Great Britain
The National Lottery was originally a state-franchised lottery but is currently run by Allwyn, a Czech-owned company. It offers multiple games, but its Big Three are Lotto, Hotpicks and Thunderball.
The classic game is Lotto, where players select six numbers between 1 and 59. Prizes are awarded to players who hit three or more numbers.
Lotto Hotpicks uses the same numbers as the main Lotto draw, but allows the player to select up to five numbers, and choose how many balls they want to match. Players need to match all the numbers they choose to win.
The third main National Lottery game is Thunderball, where players select five main numbers from 1 to 39 and one “Thunderball” number from 1 to 14.
A newer National Lottery offering is Set For Life where matching five numbers plus one Lifeball can win you £10,000 a month for 30 years. This game is most popular with 45-64 year old players. Given that average life expectancy in Britain is around 80 years (there are variations for gender and region, which we talk about here, and which The Health Lottery was set up to address) it’s possible that some of these older players haven’t fully thought their choice of game through...
There are many other lotteries in Great Britain that do not fall under the National Lottery umbrella. The Health Lottery is one of the largest,which sells tickets to its Big Win main draw through retailers across England, Scotland and Wales, but lets you play The Big Win, QuickWin, All or Nothing as well as a wide range of Instant Win scratch games online.
You can compare the specific comparative odds of these and other games like Lotto and the Euromillions here, but (spoiler alert) you’re already on the website of the British lottery draw with the best odds of winning.
Spain
Spain’s biggest and most popular national lottery is called the Lotería de Navidad, or the Spanish Christmas Lottery. It is the second-longest continuously running lottery on earth and the biggest lottery on earth based on total payout. The first prize, called El Gordo, is worth €4 million. The cost of a ticket costs €200, which is rather prohibitive. Instead, people buy a tenth of a ticket, called a décimo, for €20 and share one with their family or friends, making the Christmas Lottery a very social event. In 2016, €2.3 billion in prizes was distributed throughout the country.
United States
The Powerball offers some of the largest jackpots on earth. Some of the biggest in the history of the lottery includes a $1.6 billion prize and a $758.7 million prize. Players select five numbers from a set of 69 white balls and one number from 26 red Powerball. The Powerball number cannot be the same as the white ball numbers. Winners choose to be paid in 30 instalments or one lump sum. Mega Millions is another US lottery known for huge jackpots and is played in the same format.
Germany
The German lottery called the “6 aus 49” is one of the most popular lotteries in Germany. Players select six main numbers as well as one Superzahl, or “super number.” The German lotto is known for big jackpots, with the largest jackpot in history totalling €45.4 million in 2007.
European Union
The EU offers several lotteries that are transnational. One of the most-played is EuroJackpot, which launched in March 2012. The participating countries are Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Players select five numbers out of 50 and another two supplementary numbers out of 10. The draw takes place each Tuesday and Friday in Helsinki.
Euromillions, which was launched in the UK, is a similar transnational lottery on a smaller scale. The participating countries are the UK, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland. Euromillions commonly has jackpots over €100 million. Similar to the EuroJackpot, players select five main numbers from 1 to 50 and two lucky star numbers from 12 options.
Euromillions draws take place on the same days and at exactly the same time as EuroJackpot's. What are the odds of that being a coincidence?
