What would you prefer to see in a lottery? Is it an easier chance to win a lower value jackpot or less chance to be successful but with the possibility of a larger win? It’s a difficult decision but the latter has been chosen by both EuroJackpot and the Oz Lotto.
March saw changes made to the EuroJackpot draw that is played by 18 European countries. Jackpots in this lottery aren’t as high as the EuroMillions draw, which currently has a 134m euros top prize.
EuroJackpot was launched ten years ago and now has draws on Tuesdays and Fridays. The jackpot cap has been increased to €120million, a rise of €30million. Other tiers have also seen an increase in their potential winnings.
Each EuroJackpot draw sees players choosing from 50 main balls. That number has remained unchanged but the number of EuroNumbers (their version of Lucky Stars) has risen from 10 to 12. Five main balls and two EuroNumbers are needed to land the jackpot.
The odds of winning the top prize were 1 in 95,344,200. Two more EuroNumbers has seen that rise to 1 in 139,838,160. The hope is that this will lead to higher jackpots in the future. April 1 saw a €24m jackpot won but there have been rollovers since then and on Tuesday April 26, the top prize is €42million.
Down under the Oz Lotto has announced changes that will come into force next month. May will see two more balls added to the Oz Lotto draw and higher jackpots are anticipated in the future.
The Oz Lotto has 45 main balls and players need to correctly match the seven main balls to win the jackpot. From May, there will be two more main balls, and this will make it harder to win the top prize.
Currently the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 45.3million. The addition of two main balls will see that rise to 1 in 62.8million. There are also going to be three supplementary numbers drawn, rather than the current two.
Not everyone is happy with the news, especially some politicians. The changes were voted on by the Victoria state parliament who licence the Oz Lotto. Opponents believe the move was made to see more tax revenue received from lottery draws.
However, the Oz Lotto say that they have had players contact them asking for larger jackpots to be offered. Other changes will see the minimum jackpot rise to $3million with extra prizes being made available. The odds of getting some kind of win will fall from 1 in 55 to 1 in 51.
It’s all food for thought for the future of the National Lottery in the UK. Allwyn are due to take over running the National Lottery in 2024, though there are still some hurdles to get over before that’s totally confirmed.
Will they look to change the Lotto and increase the size of jackpots that rarely get over £20m. Perhaps ending the ‘must-be-won’ rule may take place as that would lead to higher top prizes.
