Guide to Playing and Winning EuroMillions

Aria Mitchell
Written byAria MitchellWriter
Fact checked bySamuel OseiFact Checker

The EuroMillions lottery is a global phenomenon and a crown jewel of the European gambling industry. Players in this European-wide lottery can enter for as little as two Euros, with the top prize worth €190 million.

Even if you don't win the jackpot, the EuroMillions offers some impressive consolation rewards. If you want to find out more, read on.

This comprehensive lottery guide will answer every question you may have regarding EuroMillions, as well as SuperDraws, bonus games, prizes, and more.

What is EuroMillions?

EuroMillions is a transnational lottery that requires seven correct numbers to win the jackpot. It was launched on 7 February 2004 by France's Française des Jeux, Spain's Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, and the United Kingdom's Camelot. The game is currently available to players in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, France (including overseas regions and collectivities), Ireland, the Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The format of the game is straightforward: players choose five main numbers from 1 to 50 and two additional numbers, known as "Lucky Stars", from a separate pool of 1 to 12. To win the jackpot, a player must match all seven numbers drawn. The prize escalates each time the jackpot is not won, leading to very large jackpots, often reaching hundreds of millions of euros.

The popularity of EuroMillions is partly due to the large jackpots, and it has become one of the most famous lotteries in Europe. The game has produced numerous multimillionaires and continues to attract players with the prospect of life-changing wins.

When Does The EuroMillions Hold Its Draw?

The EuroMillions lottery drawing takes place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, at 20:45 Paris time. The lottery results become available on Fridays and Tuesdays at 11 p.m. and are released to retailers and media outlets. You can find the latest EuroMillions results on most lottery websites, and you can use a dedicated checker to ensure the accuracy of the numbers. This check will quickly and easily determine if the numbers you selected match the winning combination.

Lotteries are no longer as popular on television as they once were, and the EuroMillions lottery outcomes are no longer widely featured on national television programs or on the front pages of newspapers. However, thanks to the internet, they are now more accessible than ever before.

When is the EuroMillions SuperDraw?

Of all the EuroMillions drawings, the SuperDraw is the one you'd most like to win. Being a EuroMillions winner isn't just a matter of choice, admittedly, although if you're going to try harder, it's now the time.

So, what exactly sets the SuperDraw apart?

  • One benefit is that the prize is always at least nine digits. That's a minimum of one hundred million euros.
  • There is a tremendous amount of attention and buzz surrounding the EuroMillions SuperDraw. It causes a stampede to buy lottery tickets and raises the prize to an unbelievable €100 million.
  • If the EuroMillions jackpot isn't won, it rolls over, and the mad dash for tickets continues. Once it reaches €190,000,000, further increases will discontinue.
  • The SuperDraw has produced some of the largest winnings in EuroMillions history, and as the lottery grows in popularity and distribution, these draws happen more frequently.

Keep an eye on breaking EuroMillions stories to determine when the next drawings will be.

How Does The EuroMillions Operate?

Many people who have never played the EuroMillions lottery or similar lotteries may find it confusing. They may wonder about the kind of support that a lottery operating in multiple European countries provides. They may also have questions about why certain nations are eligible for bonus games while others are not. Additionally, if you can only purchase tickets from authorized sellers, it may be unclear how they can be accessed on the internet.

The EuroMillions lottery is not owned by any single company. Instead, it is a collaborative effort led by the largest national lottery operators in the participating countries, such as Camelot in the UK. Each company has been approved by its respective state lottery to provide legitimate lottery games. By pooling their resources, they have created a massive lottery - the EuroMillions.

When you buy a ticket for the EuroMillions in the UK, Camelot, as the operator, receives a share of the proceeds. This revenue is used to finance various projects within the UK, just like it is done with the UK Lotto. Similarly, if you purchase your ticket in France or any other participating country, your purchase contributes to the funding of projects in that country.

Extra games may be offered by the operators to boost sales. For instance, Camelot may run an extra game to generate additional revenue that would more than cover the extra expenses. This is one way that bonus games are determined and offered to eligible countries.

Extra EuroMillions Events in the United Kingdom

Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland are among the other countries that offer the EuroMillions lottery. The following games, however, are exclusive to the United Kingdom.

UK Millionaire Maker

If you purchase a EuroMillions ticket in the UK, you will automatically be entered into the UK Millionaire Maker draw. To participate, all you have to do is pay a small fee of £2.50.

Each line of numbers on your ticket has its own unique nine-digit code which you can find at the bottom of your ticket.

To verify your Millionaire Maker results, you can take your ticket to the store clerk or use the EuroMillions checker. If you play online, you will receive an email notification if you win.

To claim your £1,000,000 prize, you must correctly enter the nine characters in the specified sequence.

EuroMillions HotPicks

EuroMillions HotPicks is a lottery game that can be played independently. However, its results are based on those of EuroMillions. You can select one to five primary numbers and try to match them with the winning numbers. Each entry costs £1.50. It is essential to match all the selected numbers with the winning numbers to win the game.

If you wish to purchase tickets in person, you must buy them from an authorized seller located in one of the qualifying countries. As a result, the Greek lottery organization is not participating, cannot benefit from, and does not have an interest in selling tickets in Greece.

Where Do Online Lottery Shops Fit In?

The specifics of how these service providers function will vary by location. State lotteries own or are responsible for several internet casinos. On the other hand, some sites let you "bet on the outcome" of lotteries in the same way you could wager on the result of a football game.

Betting works much like purchasing a concert ticket. In addition, they provide rewards that correspond with the EuroMillions division awards. Everything seems exactly as it would from a legitimate seller.

EuroMillions Rules

Players choose five major numbers from 1 to 50 and two Lucky Star numbers from 1 to 12. To win, you must match your chosen lucky numbers with the drawn ones. If you match all seven numbers, you will win a portion of the jackpot, which starts at €17 million (roughly £14 million) and carries over if it is not claimed.

In addition to the jackpot, there are 12 smaller reward tiers, so you may win even if you only match two of the primary numbers.

Here are the EuroMillions lottery prizes and odds.

Matched NumbersPrize Fund ShareOddsAve. Prize Amount/Draw
5 + 2 Lucky Stars50%1 in 139,838,160£57,977,286.83
5 + 1 Lucky Star2.61%1 in 6,991,908£268,955.13
50.61%1 in 3,107,514.67£29,307.58
4 + 2 Lucky Stars0.19%1 in 621,502.93£1,655.22
4 + 1 Lucky Star0.35%1 in 31,075.15£97.43
3 + 2 Lucky Stars0.37%1 in 14,125.07£56.55
40.26%1 in 13,811.18£33.16
2 + 2 Lucky Stars1.30%1 in 985.47£11.29
3 + 1 Lucky Star1.45%1 in 706.25£8.52
32.70%1 in 313.89£7.07
1 + 2 Lucky Stars3.27%1 in 187.71£5.76
2 + 1 Lucky Star10.30%1 in 49.27£4.47
216.59%1 in 21.9£2.71

The possible combinations of numbers remain the same regardless of the total number of players. When more than one individual picks the winning numbers, the pot is divided evenly among them.

Therefore, if you're playing for the jackpot, a strategy based on selecting fewer common numbers might increase your chances of winning.

You may also have the computer pick your numbers at random. EuroMillions refers to this choice as the Lucky Dip.

Claiming EuroMillion Prizes

You must show the winning ticket to collect the prize. Prizes won in EuroMillions are claimed in several ways, depending on the country. This table details when winners must claim a reward and the consequences for failing to do so by the specified date.

CountryClaim PeriodWhat Becomes Of Unclaimed Prizes
Austria3 yearsFunds were rolled back into the lottery for three years before being utilized to pay for increased prize amounts.
Belgium20 weeksBrought back to the Belgian National Lottery.
France60 daysUsed to support special promos, creating a handful of millionaires within a week.
Ireland90 daysGiven back to the Irish National Lottery to be used in advertising for its games, which benefits charity.
Luxembourg60 daysReturned to the lottery’s reserve fund.
Portugal90 daysDonated to the Lisbon-based charity Santa Casa da Misericórdia, which operates hospitals and supports other good causes.
Spain3 monthsDonated to the government's treasury.
Switzerland26 weeksDonated back to the lottery for future charitable giveaways.
UK180 daysDonated to the Good Causes Fund of the National Lottery.

How To Choose Your EuroMillions Lottery Strategy

In the EuroMillions draw, every possible combination of numbers has an equal chance of being selected. Although it may seem unlikely, a ticket with seven randomly chosen numbers evenly separated has the same odds of winning as a ticket with seven consecutive numbers.

The odds of winning the EuroMillions are the same whether you use a Lucky Dip or an online EuroMillions lottery guide to choose your numbers.

What Are The Most Often Drawn Numbers?

EuroMillions and other lottery top search phrases often center on the most often drawn numbers. Common queries on Google, Bing, and the other search engines include "EuroMillions best numbers" and “what are the most frequent EuroMillions numbers”.

Below, we'll go through some EuroMillions hot and cold numbers to help you determine which ones to play. But here's the rub: little of this helps at all.

There is zero correlation between past EuroMillions' outcomes and future outcomes. The fact that a given EuroMillions ticket has been drawn several times in the past is no guarantee that it will be picked any time again soon.

If you're wondering why your odds are identical for each set of numbers, it's because, as we've already shown, it is. Nonetheless, it's a good read, and there are some fascinating insights to be gleaned regarding the hottest and coldest EuroMillions numbers.

Hot and Cold EuroMillion Numbers

It's easy to see that the most frequent and least common EuroMillions numbers are very different throughout the first seven years of the draw.

  • Despite over 370 drawings, the number "28" only appeared 26 times, whereas the number "50" was drawn 54 times.
  • Five years later, "28" and "50" became popular choices, with 67 and 60 draws, respectively.
  • Between May 2011 and September 2016, the digit 10 was the most frequent occurrence - a whopping 70 times! The number "41" was the rarest, appearing only 38 times.
  • At EuroMillions' 1,225th drawing in 2019, the number "46" was the least popular, having shown up less than 100 times, while the number "50" was the most popular, showing up 145 times.
  • The above "all-time" statistics show that the lowest number occurred 7.8% of the time, while the highest number occurred 11.8% of the time.
  • The official figures revealed that the number "46" was the least selected in the 1,225th drawing of the EuroMillions, followed by the number "33," the second coldest number. This suggests that players look at past EuroMillions results to determine which numbers to play.

As of March 2024, the most frequently drawn numbers in the EuroMillions lottery are:

  • Ball number 21, drawn 194 times.
  • Ball number 23, drawn 193 times.
  • Ball number 44, drawn 191 times.
  • Ball number 19, drawn 190 times.
  • Ball number 50, drawn 189 times.

These numbers have been the most common for the period between the first draw in 2004 and the last draw in March 2024

EuroMillions Hot and Cold Lucky Star Numbers

Just 12 lucky stars exist. A glance back at past EuroMillions draws reveals the kind of trend one might expect.

  • Since it wasn't featured in the EuroMillions until September 2016, the number 12 has made the fewest appearances.
  • The next lowest are 10 and 11, but they didn't show up until May 2011. Hence, they're not considered "low" numbers.

As of this writing, the most often drawn Lucky Star was only three times as often as the second most frequently drawn Lucky Star and 47 times as often as the least frequently drawn Lucky Star.

About the author
Aria Mitchell
Aria Mitchell
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From Rotorua's scenic landscapes, Aria Mitchell shines as New Zealand's leading expert in localizing online casino content. Marrying Kiwi essence with global gaming insights, she's the name trusted nationwide.

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What is EuroMillions?

EuroMillions is a popular transnational lottery game in Europe. Players pick five main numbers from 1 to 50 and two "Lucky Stars" numbers from a separate pool of 1 to 12. Matching all seven numbers wins the jackpot. The game was launched in 2004 and is available in several European countries.

How do you play EuroMillions?

To play EuroMillions, you select five main numbers from 1 to 50 and two Lucky Stars from 1 to 12. If your chosen numbers match the numbers drawn in the lottery, you win prizes. The more numbers you match, the bigger the prize.

What are the odds of winning in EuroMillions?

The odds of winning any prize in EuroMillions are about 1 in 13. However, the odds of winning the jackpot, which requires matching all five main numbers and two Lucky Stars, are approximately 1 in 139 million.

Can you play EuroMillions online?

Yes, EuroMillions can be played online. Many authorized websites allow you to buy tickets and check results. Ensure you're using a legitimate and secure website.

What is the EuroMillions SuperDraw?

The EuroMillions SuperDraw is a special event where the jackpot is set to a massive amount, regardless of the previous draw's outcome. The jackpot starts at around €100 million and can roll over to a maximum of €190 million.

How does the EuroMillions jackpot roll over?

If no player wins the jackpot in a draw, the prize rolls over to the next draw, increasing the jackpot size. This continues until a player wins or the jackpot reaches the maximum limit.

What happens to unclaimed EuroMillions prizes?

Unclaimed EuroMillions prizes are handled differently by each participating country. Generally, after a set period, unclaimed prizes are returned to the lottery's fund for future draws or used for special promotions or charitable causes.

Are there any additional games in EuroMillions?

Yes, some countries offer additional games alongside EuroMillions. For example, in the UK, players can enter the UK Millionaire Maker and EuroMillions HotPicks, which offer extra chances to win prizes.

What is the UK Millionaire Maker?

The UK Millionaire Maker is an additional game for UK EuroMillions players. Each EuroMillions ticket in the UK comes with a unique code, and if your code matches the one drawn, you win £1 million.

How are EuroMillions prizes paid out?

EuroMillions prizes are usually paid out as a lump sum and are tax-free in most participating countries. However, the method of payment and tax implications can vary, so it's essential to check the specific rules in your country.