Tag Archives: lotteries
The World's Biggest Lotteries
The World’s Biggest Lotteries
Lotteries are one of the oldest forms of gambling known to man. All across the ancient world lotteries were played. The construction of the Great Wall of China was partially financed through lotteries. The American Revolution was financed by various lotteries and venerable educational institutions such as Harvard and Princeton were started with lottery money. In Europe lotteries have a long and colorful history and cities and nations financed public works projects and provided aid to the poor with lottery generated revenues. It comes as no surprise that many of the world’s largest lotteries are found in Europe. Italy’s SuperEnaLotto is one of Europe’s largest and routinely offers jackpots in the hundreds of millions.
The UK National Lottery is the largest in the United Kingdom and one of Europe’s biggest. The lottery is run by gaming giant Camelot and players can buy UK national lottery tickets online. Best of all jackpots are paid in a lump sum and are tax free unlike US lotteries where taxes can easily eat up over 50% of a lotto jackpot. The National Lottery funds the ‘Big Lottery Fund’ which supports various causes and charities. The UK lotto has fourteen separate machines that can be used for lottery draws and many of the machines are named after characters in Arthurian legend such as Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere, Galahad, Vyvyan and Lancelot. The lottery is exceptionally popular and players from outside the UK can purchase online lottery tickets for the UK National Lottery.
EuroMillions is a pan European lottery and one of the world’s largest lotteries. Like most European lotteries Euromillions jackpots are tax free and paid in a lump sum. In 2006 three extremely ticket holders shared a ââ¬183,000,000($235,770,664.19 USD jackpot. Euromillions jackpots routinely exceed ââ¬100,000,000. ($128,822,882.59 USD) Euromillions lottery tickets can be bought online at the official website.
Powerball is an American multi state mega jackpot lottery. Powerball jackpots start at $20 million dollars and if there is no winner the jackpot is rolled over until there is a winner. Powerball jackpots in excess of $100 million are relatively common. Powerball winners have the options of a lump sum payout or an annuity. Many players choose the annuity because of the heavy taxation of lump sum payouts. The largest Powerball jackpot was $365 million which was shared by eight co workers in Nebraska. An agreement reached in 2010 now allows the cross sale of Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets in most jurisdictions.
Mega Millions is another American multi state lottery game. Tickets are $1 and jackpots start at $12 million and, like Powerball, the jackpot is rolled over until there is a winner. Mega Millions has provided the largest lottery jackpot on record anywhere in the world. In 2007 two Mega Millions ticket holders split an amazing $390 million dollar jackpot. Typically Mega Millions jackpots are paid in 26 yearly installments unless the cash option is selected. As has been mentioned most lottery jurisdictions in the US now sell Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets.
Spain’s El Gordo lottery is considered by some as the largest lottery in the world. El Gordo typically offers billions of Euros in prizes and the Christmas El Gordo drawings are legendary across Europe. Players can purchase El Gordo lotto tickets online at the official website or at one of the many online lottery services. Although El Gordo jackpots are not record setting the amount of money won is the largest in the world. There are hundreds of El Gordo winners every year.
Lotteries 'Down Under'
Lotteries ‘Down Under’
Most people when they think of Australia have visions of kangaroos, dingoes, the platypus and many exotic animals indigenous to the country. Founded by British convicts the former British colony is a diverse society and many of the oldest families proudly trace their ancestry directly to a convict deported to Australia hundreds of years ago. Australians are a friendly outgoing people who are fond of a good time and love their beer. Australians are some of the most democratic people in the world and have a limited tolerance for snobbery and arrogance. They are also fond of lotteries and millions play regularly. The nation is home to several state and territorial lotteries.
Probably the most well known lottery in Australia is the ‘Oz’ lotto. Oz lotto is a national lottery and drawings are held each Tuesday. It is Australia’s first national lottery and was launched in 1994. Oz lotto holds the country’s record for the largest lottery jackpot ever won in Australia. On June 30th 2009 two lucky Oz Lotto winners shared a $106,549,984.76 jackpot. Players must select seven numbers from 1 through 45 and tickets for each game cost $1.
Powerball is a popular game modeled after the American lottery game of the same name. Australian Powerball was launched in 1996 and draws take place on Thursday nights. Players select five numbers from 1 through 45 and a Powerball number from the same numerical range. To date Powerball’s largest jackpot was $80 million dollars won on July 30th 2009.
Keno games are run by two private lottery administrators, South Australian Lotteries and Intralot. SA Lottery’s Keno games take place every 3.5 minutes and draws are closed 40 seconds before each draw. For lucky players who match all 10 numbers the jackpot is $1 million dollars. The Intralot keno games take place in Victoria and Tasmania and draws take place every evening at 8:00pm (Melbourne time). Minimum jackpots are $1 million dollars.
Saturday Lotto is a national game played in all States and Territories. Draws take place every Saturday night. Depending on the state or territory the Saturday games are known as Tattslotto, Gold Lotto, X Lotto, and Lotto and Saturday Lotto. This is one of the oldest lottery games anywhere and the first draw took place on June 24th 1972. The top prize of $4 million is typically shared by multiple players and ‘superdraws’ take place about seven times a year and have jackpots range in the $20 to 30 million dollar range.
Monday & Wednesday Lotto are played everywhere except Queensland and the first draw was way back in 1979. Jackpots range between $1 and $5 million. Australian lottery players may purchase online lottery tickets for any of the lotteries and can also check current lottery results on the official lottery websites. In addition players ‘down under’ can purchase lotto tickets for foreign lotteries such as El Gordo, Euromillions, the UK National Lottery and many others. Aussies love their lotteries and play often. Players in the remote outback with an internet connection can buy their lotto tickets online without have to drive great distances to the nearest lottery retailer. It would appear that Australians love lotteries as much as their famous beer!