Euromillions is a massive lottery, held weekly. The prize value is immense at the time of writing 42million is waiting to be won! We better get our tickets now!
The EuroMillions lottery format works on the basis that you select 5 numbers and 2 lucky star numbers. A win means you must have a combination of numbers and ideally stars.
How do you win in EuroMillions?
5 numbers plus 2 lucky stars means winning the jackpot. The average prize is 44million.
5 numbers plus 1 lucky star will score you an average 300k. The won amount really depends on the total prize pool plus how many winners there are. If you’re the only winner that week you could be looking at millions in prize money! If there are 20 other winners you might take nearer 50k. But a win is a win!
There are variations on the winning combinations right down to getting 1 number and 2 lucky stars which will win an average 7EUR.
2 numbers plus 1 lucky star will win on average 5EUR.
Finally the lowest win is 2 numbers and you’ll probably win back your ticket price. You and probably 4 million other winners will be getting the same.
Each participating country donates a portion of ticket sales to a charity project. We have already examined the UK National Lottery’s proportional donation value. What is happening in other member states?
France
The French National Lottery is known as “Francaise Des Jeux”. The FDJ foundation supports many social and sporting projects. In 2020 there were 7 major projects chosen to receive millions in lottery grants. They received 3.6million EUR in total and will be supported for two years. These charity projects include support for reading for children with social difficulties, professional reintegration for refugees, and aiding children with dyspraxia.
Spain
Loterias y Apuestas del Estado is the main state owned lottery. However, Spain has a deeply linked history with charitable lotteries. For example ONCE is a foundation that concentrates on providing training, integration and employment programs to people with disabilities. It was formed in 1938 to raise money for people either blind or suffering from serious visual impairment. The idea is to give work to visually impaired people. Since they are a charitable organization, they are permitted to run lottery games. This is how they raise money for the charity. The Cupon is sold nationwide to Spanish citizens, and offers huge tax free cash prizes to winners. The sale points employ blind or partially blind people to sell the tickets.
Ireland
Between 1987 and 2019 Ireland’s national lottery has raised a huge 5.5billion EUR for “Good Causes” in the country. Every year applicants make their case to request Good Causes funding. Their charities and projects reflect community, youth, arts and culture, sports and rec, and health.
Around 4,000 organisations receive funding every year. Ireland’s charitable donation is substantial. 30cents from every 1EUR spent on ticket sales going to charity. Unlike other European lotteries, some of which were expressly started to raise money for the government, the Irish lottery was formed to raise funds for charity.
For a relatively small investment it is possible to not only help your local and national communities but you might get a life changing win! For these reasons its easy to see why playing the lottery is so popular in Europe. Even those unable to go to a point of sale can buy tickets online on their computers. Even more conveniently, lottery tickets can be purchased with an app! You can download them from google play or the app store.
