The record jackpot had previously stood at €61.1 million after a lucky ticket holder from Finland successfully matched all five main numbers plus both Euro Numbers in a draw last September. The top prize was last won by a participant in Denmark two months ago and has been growing quickly ever since. Now, after last week’s draw in Helsinki failed to produce a €51 million jackpot winner, a record amount is in the pot.
EuroJackpot works in a similar way to EuroMillions as players pick five numbers from 1 to 50, plus two extra Euro Numbers from 1 to 10, and anyone who can match all seven numbers drawn gets a share of the jackpot. There are 11 additional prize tiers, giving players an excellent opportunity to win money. The game is drawn once a week on Friday evenings.
EuroJackpot launched in March 2012 with Germany, Finland, Denmark, Slovenia, Italy and the Netherlands as the founding countries. There are now 16 nations playing the lottery after Estonia, Spain, Croatia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic and Hungary joined in.
The scrutiny on EuroJackpot has intensified as the top prize has grown and players around the continent have bought tickets online or from authorised retailers in droves. It might not happen this Friday, but it could go very soon and make somebody one of Europe’s biggest ever lottery winners.