One lucky father of four from Brussels has scooped the €168 000 000 EuroMillions jackpot, officially making them one of the biggest EuroMillions winners ever. But the player from Belgium wasn’t the only winner last night as three UK players matched the five main numbers and one Lucky Star.
They’ll each be depositing £110 667.70 in their bank accounts shortly.
This massive win comes hot on the heels of the recent changes made to the EuroMillions lottery. Firstly, the price of a EuroMillions lottery ticket was increased by 50c to €2.50. Then, the number of Lucky Stars players have to choose was increased from 11 to 12. This caused the odds of a player winning the jackpot to go from 1 in 117 000 000 to 1 in 140 000 000. Clearly the EuroMillions was following the example set by the US Powerball in October last year. And that goes a long to explaining that record-breaking $1 600 000 000 Powerball jackpot.
But perhaps the Euromillions is really trying to compete with its closest rival, the EuroJackpot. While they are both considered European lotteries, 17 countries take part in the EuroJackpot as opposed to the nine countries that officially offer the EuroMillions lottery. The EuroJackpot is also significantly younger than the EuroMillions and offers a slightly larger prize pool. However, the EuroMillions has a total of 13 prize divisions (one more than the EuroJackpot) and has a bigger starting jackpot and maximum jackpot cap than the EuroJackpot.
The EuroMillions has also made some changes that lottery players will appreciate. The starting jackpot was increased from €15 000 000 to €17 000 000. And Superdraw jackpots have gone from €100 000 000 to €130 000 000. In fact, this most recent EuroMillions jackpot is the result of a Superdraw that started on the 27th of September. With these changes, fans of the EuroMillions lottery can look forward to bigger jackpots with every draw. So perhaps these tweaks to the format of the EuroMillions have been introduced to entice more players. Of course, if you’re a die-hard lottery player, you won’t have a favourite. And there’s no rule that says you can’t play both European lotteries.
Now the latest EuroMillions lottery results have established this as yet unnamed Belgian winner as the biggest EuroMillions winner so far this year. With just a few months to go to Christmas, it’s possible that the EuroMillions could still set another record-breaking jackpot. In the whole history of the EuroMillions, only two players have managed to win the maximum jackpot amount of €190 000 00. The first time this happened was in August 2012 when Adrian and Gillian from the UK picked the winning lotto numbers. It took more than two years for an anonymous player from Portugal to repeat this feat.
Other big EuroMillions jackpot winners include two anonymous players from Belgium and Ireland who split a €187 900 000 jackpot in June 2013. But the biggest EuroMillions winners remain Chris and Colin Weir from Scotland. In July 2011, they won a jackpot of €185 000 000, but thanks to the favourable exchange rate, their prize worked out to £161 000 000, which is why they still hold that title. The couple went on to spend their money on a £3 500 000 mansion, but they’ve also set up a trust to support local charities.
If reading about these EuroMillions winners has got you drooling over a EuroMillions jackpot of your own, here are some tips to help you improve your chances of winning.
1. Form a lottery syndicate with your family and friends
The more tickets you buy, the better your chances of winning. So gather together a group a fellow lottery fanatics and buy as many tickets as you can. Playing the lottery with a group of people is more fun and you’ll have someone to help you keep track of the lottery results.
2. Sign up for lottery subscription
If you buy EuroMillions online, you can subscribe to the lottery. The online lottery ticket agent will bill your credit card before the draw and that way you’ll never miss out on a chance to win the jackpot.
3.Spread your numbers out
In other words, don’t stick to birthdays. So many people use birthdays as inspiration for picking their lotto numbers, which means that the more numbers over 31 you pick, the less chance there’ll be that you have to share your prize with anyone else.
Now the EuroMillions jackpot will be set back to €17 000 000 for the next draw. You could wait to see how many times it will roll over, but how much fun would that be? Rather get your lottery tickets today and keep playing every draw. You never know when the next EuroMillions jackpot will be won, and you wouldn’t want to miss out.
