On Saturday, February 7, 2004, EuroMillions lottery broke onto the scene, started by Française des Jeux in France, the Loterias y Apuestas del Estado in Spain and Camelot in the UK. People from the three countries bought many EuroMillions lottery tickets and waited for the first draw, which happened in Paris, France, where the plastic balls revealed the first winning numbers on Friday, February 13, 2004. After the winning lottery numbers were revealed, excited winners of the EuroMillions lottery rushed to receive their prizes.
EuroMillions, like wildfire, quickly spread to Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK, and now just about anyone can play if they buy their lotto tickets online.
How the game is played
You have to pick a total of seven numbers on your lotto ticket. Five of those numbers you choose from 1-50, and two of those numbers you choose from 1-9, which are called the Luck Stars. Then you sit back and wait for Friday to roll around, and at 11:35pm on BBC1 watch for your numbers to pop up.
The cost of a EuroMillions ticket
The prices of EuroMillions tickets vary. For example, in the UK they cost £1.50 per line, in countries where the Euro is the official currency they cost €2 per line, and in Republic of Ireland a Plus-option ticket cost €3.
You can buy EuroMillions lottery tickets at outlets that sell lotto tickets for the National Lottery. But you can also buy tickets online even if you don’t live in one of the nine participating countries.
The big EuroMillions Prize
The Euro lotto jackpot is the largest prize to be won because it rolls over each week (for up to eleven weeks) if no one wins. And to win the lottery jackpot you must have all seven winning numbers, but if more than one person has the winning numbers, then the jackpot is shared among them. The other prizes vary depending on the amount of lottery tickets sold and are given out to the winners. You don’t even have to pay taxes for your winnings if you live I the UK, but if you live in Switzerland, you do.
Although the EuroMillions is not associated with the National Lottery, you can visit the EuroMillions UK website for more impartial information.
