Everyone wants to win the lottery – and a lot of people do! Millions of pounds are won every year, but which UK lottery has the best odds of winning? Wondering what are the odds of winning the lottery? Here you’ll find a list of the lottery odds of all of your favourite lotteries.

A typical scratchcard offers 1:5 odds at best, meaning that 1 in every 5 cards is a winner. This could mean winning a prize of $1 USD or a big jackpot. It depends on the game. Former Lotto corporate communications general manager Emilia Mazur said Division 7 had increased chances of winning a prize to one in 30. Previously, the best chance of getting a prize was one in 200. Canadian Lotto – CAD$64 million. Australian Lotto 6/45 – A$33 million. French Lotto – €24 million. Irish Lotto – €18 million. German Lotto – €45.4 million Best Odds of Winning the Jackpot. If you dream of walking home with a jackpot-sized prize someday, consider looking at jackpot odds when you’re deciding which lottery games.

What are the odds of winning EuroMillions?

EuroMillions is one of the UK’s favourite lotteries, but what are the actual odds of winning the jackpot? To win the Jackpot, EuroMillions requires you select five numbers from 1-50 and two Lucky Star numbers from 1-12. Because of this, the chances of a single ticket winning the jackpot in a EuroMillions draw is 1 in 139,838,160.

Luckily, EuroMillions gives you 12 additional opportunities to win prizes from matching the five main numbers and one Star Number (1 in 6,991,908 chance of winning) to only matching two numbers (1 in 22 chance of winning).

What are the odds of winning EuroMillions HotPicks?

EuroMillions HotPicks is a relatively new lottery that launched in January 2018. Most people still don’t know how it’s different to regular EuroMillions when in reality, it couldn’t be simpler! When buying a EuroMillions HotPicks ticket, you choose how many numbers you would like to match (as few as one or as many as 5). Then you pick your numbers from 1-50 just like regular EuroMillions. When a EuroMillions draw takes place, the five main numbers draw are also used as the numbers for EuroMillions HotPicks.

Unlike normal EuroMillions, with EuroMillions HotPicks, you must match all the numbers you have chosen (if you opted for a pick 1 you only have to match 1, a pick 2 requires you to match 2 etc.). This means that you have quite good odds of winning a prize if you have opted for a Pick 1 (1 in 10) which will result in a £10 prize and a pick 5 gives you a 1 in 2,118,760 chance at the £1,000,000 prize!

What are the odds of winning Lotto?

In addition to EuroMillions, the other major lottery we get asked about a lot is Lotto. Drawn every Saturday and Wednesday the UK Lotto requires you to successfully pick six numbers from a pool of fifty-nine. You must match a minimum of two to win a prize and match all six (the five main numbers and the bonus ball) to win the major jackpot.

The odds of picking all six numbers correctly in a National Lottery draw are 1 in 45,057,474. These are better odds than the EuroMillions jackpot, but not as good as the EuroMillions HotPicks main prize. The odds of winning the most basic prize (matching two numbers which gets you a free Lotto Lucky Dip) are 1 in 10.3. When compared to the 1 in 22 chance of winning the bottom prize in EuroMillions, the odds seem quite strong!

What are the odds of winning Lotto HotPicks?

Similar to EuroMillions HotPicks, Lotto HotPicks is an extension of the regular National Lottery/UK Lotto game. Just like EuroMillions HotPicks, you first determine how many numbers you would like to pick (between pick 1 and pick 5), then choose your numbers.

To win, all of the numbers you have chosen must be drawn (1 if you chose a Pick 1 ticket, two if you chose a Pick 2 etc.). Because of this, the odds of winning are quite good, with a 1 in 10 chance of winning on a Pick 1 ticket (a £6 prize) and a 1 in 834,398 chance of winning on a Pick 5 ticket (a £350,000 prize).

What are the odds of winning Thunderball?

Thunderball is an increasingly popular lottery with people in the UK. It is similar to the US Powerball; you must match five main numbers plus the Thunderball to win the main prize. Unlike many of the other lotteries on this list, Thunderball does not jackpot. Instead, there is a guaranteed £500,000 prize for people who match all five numbers plus the Thunderball. Drawn five times per week, players must pick five numbers between 1-39 and one Thunderball between 1-14.

Due to the relatively low number of numbers to choose from the odds of winning Thunderball are better than many of the other lotteries. The minimum you must match to win a prize is just the Thunderball with a 1 in 13 chance of that happening. However, the main £500,000 prize has the surprisingly good odds of winning at 1 in 8,060,598.

As is the case with most UK lotteries, as the odds of winning improve, the value of the prize goes down. If you’re chasing record-breaking jackpots, or just want to retire comfortably and treat the family, it can help to know which UK lotteries have the best odds of winning.

So what’s your strategy? Will you go for the big prize in EuroMillions or play it safe with a pick 1 Lotto HotPick? Or maybe somewhere in between?

Imagine taking a crispy lotto ticket out of your pocket and realizing that you just won $10 million. Now, imagine that you won $1.5 billion.

Sound like a fantasy? Believe it or not, both the Powerball and Mega Millions have paid jackpots in excess of $1.5 billion before.

Lottery With The Best Odds Of Winning

You can now play in some of the world’s national lotteries online no matter where you’re from thanks to online lotto sites which allow you to bet on the result. Even if you’re in the UK, New Zealand, Fiji, Brazil, or India, you can bet on the US lotteries and vice versa.

After writing that in-depth piece on how to play lotteries online, I got to wondering about which lotteries have the best odds of winning. It’s no secret that lottery games have terrible odds in general, but are some games better than others?

Do you have an equal chance of winning the UK lottery as you do of winning the EuroMillions or Powerball?

I’m going to answer those online lottery questions here. Welcome to my odds comparison for the top lottos in the world. I have researched seven different lotteries and will cover them all one by one.

Mega Millions – USA

Most US lotto players have dreamed of winning the Mega Millions. There are few draws in the world which can even come close in terms of jackpots. The biggest ever Mega Millions win was $1.53 billion. While such massive jackpots are usually split between multiple players, one lucky player ran away with this colossal jackpot.

Best Odds Lotto

To win the Mega Millions jackpot, you have to match five white balls and one yellow ball. These are picked from two separate pools of numbers. The white numbers can be between one and 70, and the yellow numbers can be between one and 25.

What are your odds of pulling off such a seemingly impossible feat? One in 302,575,350. Don’t let that put you off playing, though. Mega Millions tickets only cost $2 per line, so it’s well worth a shot when the jackpots are crazy big.

Powerball – USA

The other mega lotto in the USA is the Powerball. It’s the only draw which has a record jackpot which slightly tops the Mega Millions record. In 2016, three lucky players split a massive $1.58 billion. In a random plot twist, a prisoner sued them, claiming he had given them $20 for the tickets.
How do you win the Powerball draw? You have to match five white balls between one and 69, and one red ball between one and 26. These are also picked from two separate pools of lotto balls.

Your odds of winning the Powerball draw are slightly better than winning Mega Millions, although I do emphasize the word slightly. You have a one in 292,201,388 chance. At $2 per ticket, you might as well give it a shot when the jackpot is large enough to grab your attention.

EuroMillions – Europe

The EuroMillions draw is a multi-national lotto which players from participating countries in Europe can play in. There’s the main lotto draw, and some countries (like the UK) also have add-ons such as one guaranteed millionaire per week.

The biggest ever EuroMillions jackpot was a staggering €190 million. It can’t get any bigger than that, because that is the maximum jackpot cap.

To win the EuroMillions, you need to match five numbers and two lucky stars. The main numbers can be between one and 50, and the lucky stars can be between one and 12.

What are the odds of winning the EuroMillions jackpot? One in 139,838,160. That’s significantly better than either the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpots. EuroMillions may be better value at €2.50 per ticket.

German Lotto 6/49 – Germany

Germany is the European powerhouse as far as economics are concerned, so it’s probably no surprise that it has one of the biggest and best lotto draws on the continent. The biggest ever German Lotto 6/49 jackpot was €45,400,000 which three lucky winners split.

To play the German 6/49 Lotto, you need to pick six regular numbers between one and 49, and one Super Number between zero and nine. That’s a smaller number pool than the other lottos listed here so far, so are the odds better?

The odds of winning the German 6/49 Lotto are one in 139,838,160, the same as the EuroMillions odds. At €1.50 per ticket, this might be better value than the EuroMillions draw, but the jackpots rarely reach the same size.

EuroJackpot – Finland

Finland has an interesting approach to gambling. All losses in any form of gambling go towards social projects like building schools, roads, hospitals, etc. Hence, in Finland, there’s a saying about gambling that goes, “Every Finn Wins.”

EuroJackpot is the national lotto of Finland, and with a record jackpot of €90 million, it’s a serious lotto which players from around the world have an interest in.

The rules of EuroJackpot draw are as follows. You must pick five numbers between one and 50, and two additional numbers between one and 10. To win the jackpot, you need to match all seven, which is quite a task.

The odds of doing so are one in 95,344,200. That’s still insanely unlikely, but it’s better than the odds on the other lottos I’ve covered so far. A ticket to this draw will cost you €2.

The UK National Lotto – UK

The UK National Lotto is the original national lottery of the United Kingdom. There are now several different draws per week, but I’m referring to the original one here. This draw has a “quadruple rollover rule” that if nobody wins after four draws, the tickets with five numbers plus the bonus ball share it.

That gives a clue about how to play the UK Lotto. This game is straightforward. You simply have to pick six numbers between one and 59, and you need to match all six to win. A bonus ball is also drawn as a second chance for players who haven’t matched the original six. Five plus the bonus ball wins the second-highest prize, but not the jackpot.

The odds of winning the UK Lotto are one in 45,057,474. Of all the lotto draws we have covered in this article, this one has the best odds. You can play for £2 per ticket.

The Spanish Christmas Lottery – Spain

As the name implies, the Spanish Christmas Lottery takes place once per year on the 22^nd of December. It’s technically called the Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad, and it is extraordinary! The biggest ever jackpot was a whopping €720 million. 180 players split that. The average prize pool is estimated to be €2.3 billion.

This isn’t a lotto in the traditional sense. Instead of drawing lotto balls, they draw tickets from two massive drums. In this way, it’s more like a raffle than a lotto. Tickets have numbers between 00000 and 99999.

The odds of winning the Spanish Christmas Lottery are one in 100,000. Of course, you won’t win the entire prize to yourself. Prizes range from €4 million to €1,000 and each ticket costs €200 each, so this might be out of reach for many players.

Unclaimed Lottery Wins

Believe it or not, some players have won the lottery games outlined above and have subsequently failed to claim their prizes. Isn’t that insane?!

While researching the lotto games above, I came across some stories of unclaimed prizes, and I wanted to share those with you here.

• EuroMillions – When two players won a £128 million jackpot, the EuroMillions prize master expected two extremely happy people to show up with their tickets. However, only one ever did. The other, who purchased their ticket in the UK, never showed up to claim their half of the winnings worth a cool £64 million.
• Powerball – America’s truckers are some of the hardest working people in the country, which makes this story even harder to swallow. Someone won $77 million after purchasing a ticket in a truck stop in Tallapoosa, Georgia. However, they never showed up to claim their prize.
• Mega Millions – When you think of New York City, you think of some of the richest people on earth who reside there. However, I’m sure that none of them would turn down an extra $68 million. Someone did in 2002 when they never claimed their $68 million Mega Millions win.
• UK Lotto – When one winner doesn’t come forward, that’s strange enough. When two fail to show, it’s just bizarre. That happened in the UK in 2006 when two winners, one Scottish and one English, failed to show to split their £1.6 million prize. Okay, so it’s not the biggest lotto jackpot in history, but I’d certainly show up for £800 grand, wouldn’t you?

What on earth could cause a person to fail to collect such huge prizes? Well, apart from possibly having died without telling anyone they bought a ticket, the other potential reason is lost or stolen tickets. Wouldn’t that break your heart? Imagine playing the same numbers week in, week out, then losing your ticket the week they came up?

That’s even more reason to play online lotteries. You can’t lose your ticket when it’s digital and sent to you by email. In fact, since you don’t actually buy tickets when you play in lotto games abroad, but rather bet on the outcome, losing your ticket becomes impossible.

My Final Thoughts

In my humble opinion, the UK Lotto represents the best value for money overall. The jackpots don’t get nearly as big as they do in the EuroMillions or Powerball, but this game has the best odds of all the major national lotteries, and it only costs £2 to play.

If you do decide to bet on these national lotteries online, please remember that you are betting against the lotto site and are not really purchasing a ticket to the draw. Therefore, you’ll need to make sure that it’s a legit operation which can afford to pay you and which will honour its agreements.

Good luck, and don’t get too carried away with playing the lottery online. Remember, your chances of winning any lotto jackpot are slim to none, but it’s all about that one lucky shot at living out your dreams without the years of toil required to get there!

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