Eurojackpot: 10-90 Million € Every Friday
Eurojackpot lottery was launched in 2012 as a competitor to the hugely popular EuroMillions. The number of participating countries has grown every year and is now 18. Eurojackpot is most popular in Germany and Scandinavia.
The draw takes place once a week every Friday. The jackpot starts at 10 million euros and rolls over weekly until it is won or reaches a maximum of 90M€. Rollovers are common and it is not rare for the Eurojackpot to reach staggering sums.
Through online lottery sites, players from all over the world can play this game and have a shot at these massive wins every week.
How to play
Playing the Eurojackpot is quite easy. For each line you pick 5 standard numbers between 1-50 and two extra numbers between 1-10. These two supplemental numbers may also be called bonus numbers, euro numbers or star numbers depending on the site you are playing at.
You can pick the numbers yourself or let the machine generate them for you.
Eurojackpot price in countries using the euro is 2€ per line. In other locations and online services the price may vary according to the currency used.
Eurojackpot systems
You can add more normal numbers, more extra numbers or both. This increases the chance of winning, but there is of course a corresponding increase in price as well.
For example a system of 6 standard numbers and 3 extra numbers would contain 18 lines and cost 36€. The price increases exponentially as you keep adding numbers.
Massive systems costing hundreds or even several thousands of euros are still quite common, especially when the jackpot is at its maximum.
Syndicates
Best way to play the large systems or a large number of individual lines while still keeping it affordable, is to join a Eurojackpot syndicate or start one yourself.
Traditionally the syndicates would be groups of friends or co-workers, maybe people visiting the same agent. Online lottery sites however, allow you to join syndicates from all over the world. This means there are always several to choose from, at all price levels.
Winnings will be automatically divided between players participating, so there is no need to keep track of shares and coupons.
Results and win table
There are twelve ways to win, starting at 2+1 (two correct standard numbers and one extra number).
50% of all money played goes to the prize pool. This prize money is paid out according to the following table:
| Win Category | Result | Probability | Share of Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5+2 | 1 in 95,344,200 | 36.00% |
| 2 | 5+1 | 1 in 5,959,013 | 8.50% |
| 3 | 5 | 1 in 3,405,150 | 3.00% |
| 4 | 4+2 | 1 in 423,752 | 1.00% |
| 5 | 4+1 | 1 in 26,485 | 0.90% |
| 6 | 4 | 1 in 15,134 | 0.70% |
| 7 | 3+2 | 1 in 9,631 | 0.60% |
| 8 | 2+2 | 1 in 672 | 3,10% |
| 9 | 3+1 | 1 in 602 | 3.00% |
| 10 | 3 | 1 in 344 | 4.30% |
| 11 | 1+2 | 1 in 128 | 7.80% |
| 12 | 2+1 | 1 in 42 | 19.10% |
| Funding to guarantee minimum jackpot | 12.00% | ||
| Total | 100% |
The fund is used to guarantee the minimum 10M€ jackpot or alternatively to boost the jackpot once the fund grows large enough.
If there are no wins in the top category, the money rolls over to the next weeks draw. The ceiling for the 5+2 jackpot is 90M€. If there are still no winners once this maximum has been reached, the money exceeding 90 million flows down to lower categories.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 to 95,3 million.
The Draw
The Eurojackpot official draw takes place every Friday in Helsinki, Finland at 20:00 Central European Time. It is broadcast live in some participating countries, and can also be watched on Youtube after the event.
There are two automatic lottery machines with drums. First one contains 50 balls and produces the first five main numbers. The second drum with 10 balls is used to determine the two special numbers.
The draw itself is quite minimalistic, just the lottery balls coming out the drums with no live presenters or other entertainment. The Eurojackpot draw has never been a major television event like many national lotteries are in their home countries.
Most players choose to look for the result online or take their ticket to the agent to have it checked. If you play through an online service, your lines will be checked automatically.
Eurojackpot tips and tricks
Like all lotteries, Eurojackpot is a game of luck. There are however some ways to potentially increase your returns.
Some numbers are more popular than others. People often play their birthdays, wedding days or other significant dates. As there are only 12 months and 31 days but 50 Eurojackpot numbers, that means bigger numbers are played less often.
Common lucky numbers, such as 7 or 11 tend to be on the smaller side as well. Favouring big numbers may give you a better chance of being the lone winner.
As with other lotteries interesting or funny Eurojackpot combinations such as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 are as likely to be drawn as any other. However playing these is very popular and you would be sharing the winnings with a lot of people.
In the same vein, you want to avoid numbers that form a pattern on the ticket such as picking the first number on every horizontal line.
Since Eurojackpot has a jackpot that rolls over relatively often, it might be a good strategy to play only when the jackpot has grown big enough. This increases the returns as the money lost by players in previous weeks is added to the pot, but the price of the ticket stays the same.
With massive sums in play syndicates become very attractive. 90 million euros shared between say 10 people is still 9 million for each, a tidy sum!
Hot and Cold numbers and predictions
Is a currently hot Eurojackpot number likely to continue its run, or is a cold number due to appear? Do the numbers form combinations such as odd-even pairs?
Generally speaking Eurojackpot is a well-regulated lottery with finely tuned machines. That means that the likelihood of any specific number coming up is pretty much the same. Historical hot and cold numbers are most likely due to normal statistical variation.
Still, studying the statistics may add to the excitement of playing the game. Testing various theories and debating them with other players can be fun, even if the “science” behind it is questionable.
We would avoid any fortune tellers or other paid services that provide Eurojackpot predictions. Surely if they knew the winning numbers they would play those lines themselves and become very rich indeed!
Eurojackpot vs EuroMillions
Eurojackpots main competitor is EuroMillions. When played through an agent at a kiosk, most players only have one of these games available. For example, France and the UK are EuroMillions countries while Germany and the Netherlands are Eurojackpot countries. (There is some overlapping territory such as Spain.)
Online lotto players can freely choose which one to participate in. The gameplay itself is very similar in both. Here are some of the differences:
- EuroMillions has slightly more possible number combinations, as the two extra numbers run from 1 to 12 instead of 1-10.
- EuroMillions has two draws each week, on Tuesdays and Fridays compared to the one weekly draw in Eurojackpot.
- At the price of 2,50€ per line EuroMillions is more expensive than Eurojackpot at 2€. (Prices may vary depending on currency/country)
- EuroMillions has a higher guaranteed jackpot 17M€ as compared to 10M€.
- EuroMillions jackpot can rise higher, up to 190M€ while Eurojackpot tops at 90M€
With big prizes available every week, both are certainly among the top lotteries available online. You could very well play both or maybe pick the one that currently has a higher prize pool.