A somewhat new offering in the lottery world, Eurojackpot has quickly gathered a loyal following of players.
Featuring huge jackpots and 12 prize tiers, this lottery is officially available across many European countries but played around the world.
In this guide, we’ll tell you everything else you need to know about this increasingly popular lotto game and show how you can buy Eurojackpot tickets online.
About Eurojackpot
Launched in 2012, Eurojackpot is available in 18 countries across Europe.
The lottery took some time to get up and running, as it was originally proposed in 2006.
The success of competitor EuroMillions prompted officials from Denmark, Italy, Finland, Germany, Slovenia and the Netherlands to band together to create this transnational offering.
More countries have joined since the initial negotiations. The participating countries now includes Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Poland.
In total, Eurojackpot is available to an audience of approximately 300 million across all participating countries.
Eurojackpot Draws
Eurojackpot draws consist of five numbers chosen from a main ball pool and two additional numbers from a supplementary ball pool, called the EuroNumbers pool.
The lottery takes place once a week in Helsinki, with numbers drawn at 21:00 local time every Friday.
The numbers are selected from the Pacquerette machine, and the winning lottery tickets are evaluated in Germany and Denmark.
How to Play Eurojackpot
On one Eurojackpot line, players must choose five numbers from the main ball pool containing numbers 1 to 50.
They must also choose another two numbers from the supplementary pool containing numbers 1 to 10.
To win the jackpot, players must match all five main numbers and both supplementary numbers.
Players can purchase tickets in any of the participating countries, or they can purchase lottery tickets from online lottery sites that operate privately.
The cost of one line is €2 (when purchased in one of the participating countries).
When choosing numbers for lines, playing have two options: manually select the numbers or choose the Quick Pick option.
The minimum age to play is 18.
,Eurojackpot Prizes and Odds
Eurojackpot has 12 prize tiers, with jackpots starting at €10 million.
Similar to popular American lotteries US Powerball and Mega Millions, the Eurojackpot maximum prize rolls over if there are no winners.
Until January 2013, Eurojackpot also had a rolldown clause if there were no jackpot winners in 12 consecutive draws. This meant that if 12 weeks went by with no big winner, the jackpot would roll down and be split between the next tier's winner(s).
In lieu of the rolldown clause, Eurojackpot now caps its jackpot at €90 million.
The cap means that jackpots will never get as big as some other major lotteries, including its biggest European competitor EuroMillions.
However, to compensate, Eurojackpot has much better jackpot odds than its main competitors. While its 1 in 95,344,200 odds aren't great, they are certainly better than EuroMillions' 139,838,160 and Powerball's 1 in 292,201,338.
Furthermore, the best Eurojackpot syndicates available online can improve these to as little as 1 in 953,442.
Here are the odds of winning per numbers matched:
Numbers Matched | Odds of Winning | Estimated Winnings |
5 + 2 | 1 in 95,344,200 | Jackpot |
5 + 1 | 1 in 5,959,013 | €890,355 |
5 | 1 in 3,405,150 | €126,082 |
4 + 2 | 1 in 423,752 | €4,360 |
4 + 1 | 1 in 26,485 | €242 |
4 | 1 in 15,134 | €112 |
3 + 2 | 1 in 9,631 | €58 |
2 + 2 | 1 in 672 | €19 |
3 + 1 | 1 in 602 | €19 |
3 | 1 in 344 | €14 |
1 + 2 | 1 in 128 | €10 |
2 + 1 | 1 in 42 | €7 |
Claiming Eurojackpot Prizes
Eurojackpot winners have the option of choosing to collect the jackpot prize as an annuity or a lump sum.
However, Eurojackpot officials say that participants who play Eurojackpot online will receive the lump sum.
Online players will also not be subjected to taxes. Winners in a total of 11 countries are also not subjected to taxes.
Residents of Croatia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain are subject to the tax laws of the participating country.
Notable Eurojackpot Winners
There have been a number of players that have won big with Eurojackpot over all the years it’s been around.
The cap amount of €90 million has been won on eight separate occasions between 2015 and 2021.
With the cap in place and the odds as they are, it’s pretty much a certainty that there will be many more big winners so long as this format continues.
Eurojackpot-Should You Play?
Eurojackpot caps its prizes at €90,000,000, and its low odds of winning make this European lottery a challenging one to win.
Nevertheless, it is one of the biggest lotteries in not just Europe but also the world. It also offers a life-changing amount of money to anyone lucky enough to win it and has 12 prize tiers-more than most international lotteries.
That and the fact that it's easily playable across many European countries and online makes it a great game that's well worth playing.
Alexandre