Euro Millions Lottery and Massive Rollovers
Euro millions is a European wide lottery that had it's launch on the 7th February 2004. It was devised and created by the Camelot who run the UK National Lottery. On the evening of February 13th, 2004, the very first Euromillions draw took place in Paris. The first countries that had Euro millions were France, Spain and the United Kingdom. It soon became so successful that Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg Portugal and Switzerland joined in October 2004. Just eight months after it began Euromillions had become the dominant lottery game in all of countries participating in it.
The Euromillions lottery draw is held twice a week, on a Tuesday and Friday evening. The draw take place in Paris, France. The base ticket sales are 2 euros per individual ticket. Countries that don't use the euro make the tickets cost approximately the same in their own currency. In England a euro millions play costs £2. The jackpot is always provided by Euromillions and the minor prizes are usually paid by the local lottery companies that are connected with euromillions.
The Euro millions lottery is a simple lottery draw. There are two sets of numbers, the main numbers and the lucky star numbers. Euromillions main numbers range from 1 to 50 and of these, 5 are picked. Out of the lucky star numbers there are two that are picked from the range one to nine. So it is basically a 5 from 50 main draw with 2 lucky stars chosen from 1 to 9
The chances of winning the jackpot are a massive 1 in 76,275,360. These are very high odds so many people will buy multiple tickets or join a lottery syndicate in order to increase their chances of success. If there is no jackpot winner then the main prize fund is rolled over to the next week. It is not unusual to have several consecutive rollovers. Occasionally the jackpot has rolled over to more 70 million euros, which is approx £50 million pounds. Not surprisingly these massive rollover jackpots have generated worldwide interest.
To stop the jackpot reaching an astronomical amount a "roll back" rule that has been introduced. If the jackpot has rolled over for 11 consecutive weeks with no jackpot winner then on the final week, if there is still no jackpot winner, then the jackpot prize is awarded and shared with the next tier down i.e. those people who have correctly matched the 4 main numbers and 2 lucky star numbers. In many ways this is a better prospect for the lottery player. When this "roll back" does occur players can get a share of the jackpot without having to get the 5 main and 2 lucky star numbers as is usually the case. So a "roll back" week provides a better chance to win the jackpot.
The euromillions lottery has grown faster than any other lottery in the world. With the massive rollover jackpots that frequently occur it seems certain to become increasingly popular attracting lottery players not just from within Europe but from all over the world.