History of the Euro Lottery
Launched by the Française des Jeux in France, the EuroMillions Lottery is a pan-European lottery, with countries such as Spain joining in the Loterias y Apuestas del Estado, and the Camelot Commission in the United Kingdom. The first draw made by the EuroMillions Lottery was only with these three countries originally (France, Spain and the United Kingdom) and took place on Saturday 7th February 2004, but with much hype causing great popularity and success. The draw was so popular that very shortly afterwards in October of that year, six more European countries joined - Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg, for the draw on the 8th of October 2004.
The Euromillions draws are held each and every Friday night in the city of Paris, France. A Euromillions ticket costs a set €2.00 (two Euros) per line that is played, rising to €3.00 (three Euros) if a ticket is marked with the "Plus" bonus option, which is only available in the Republic of Ireland. The fixed price for a UK ticket is said to be rounded to the nearest 10p with the Euro exchange rate, although, since the draws have begun in 2004, the price has been a fixed £1.50. This is also the case in Switzerland where the price is the equivalent in Swiss Francs and rounded to the closest 10c, but since the draws began the price has been fixed at 3.20CHF (CHF = Swiss Francs).
All the prizes, apart from the big jackpot prizes, are calculated and sized depending on the participation of each country based on ticket sales - the more ticket sales, the larger the share.
Where Can I Watch It?
The EuroMillions draw can now be viewed, with the results directly from the Paris draw, on television channel BBC One every Friday night from 11:35. This TV programme is hosted by popular presenters Tim Vincent and Sarah Cawood.
As well as this, the draw results are posted on-line and can be viewed from approximately 10:00pm on the night of the draw.
Is There an Age Limit?
Yes, as with all licensed lotteries all players must be over 16 in the UK to be able to buy a ticket or claim a prize in the Euromillions lottery. In some countries the legal age to buy a lottery ticket is even 18 or over.
How the Revenue is Divided
The Euromillions revenue is divided differently from country to country usually varying on the amount the Government takes in tax, but in the UK the total Euromillions revenue is divided as follows:
0.5% is taken as profit by Camelot.
4.5% covers the operational costs of Euromillions.
5% is given to the retailers that sell tickets as commission.
12% is taken by the Government in the form of Lottery Duty.
28% is given to Camelots designated Good Causes.
50% goes to the lucky lottery winners.
Past Big Winners
The first UK winner of the Euromillion Lottery was on Friday the 8th of April 2004, with the unknown player scooping an incredible £16.7m - with Camelot confirming it to be the biggest prize awarded since the Euromillions draw was launched in February, two months before. At the time, it was the sixth richest prize won in the history of UK lottery winners.
The largest ever lottery win in the United Kingdom was won on the 10th of August 2007, by Angela Kelly from East Killbride in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. She netted the jackpot of €52.6 million - which is £35.4 million!
The jackpot of €130 million on the 8th of February 2008 was won by 16 people in a syndicate, matching 5 numbers and 1 lucky star, as there were no winners with all 5 numbers matched and both lucky stars. This meant that each of the 16 members received around €8.6 million each.
The French guitarist, Vaccaro Joseph, won €39 million, which is £29.1 million on the 31st of August 2007, and resigned from his full-time job as a statistician immediately afterwards.
Further Euro Lotto Information
Make Money With Euromillions - EuroMillions and UK National Lottery Syndicate System. The EuroMillions first draw took place on the 13th of February 2004 and is a fairly new addition to the Lotteries of the world. Its screened on TV channels - BBC 1, TVE/Spain, TF1/France and is played in the UK, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal....garys-place.co.uk
Play Italian Superenalotto - The Italian jackpot has not been won for the last six months, since April, and it has now rolled over to a big 100 million Euros. This is the largest lottery premium in Italian history.....
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