 white balls and 1 red ball
- odds: 1:175,223,510
- win: current jackpot
- 5 white balls
- odds: 1:5,153,633
- win: $1,000,000
- 4 white balls 1 red ball
- odds: 1:648,976
- win: $10,000
- 4 white balls
- odds: 1:19,088
- win: $100
- 3 white balls and 1 red
- odds: 1:12,245
- win: $100
As you may notice, the amount of winnings depends on how many of the numbers you have guessed correctly.
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The information on this website may not be accurate and our gambling materials do NOT promise or guarantee winnings in any way. Use the information on this website at your own risk. Gambling with real money poses a great risk and everyone must do it wisely, under his own responsibility and will.
