Lottery fans who are envious after hearing about the Bulls’ luck with the lotto may want to play EuroMillions online to win big – just like the Nottinghamshire family.
Catherine and Gareth Bull went public with their €48.9 million jackpot payout, which they landed after entering the last Friday drawing of the game on January 20th.
The couple revealed they spent the entire weekend keeping the good news quiet from their two sons, ten-year-old Joel and nine-year-old Declan, but have now decided to let the whole world in on their big secret.
Mr and Mrs Bull have revealed their boys will benefit hugely from their enormous EuroMillions windfall and have suggested they will start their lives off as a wealthy family with a dream trip to Disneyland inFlorida where they can escape from the media frenzy.
In addition, Mr Bull wants to buy himself a box at the Manchester United football ground at Old Trafford, while his wife has her sights set on a new carpet for the upstairs of their family home.
EuroMillions millionaires Mr and Mrs Bull
Mrs Bull admitted her plans for splashing the cash are not very exciting, but puts this down to her lack of interest in going into town on a spending spree.
“I have never been much of a shopper and I can’t see that changing now. I already have home food delivery … because I hate shopping,” she admitted.
Mr Bull – who is a builder – and health insurance worker Mrs Bull have no plans to leave their jobs or move house, claiming their current property is perfect for their young family.
Instead, they have big plans for donating a good portion of their wealth to charitable causes.
Mr Bull’s mother battled breast cancer five years ago and the couple have pledged to make a generous cash gift for research into the disease.
Their new lives as multi-millionaires may make some lottery players green with envy, but fans have every chance to win a fortune just like this unassuming Nottinghamshire family on Friday (January 27th).
The next EuroMillions draw promises an estimated jackpot of €27 million after yesterday’s (January 24th) top prize rolled over.
European lotto draws are dominating theSmart category here at theLotter – which means those with a penchant for the continent’s lotteries could take home a cash prize if they are savvy about ticket prices and the payouts available.
How theSmart works is that it picks the draws with the best cost-to-benefit ratio, with this being calculated according to tax deductions, the odds and the jackpot total versus the price of the bet.
So people who know their games might be eager to enter Spain’s La Primitiva tomorrow (January 26th), as there is €4.8 million on offer.
Turkey’s Lotto 649 and Super Lotto 654 also feature, with the former offering a 1.2 million Turkish lira payout for jackpot winners at its next draw on Saturday (January 28th) and the latter seeing its top prize jump to 3.2 million Turkish lira in time for Thursday’s game.
The Poland Lotto – which has seen a triple rollover in the past week or so – promises an estimated jackpot of six million polish zloty tomorrow night, but if this top prize goes unclaimed again, fans can enter the next draws on Saturday and Tuesday until it is won.
And the Ireland Lotto is also boasting an attractive jackpot in its game scheduled for tonight (January 25th), as the lottery is offering the person who gets all six main numbers correct a payout of €5.5 million.
But despite this European domination of the Smart list, the US and Australia also featured highly on the table of the best games to play when both ticket price and prize sums are taken into account.
The Australian Saturday Lotto, Wednesday Lotto and AustraliaPowerball are all featured on the Smart list.
Fans interested in entering the Saturday Lotto this weekend can play for a possible Au$4 million jackpot, while the Wednesday Lotto next week has its top prize set for Au$1 million.
An incredible Au$20 million is up for grabs if players enter the Australia Powerball draw tonight, with this game ranking fourth on the list.
The Indiana Hoosier Lottery – which does not normally feature in theSmart category – is currently ranking third, as its jackpot for this evening’s draw is estimated to be a massive $31.3 million and finally, the Oregon Megabucks also features, with tonight’s game offering a top prize of $19.3 million.
A Euro Millions rollover winner is now one of the wealthiest lotto fans in theUK after winning €48.9 million on Friday (January 20th).
The jackpot has been on the rise since January 6th when one lucky soul won €36.5 million – which was the first top prize paid out to a fortunate ticketholder in 2012.
Very little is known about the new multi-millionaire, apart from the fact they are from theUKand came forward to collect their prize over the weekend.
The EuroMillions fan is now the seventh-wealthiest lottery winner in theUK and has more cash in the bank than many celebrities and business chiefs – and could even win a place on the Sunday Times Rich List when it is published later this year.
A spokesperson has claimed the prize money may already be in the individual’s account, as the funds are allowed to be transferred to the mystery lottery fan as soon as the banks open today and their claim has been verified.
It has not been revealed yet if they will go public like previous jumbo EuroMillions prize winners Christine and Colin Weir from Largs inScotland, who won the biggest jackpot in UK history worth €185 million last July, or Dave and Angela Dawes, who landed €121 million – the third-largest – in October.
In 2010, an anonymous EuroMillions player won €135.8 million – but opted to remain out of the media.
A representative from the country’s official lottery organisation Camelot said: “This is fantastic news – we’re absolutely delighted to have yet another huge EuroMillions win here in the UK. We have plenty of champagne on ice and look forward to welcoming the lucky ticketholder into The National Lottery millionaires’ club.”
Now the EuroMillions jackpot has been reset to its starter sum and players can start playing for this refreshed top prize for tomorrow’s (January 24th) draw.
The new payout is now totalled at €15 million – but may be set to increase if there is another rollover.
Fans who want to get involved can do so at theLotter, where they can play online, check results and find out more about some of the world’s most exciting draws.
The Italian SuperEnalotto is leading the way in terms of jackpot sizes after an avalanche of Euro lotto rollovers.
In addition to this famous draw, the Spanish El Gordo, France Loto and Germany Lotto all saw their top prizes go unclaimed by players over Saturday and Sunday, with these payouts increasing in size in time for the draws scheduled for this week.
The Italian SuperEnalotto is famous for its rollovers and its jackpot is continuing on its sky-bound trajectory, inflating to €56.1 million after Saturday’s (January 21st) game.
Players who have been watching the Italian SuperEnalotto and making a note of just how many times its top payout has increased may know that this huge sum has been on the rise since September last year.
The jackpot will have to be won by somebody at some point and those who think they have luck on their side can enter for Tuesday’s (January 24th) draw, to be in with a chance of taking home the coveted €56.1 million total.
Another lotto – or loto – to see its jackpot increase over the weekend is the France Loto, which rolled over after Saturday’s game yielded no top prize winners.
Now, the jumbo payout is €6 million, which could be scooped tonight at the next draw.
The France Loto has not been rolling over for too long, as the last big win was taken home on January 13th, when one fortunate fan’s ticket landed them with €4.3 million to kick off the new year with.
A slightly larger jackpot is now tempting Germany Lotto fans, who may be waiting in anticipation for Wednesday’s (January 25th) draw, as Saturday’s game yielded no top payout winners.
Now, the much-anticipated first prize sum is €11 million, as the bi-weekly game has seen five rollovers since the last big win on January 4th.
Finally, the Spanish El Gordo draw on Sunday did not lead to any jackpot wins and now this famous game is offering entrants the chance to take home an enormous €11.4 million cash prize.
The next draw is not for another week, but that does not mean fans cannot get excited about it, because when that top payout is claimed, the ticketholder will be the first Spanish El Gordo jackpot winner of 2012 – and the first since November 20th 2011.
The hunt is on for one of Scandinavia’s largest-ever jackpot winners after the top prize was bagged on Wednesday (January 18th) – and some believe the lucky Sweden Lotto player is hiding out in a tiny village of Storebro in the south-eastern countryside of the country.
Based near the little town ofVimmerby, residents of the area are all a flutter, according to the Swedish English language newspaper the Local, because the ticketholder is entitled to the third-largest payout in the history of the nation.
The fortunate individual’s slip is the key to a 14.9 million Swedish krona jackpot after getting all seven numbers right in Wednesday’s draw.
Despite the relatively small size of Storebro, the lucky winner’s identity is still unknown among residents of the quiet village.
Indeed, many locals did not believe the news when they first heard it.
Sofie Skepphagen of the Storebro Kiosk and Grill near Vimmerby – where the winning Sweden Lotto ticket was purchased – told Swedish newspaper the Aftonbladet that the news is “unbelievable”.
She admitted to slamming the phone down when lottery officials told her the news that the slip had been bought in her store believing it was a hoax.
Despite it being a tight-knit rural community, residents are none the wiser as to who the lucky lottery player is.
Pierre Jonsson of the Svenska Spel Swedish lotto headquarters had a message for the anonymous millionaire-in-waiting, stating: “I have said it many times before, but this time I will stress it particularly, keep the ticket safe.”
“The only way to get your hands on the money is by presenting the winning ticket,” he added.
Whoever the Sweden Lotto winner may be, having a ticket at home worth such an enormous amount is likely to be putting them under lots of pressure – a matter that could be resolved by playing the lottery online.
By entering a draw at theLotter, all entries are saved digitally and subscribers receive alerts if they are lucky enough to win a prize – which also eliminates the issue of losing or forgetting to check a ticket and missing out on taking home a windfall.
This week has been very exciting for players of the world’s biggest lotteries, not least because the USAPowerball‘s recent changes came into effect.
Aside from this, two of the world’s other lotto heavyweights have been as thrilling for fans as they have always been, with both the Italian SuperEnalotto and the USA Mega Millions seeing their jackpots bumped up considerably in rollover draws.
The Italian SuperEnalotto has been increasing its top prize after every game since September 22nd.
Now, the jackpot stands at €54.5 million – which is not unusual for this particular lottery, because part of its appeal is the massive payouts and the frequent rollovers due to there being 90 balls in play, despite there being three draws a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The question is, how long will it take for that top prize to be won? And lotto players can find out for themselves if they enter in time for tonight’s (January 19th) draw.
Additionally, the USA Mega Millions has seen its jackpot roll over to $60 million.
This is not uncharted territory for the draw, as the Mega Millions resulted in the world’s largest ever lotto win back in 2007, when a $390 million prize was shared between winners Eddie Nabors – a 52-year-old truck driver fromGeorgia – and 57-year-old Harold Messner, a builder fromNew Jersey.
Many people have been close to winning the top payout over the past few weeks, with five players taking home the second prize of $250,000 after the last draw on Tuesday (January17th).
So, for players to be in with a chance of winning the $60 million Mega Millions jackpot, they can enter in time for tomorrow’s (January 20th) game with their chosen lucky numbers of quick pick selection.
As for the new-look USA Powerball, however, since its new rules were implemented at the beginning of the week, nobody has yet landed themselves a jackpot prize.
Because of this, the payout has rolled over and been inflated by $10 million, giving Saturday’s (January 21st) entrants $100 million to play for.
In the first draw since the changes, several lucky Powerball fans went home with a second-tier prize, which is now worth a cool $1 million.
For some it may be holidays, others the chance to quit their jobs, but for many lottery winners, the first thing they want to do with their newfound fortune is buy the ultimate set of wheels.
And that is exactly what Neath-born EuroMillions winner Gavin Davies will be doing, as the 29-year-old professional cage fighter is going to hand in his battered old Audi and replace it with a shiny new white Lamborghini Spyder.
But the millionaire has a lot to thank his old car for, as he revealed he only realised he had landed a €1.2 million jackpot when he found his lottery ticket in the glove compartment 17 days after he bought it.
EuroMillions winner Gavin Davies
He said he was prompted to check for his old EuroMillions slips after his granddad revealed there was a lottery winner in the local area and that it could be him.
Spookily, Mr Davies looked up the winning numbers on Friday 13th – a day that is thought to be unlucky.
The sportsman was out and about this week test-driving models by the famous luxury car brand.
“I can’t wait to visit the showrooms to choose one – I will be like a kid in a sweet shop,” he said.
Mr Davies revealed that it was always his dream to win a million playing the lotto but had only ever taken home small amounts in the past.
The extra cash will come as an added blessing for the cage fighter, as he and his partner have recently welcomed a baby boy – who he accidentally woke up when he discovered he had landed himself a small fortune.
“Becoming a millionaire at any time is great but being 29 and having my first child it could not have come at a better time. I’ve always wanted a Lamborghini and now I’m going to be purring around in one. I’m going to be the most popular man in town!”
Lotto fans who have dreams of owing a supercar may want to enter the EuroMillions in time for Friday’s (January 20th) draw, as numerous rollovers have inflated the top prize to €48 million.
Many Illinois Lottery fans may have been left confused and annoyed recently, as dozens of cheques written out to winners of the state game bounced – although officials have insisted the problem has now been resolved and steps are being taken to ensure it does not happen again.
Written on December 28th, 85 out of the 311 sent out failed to be banked, resulting in winners wondering when their money would arrive in their account.
The cheques totalled $159,000 and, according to reports, most of them were addressed to those who had struck lucky playing scratch-off games.
Mike Lang, a spokesman for the lottery said the incident occurred when a computer file was not sent on time to the lottery‘s bank. Officials did not, therefore, key in the necessary security code for the cheques to be accepted by various banks.
He added that the incident may have also happened because many Illinois Lottery workers were on annual leave over the Christmas period, suggesting the necessary checks to ensure all systems were in place correctly were overlooked due to the offices being short-staffed.
Any fees incurred by Illinois Lottery winners because of this problem, Mr Lang states, will be paid for by the organisation.
He added that the lotto sends its apologies by sending free scratch-off tickets to those affected.
Anybody who wins more than $600 playing the Illinois Lottery can go to one of a selection of offices that issue cheques in the state.
Those affected were predominantly people who had won $1,000, but the largest individual cheque to bounce was worth $9,500.
When the winners deposited their cheques to their respective banks, they were initially accepted. But when they tried to withdraw the money, it was revealed the cash was not in their account.
Mr Lang revealed the problem was identified shortly after the cheques had been issued but added: “It’s something that we are not happy with and we’re taking steps.”
Such incidents may be a concern to lottery fans – no matter what particular draws they favour – but if they choose to play lotto online, they may reduce the chances of this happening to them.
Lottery fans searching for new and exciting draws to get involved in may be using the internet to seek out new games to try – but there is a chance that a great many are being overlooked because they refer to themselves as loto rather than lotto.
Some players may never have considered entering a loto draw before, preferring perhaps to stick to the familiar English language lotto games out there – but these people may not know what they are missing.
France Loto
The France Loto is the national lottery ofFrance and is extremely popular in its home country – hence the reason why it has three draws every week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Indeed, the French have been avid lottery fans for centuries, with the oldest records in the country of such games being played dating back to 1505.
Loto fans who think they have the same zeal for draws as the French can play this evening (January 18th), as the jackpot is estimated to be worth €4 million.
Sweden Viking Loto
The Sweden Viking Loto - which is also referred to as the Viking Lotto – is a Nordic draw based in Sweden, but Scandinavian and Baltic residents can also buy tickets in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Estonia.
And being lost in translation is not a problem with this draw because fans can use the plentiful resources at theLotter to play the game, check results and learn more about the Sweden Viking Loto.
The next draw will take place tonight and entrants could be in with a chance of winning 17.6 million Swedish krona if they get their numbers right.
Turkey Super Loto
Finally, Turkey’s Super Loto 6/54 – also known as the Super Lotto 6/54 – is another exciting game fans should not miss out on.
Players who are intrigued about the numerical element of its name may wish to learn that it is called 6/54 because entrants choose six main numbers out of a matrix of 1-54.
This tax-free lottery has a weekly draw on Thursdays, so those interested in lining their pockets with some Turkish lira may want to explore how this game works at theLotter in time for tomorrow night, when the jackpot is estimated to be worth 2.1 million lira.
The pressure to keep a winning lottery ticket safe must be unbearable for those lucky enough to choose the correct numbers, but oneYorkshire family knew exactly where to put their slip for safekeeping.
Judy and Frank Whitmore from Tockwith in the UK landed a €1.2 million cash prize playing EuroMillions just before Christmas last month and decided that they would stow their lottery ticket safely away in an antique teapot before taking it to the lottery headquarters to collect their payout.
Ms Whitmore explained that the hiding place has sentimental value because it belonged to her husband’s great-great-grandmother.
She noted that the teapot is kept on the kitchen shelf and she knew it would be a safer place than the windowsill or her purse – where she usually keeps her lottery tickets.
Source: PA
The couple realised their luck had come through when they checked their EuroMillions numbers on Christmas Eve.
Ms Whitmore said she was so excited that she had to ask her son to check the numbers and call the lottery for her, because neither she nor her husband could speak.
When it dawned on them, the couple – who are in their 60s – admitted they screamed with excitement.
After the realisation they had won a fortune began to sink in, the family went for a stroll to regain a sense of normality.
“We just wandered down the river with great big smiles on our faces and occasionally laughing,” Ms Whitmore said.
The pair did not reveal the happy news to their other two children until they were all together on Christmas Day – with the lottery win coming in as a late yuletide gift for the whole family.
But what will the Whitmores be spending their newfound EuroMillions wealth on? The couple have revealed they want to enjoy themselves and said they will buy a new car – perhaps a Nissan Rav4 – and plan some walking holidays across the UK.
Lotto fans who want a taste of the lifestyle this family can now enjoy may wish to play EuroMillions in time for tomorrow’s (January 17th) draw, which promises a jackpot worth around €35 million following numerous rollovers.
Playing any lottery is fun, but a few fans may feel put off by the fact some payouts could be less than their estimated value after tax has been deducted from them – and in some cases as much as 40 per cent may be slashed from jackpot totals.
However, this is not always the case, as there are many lotto games that do not subtract such duties from a prize at all – which may be of interest to those who want to ensure they keep the entirety of their lottery winnings to themselves.
The Italian SuperEnalotto is just one of the many draws enthusiasts can get involved in.
If a player is fortunate enough to get all their numbers right playing this game then they will get to take home the complete prize as a cash sum – which means no annuity payouts or monthly instalments and they keep the entire jackpot for themselves if they are the sole winner that day.
So, if a lotto fan enters his or her numbers for tonight’s (January 17th) Italian SuperEnalotto draw, they will get the opportunity to bank the entire estimated top prize of €53.7 million.
Another popular lottery with no duties is the EuroMillions, which is the biggest tax-free Euro lotto.
The EuroMillions sells tickets in nine European countries and is popular online across the world because it gives its fans the entirety of the prize money if their luck comes in.
This draw has resulted in some of the wealthiest lotto winners on the continent, with the records being smashed only last year when Christine and Colin Weir of Largs in Scotland took home a total of €185 million in jackpot money.
Finally, the Spanish El Gordo is also free from having tax deducted from its top prize payouts.
The lottery is already considered one of the more generous in the world of lotto because 70 per cent of ticket revenues are paid out in winnings to those who enter the draws, but the fact players can cash in on the entire amount of their winnings makes it even more appealing.
Those who want to get involved with the Spanish El Gordocan do so online at theLotter for the next draw on January 22nd, when the jackpot is expected to reach €10.6 million.
The Ireland Lotto jackpot keeps on climbing, with the top prize now estimated to be worth €4 million.
This payout has been rolling over since one lucky player got all six main numbers correct on December 31st – with the lucky lottery enthusiast taking home €4.1 million in time for the New Year.
The current jackpot is already estimated to be worth €4 million, but if nobody claims it on the next draw on Wednesday (January 18th) then it may exceed the New Years Eve payout.
Ireland Lotto history
Ireland Lotto grew out of the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes in 1988 and ever since its rebrand, the twice-weekly draw always starts its jackpots at €2 million with proceeds still going to good causes such as healthcare in the Irish Republic.
In July 2007, one lucky player claimed the draw’s largest-ever top prize of €16.2 million following months of rollovers.
Two-thirds of Ireland’s residents claim to have purchased lottery tickets especially for this particular game.
Ireland Lotto is no stranger to memorable draws, because in November 1991, it saw one of the highest ever numbers of top prize winners sharing a single payout, with 20 lottery ticket holders claiming a piece of the €2.9 million prize.
In November 1996, the lotto saw its second largest-ever jackpot of €9.5 million, which was shared between Mary and Paddy Kelly from Bailieborough in County Cavan and an anonymous player from County Meath.
Playing Ireland Lotto
Ireland Lotto is a tax-free draw, which means winners get to take home all of their winnings.
All cash prizes won in the Ireland Lotto are paid in lump sums and need to be claimed within 90 days of the draw in question.
The lotto operates in such a way that players choose six numbers between one and 45 and only requires these to be right to be in with a chance of landing the jackpot.
There is also a bonus number drawn in every game, which can lead to secondary prizes.
Ireland Lotto draws take place twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays and fans may be keen to try their luck by buying their lottery ticket online at theLotter.
This weekend, one of the world’s most popular lottery games – the USA Powerball – has transformed into a draw that will mean bigger prizes and better odds, but many may still be in the dark about these recent changes.
Yesterday (January 15th), the new system was set in action, which means players from now on will be in for a different experience than before – although the famous USA Powerball format will not be left unrecognisable as a result.
Bigger prizes
Now, all jackpots will start at $40 million rather than $20 million.
Furthermore, every draw that results in a rollover that will see the top prize increased by $10 million.
The second-tier prize is also getting a makeover, with this payout being given a boost from the $200,000 it was originally, to a very generous $1 million if a player gets all five main numbers correct.
This will mean the Match 5 prize with a Power Play will be inflated to $2 million, potentially resulting in scores of millionaires with every draw.
Lower level payouts are also being increased, with those who match just the Powerball taking home $4 now, compared to the $3 they would have won last week.
Better odds
The regular USA Powerball matrix for main numbers with a guess range of 1-59 will remain the same, so fans will still pick from the number selection when buying their lottery tickets.
Odds are also being improved, because with these changes comes a new Powerball matrix, taking the number of digits to choose from for the additional number selection from 1-39 down to 1-35.
New price
To reflect this transformation, the price of USA Powerball tickets has been increased by $1 to mark the 20th anniversary of the famous game, which held its first draw on April 22nd 1992 replacing the original Lotto America lottery.
Play lottoonline
Worldwide USA Powerball fans might be itching to experience this new USA Powerball format and play lotto online in time for the very first new-style draw at theLotter.
The first opportunity people will have to play with these better odds and bigger jackpots is on Wednesday (January 18th), when they can enter to be in with a chance of winning the enormous $80 million jackpot.
The government of British Columbiahas announced that it will be earmarking more of the finances generated by draws such as the Canada 649 and Canada Lotto Max for good causes.
According to the Canadian Press, premier Christy Clark announced the changes yesterday (January 11th) and said decision-makers will be ring-fencing C$135 million for non-profit groups this year, which is C$15 million more than in 2011.
However, the province’s lottery organisation is still trying to recover some of the ground it lost after the global economic downturn, because this year’s charity targets are still lower than the ones it was hitting in 2009.
Ms Clark said that some of the groups that missed out on lotto financing when the recession hit can now reapply, including organisations supporting the arts and sports, environmental groups and animal welfare agencies.
Executive director for theAlliancefor Arts and Culture Rob Gloor was pleased to hear this news.
He remarked: “There is no doubt that today’s announcement will have a very positive impact in communities across British Columbia through the work of hundreds of organisations.”
The British Columbia Lotteries Corporation revealed that for the 2010-11 period, C$147.3 million in lottery finances was donated to deliver health care, research and education in the region.
Furthermore, over 6,000 charitable and community organisations received C$135 million in grants.
In addition to charities and healthcare, the corporation provides financing for other services including education and municipal programmes, with a portion of takings also going to fund the Canadian government.
The British Columbia Lotteries Corporation also revealed that in its 26 years of generating lottery finances, it has made more than C$13.5 billion in net income to fund charities and other provincial causes and continues to show its support for the region by sponsoring big events such as the Western Canada Summer Games.
Lotto fans may be spurred on to play their favourite Canadian lottery after reading about the charitable and community efforts it supports.
The next Lotto 649 draw is set to take place on Saturday (January 14th) and players can submit their entries to be in with a chance of winning C$15 million.
After weeks of waiting in anticipation – during which time countless lotto fans must have been frantically checking their own lottery tickets – the winner of the coveted $206 million USA Mega Millions jackpot has come forward.
The now fantastically wealthy player has so far elected to remain anonymous and only made an appearance at the New York State Lottery headquarters this week, despite the drawing for this enormous top prize taking place on December 27th.
Very little is known about the man or woman who bought the ticket, except for the fact that they live inLong Islandand are now the richest-ever lotto winner to come from that part of the state.
According to New York State Lottery officials, the slip was purchased at a supermarket in the Middle Island area and the numbers were chosen by a Quick Pick random number selector.
Because the winner had taken so long to make themselves known to officials, it was rumoured the lucky lotto fan was in fact an employee of the store in question.
If the lottery player chooses to take his or her payout as a cash lump sum, the amount they receive will be worth $153 million.
It is not known whether they kept their momentous USA Mega Millions win under their hat because they wanted to get used to the idea of owning such an enormous sum of money and contact the necessary financial and legal experts to advise them on the best steps to take, or if it was merely the case that they did not check their lottery ticket until recently.
Last week, the media was rife with reports about the mystery lottery winner who was yet to make themselves known – coverage that may have encouraged the player to take a peek at any slips they had forgotten to check.
The USA Mega Millions jackpot has been rolling over since the exciting December 27th draw, with four unclaimed top prizes seeing the payout climb to dizzying heights once again.
Its jackpot is now $42 million and lottery fans can enter their lucky numbers or Quick Pick selection in time for tomorrow’s (January 13th) draw.
The UK National Lottery is helping to fund one of the biggest events of the year – the London 2012 Olympic Games, with £1.5 billion going towards the international sporting event.
According to the UK government, £750 million of this is being raised through the sale of Olympic-themed lottery tickets and a further £750 million will be earmarked from the National Lottery Distribution Fund.
In addition to helping fiscally support the games, the UK National Lottery is also holding events that will allow lotto fans to get a real taste of what is to come, as it is holding an Olympic Park Run that will offer sporty men, women and children the chance to cross the finish line even before the world’s most accomplished athletes.
Set for March 31st, the five-mile course concludes at the Olympic Stadium – which was partly funded using lotto finances – giving 5,000 people the chance to run on the tracks that will be treaded by the likes of Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis.
Olympic Park London 2012
Further to supplying a portion of the money for the new stadiums and arenas, the UK National Lottery is also providing backing for the athletes in Team GB.
The lotto states that a proportion of its Good Causes fund is targeted at giving the country’s most talented sportspeople and paralympians the money to further their training, receive the best medical and scientific support and have access to the world’s top coaches.
There are more than 1,200 athletes that are backed by the UK National Lottery and the organisation claims it has contributed to bringing home 438 medals for Team GB at past Olympic and Paralympic Games events.
Camelot – the official UK lottery organisation – has generated more than £27 billion in lotto funding for good causes since it started business in 1994 and in the period up to March of this year, around 28 per cent of total UK National Lottery revenue is expected to have gone to charities.
The next UK National Lottery draw is set to take place on Saturday (January 14th) and players can enter to be in with a chance of taking home the £4.1 million estimated jackpot.
A pair of USA Powerball fans have at long last made an appearance at the Maryland lottery headquarters to claim the $128 million jackpot they won on Christmas Eve.
The couple – who have elected to remain anonymous – were in attendance with their legal counsel when they arrived at the offices in Baltimoreand are the wealthiest top prize winners the state has seen since an historic $183 million USA Mega Millions win in 2003.
One of the new multi-millionaires revealed he bought two USA Powerball tickets on a whim after walking out of a restaurant on Christmas Eve and seeing an advert for the lottery.
He did not use his own numbers but opted for a Quick Pick random number selector and did not think about the lotto again until Christmas Day when he checked the ticket.
When it dawned on him that he was now a very wealthy man, he stomped on the floor and shouted for his wife to come upstairs. She soon came and saw her husband standing with the Powerball lottery slip in his shaking hand.
“At first, we thought we’d won $20 million. To discover it was over $125 million was unreal,” she told the press.
Marylandonly joined USA Powerball two years ago and has since produced two top prize winners, with one of these being an Abingdon couple who took home $108.8 million in September 2011.
The Christmas Eve pair are yet to decide whether they will be receiving their winnings as an annuity or in cash, but have said they want to use some of the money to pay off their debts and would like to donate a portion to good causes.
This year may hold even more exciting stories about USA Powerball jackpot winners, as the format of the draw is changing.
From January 15th, the jackpots will start at $40 million rather than $20 million and the second-tier prize will rise from $200,000 to $1 million.
Furthermore, if the player adds the Power Play to their ticket, the second-tier prize automatically jumps up to $2 million.
Lotto fans can play USA Powerball today (January 11th) to be in with a chance of winning tonight’s estimated $54 million jackpot.
A 60-year-old woman from Portlandin Oregonhas been targeted by a fraudster who called numerous times to tell her she had won the Mega Millions Giveaway.
Linda McDonald revealed that the man – who claimed to be somebody called Jon Farrell – told her she was the lucky winner of the prize, but in order to collect it she had to pay him $425 which would be picked up from her home by “a representative” for tax reasons.
In addition to saying she had won a cash sum, the con artist added that the woman had also landed a new vehicle and free fuel for the car for a year.
Furthermore, the total sum the victim had supposedly scooped changed, with amounts varying from $50,000 to $1.25 million.
The bogus caller claimed the giveaway was a scheme organised by Wal-Mart and other chain stores, but when Ms McDonald rang the supermarket to check this detail, it was revealed she was not the first to have been scammed in such a way.
Lottery fans who enjoy playing USA Mega Millions should not panic about this, because the police are working on the case and have revealed the numbers used to make the calls are already under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and Nigerian law enforcement.
One way lottery players can make sure they are not being reeled into fake schemes such as this is by purchasing their USA Mega Millions and other lottery ticketsonline at theLotter – because then if a fraudster tells them they have won a prize for buying their ticket at a certain store, they will know this is not true.
Fortunately, Ms McDonald – who is a cancer sufferer and lives on a fixed income – kept her suspicions at the front of her mind and did not give the criminals any money.
Since reporting her ordeal to the police, it has been revealed several households have been contacted in the Portland area and the rest of Oregon with the caller peddling the same bogus story.
Sergeant Pete Simpson of the Portland Police Bureau told KGW News: “These people are very vicious on the phone and will threaten victims’ lives … if the caller does not cave in to the unrelenting phone calls.”
Seasoned lottery players may have let slip they have plans or systems in place by using hot and cold numbers, but what exactly are these mystery digits and why do some people swear by them when it comes to getting a sequence that may lead them to winning the jackpot?
In this guide to hot and cold numbers, lotto fans can get to grips with what these terms mean and make their own minds up as to whether or not they think using a method devised around these figures is going to get them any closer to taking home a life-changing sum of money.
Hot numbers
Hot numbers are numbers that are called frequently in a series of lottery draws. Depending on different systems, to qualify as a hot number, the digit in question has to have been called a certain number of times – say three to five – within the last ten or 20 draws.
Strangely, there are some numbers that are called more often than others across the whole gamut of lotteries around the world, with the number eight proving to be the most likely to appear in a sequence of winning digits.
This is especially spooky, as the number eight is considered fortunate in Chinese culture, because it is associated with prosperity and wealth partly because in regional dialects they sound the same.
Cold numbers
By contrast, cold numbers are the digits that have not been called in a long time. Some fans include these in the sequence they choose when buying their lottery ticket because statistically they are due to make an appearance soon.
Just like the number eight, there are some balls that very rarely get plucked from the drum in a lottery draw, with 20 making the fewest appearances across the board, which is why it is one of the coldest numbers out there.
Why fans play with hot and cold numbers
Lottery enthusiasts who take their game very seriously sometimes keep a tally of what numbers are drawn and which have not appeared in a while and use this information in a strategy they believe will result in lotto success.
The theory is that by picking some hot numbers that often make an appearance in a draw and including some cold numbers that are long overdue to be called, they will have a good chance of claiming a top lotto prize.
Many lottery fans have heard the name “Italy-SuperEnalotto” and most likely played the Italian giant as part of theLotter.com’s theBig category or simply owing to the number of zeros which pile up behind the lottery’s top prizes. As the jackpot continues to grow into 2012, lotto enthusiasts are keeping a watchful eye on the lottery’s three weekly draws. The SuperEnalotto features tax-free winnings, exciting play options and world-famous jackpots, making Italy’s longest running and most successful lottery worth another look.
A Long, Proud History
The Enalatto, SuperEnalotto’s predecessor, has been played in Italy since the 1950’s and was renamed the “SuperEnalotto” in 1996 under the Sisal company’s management. Sisal changed the game’s format to offer players a lottery with simple rules and extraordinary jackpots which have made lottery history several times since the company began administering SuperEnalotto.
Wins to Be Remembered
In 2010, Italy became host to a large influx of tourists when the SuperEnalatto hit a jackpot of €177,800,000. The year before, 2009 saw the SuperEnalotto jackpot roll over for 8 months, and players made sure to pass through Italy for the usual tourist pleasures as well as a chance to win the jackpot of €147.8 million. During both record jackpots, theLotter.com strengthened local Italian offices in manpower and technology to provide customers with optimal service from one suspenseful draw to the next–and save registered members the need to splurge on a plane ticket to Italy!
SuperStar
This past year, theLotter.com launched the SuperEnalotto SuperStar. The Super Star additional number enables players to multiply SuperEnalotto’s prizes between 25-100 times, add millions to top prizes, and enjoy an additional 8 prize categories for a total of 13 different ways to win. For more information about Italy-Super Star players can visit the Italy Super Star Info page for more details.
2011 into 2012
2011-2012 kept SuperEnalotto on the list of hot lottery topics. From September 22nd, 2011 through the New Year, and until now, the jackpot has continued to roll over. While there have been many secondary prize winners with wins totaling tens of thousands of Euros, the current jackpot of €52 million has yet to be claimed.
Players who want to make sure to secure their entry as the jackpot climbs can purchase SuperEnalotto tickets online with a Subscription or a Multi-Draw to enjoy significant discounts while participating in the world’s biggest available jackpot.
It appears officials at the USA New York Sweet Million Lotto are targeting lottery fans who are also animal lovers early on in 2012, as their new commercial takes the strapline ‘sweeter than sweet’ to new levels.
The 31-second advert features a fairground scene with a difference – this difference being that it is enjoyed exclusively by bunnies.
This fantastical reverie concludes with a pair of rabbits taking off above the scene in a hot air balloon, looking out at their fellow critters as they head for the skies – but just like any dream, it all comes to an abrupt end as a huge comedy sign looms into view advertising the USA New York Sweet Million Lotto.
Both the pets and their balloon are bumped out of the frame to display the lottery‘s slogan, ‘Sweet million is sweeter than sweet … which is sweet’.
Players can enter the New York Sweet Million Lotto draw at online lotto site theLotter and pick the numbers they feel could give them a chance of taking home the coveted $1 million jackpot.
Another US draw that has also used comedy and the element of surprise is the Missouri Lottery, which has launched an ad that looks to attract new Club Keno fans.
In the commercial, a man is in a bar pondering what numbers to choose for his next lotto entry.
He spies a trio of young ladies in sports jerseys enjoying a drink at another table and decides to use the numbers on their tops as inspiration and checks each beauty out as he fills in the ticket with their numbers one by one.
Finally, he comes to the third girl and watches her in the hope of catching her eye when she turns around – but is taken aback when she reveals herself as a bearded man, who returns his smile as the narrator says: “Make friends. Play Keno.”
Humorous adverts are a great way of reminding lottery fans that in addition to the thrill of trying one’s luck at landing a big jackpot, they are also great fun and entertaining.
It was one of the most fervently coveted jackpots available for the taking, but on Friday, the EuroMillions results made two ticketholders multi-millionaires.
The Euro lotto top prize had been rolling over since December 16th, with the six draws in between then and last week’s win boosting the top prize to more than €73 million.
Now, the lucky lottery fans will be splitting this enormous payout between them, meaning they get to take home a fortune of over €36 million apiece.
Not much is known about these fortunate players except for the fact that one of the individuals bought their lottery ticket in Spain and the other in France, but as they only won their enormous cash prizes a matter of days ago, they may yet decide to go public and reveal their plans for the future.
Coincidentally, the last EuroMillions jackpot winner was also Spanish, with the lucky player landing more than €46 million when they got all the right numbers in their entry for the December 16th draw after a triple rollover.
Before that, a EuroMillions top prize was shared between a Spanish lotto fan and a British person after the October 21st draw last year, with the pair splitting that €48 million between them.
Spain’s biggest Euro lotto winner last year claimed their €105 million prize following the May 13th draw, but it was a French player who won one of the largest jackpot sums going in 2011, with an anonymous lottery player from Calvados taking home over €162 million in September.
Before that, a fortunate fan from France claimed EuroMillions top prizes worth €27.6 million in May and €23 in July, while a Spanish person netted a €28 million windfall back in February.
Now the EuroMillions jackpot has reset to €15 million and lotto fans can choose the numbers for their lottery ticket online at theLotter to make sure their entries are primed and ready in time for the next draw.
People can play to be in with a chance of winning tonight (January 10th) and could also enter their lucky numbers on Friday, when the second draw of the week is scheduled to take place.
For some, a huge lottery windfall may change the course their life takes, but one British teenager has revealed her luck playing UK National Lottery will not prompt her to quit her two jobs.
According to the Daily Mail, Eloise Hutchinson – who is 19 and lives in Colchester- landed an enormous £1.3 million prize playing the Lotto on New Year’s Eve (December 31st).
National Lottery Eloise Hutchinson
She bought the lottery ticket at the supermarket where she works part time and got her boyfriend to check the numbers, because she originally thought she only had four of the seven necessary to win the top prize.
Ms Hutchinson has taken managing her new wealth in her stride and told the press that she intends to carry on in her current job, while also running a mobile beauty therapy business – an enterprise she set up in 2011 with help from the Prince’s Trust youth funding scheme.
The winner is one of three lottery ticket holders to claim a jackpot prize that night, however her fellow millionaires have not decided to go public.
Even the people around Ms Hutchinson are keeping their feet firmly on the ground, with her boyfriend David Heard, 25, even paying for the celebratory meal they enjoyed to fete her newfound wealth.
Naturally, the lucky teen has gone out to enjoy a little retail therapy with her new flexible finances and admits she bought herself an iPad last week and then went shopping for some new clothes, but remains firm that the majority of the cash will be used to ensure she has a comfortable future.
Ms Hutchinson says the next thing she will splash out on is a holiday to Jamaica and perhaps moving in with her boyfriend, but a flash set of wheels are not a priority, with the winner claiming she only wants to replace her Ford Fiesta with a newer model.
Lottery fans may share the lucky teen’s plans for her new fortune and they too could win an enormous cash prize if they pick a set of winning numbers when they enter the next UK National Lottery draw, which is scheduled for tomorrow night (January 11th), with an estimated jackpot worth £2.2 million.
Further to our blog on the USAlottery draws that are using humour to attract new players, it seems lottos around the world are also spreading the word with TV advertising – but some messages are more bizarre than comedic.
Sweden’s Viking Lotto – which is offering a 17.7 million Swedish krona jackpot in tomorrow’s (January 11th) draw – is promoting itself using a memorable commercial displaying a typically Scandinavian scene of a homely kitchen.
A woman is preparing dinner when the number 21 appears on the side of the onion she is about to chop. She then looks at the other vegetables she has laid out and a different figure materialises on each one to reveal what may be the perfect numbers for a winning lottery ticket.
As she gazes at the numbers, her old kitchen falls away to be replaced with a shiny modern one, but then her dream is brought to an end as her husband crashes into the room and asks about dinner.
The Oz Lotto – which is due its next draw on January 17th – is another lottery playing on the notion of a better life in its amusing commercial.
In it, a woebegone man says to the camera: “My dream is to never have to wake up before midday again.”
He then rolls his eyes and puts on a giant chicken head, revealing the fact he has to wear a chicken suit and advertise a parking lot for a living.
The narrator then states: “Hey, we don’t choose the dreams,” while the tagline “Live the Lotto Life” fills the screen.
Finally, the Israeli Lotto advert features a smart woman in a red dress striding across an airport terminal with matching luggage.
She goes to the baggage inspector to have her case looked at and the man performing the task flirts a little. He takes her passport and asks her where she is going. The woman rattles off a long list of locations and he asks her to unzip her luggage for him.
Haughtily, the lottery winner gives a wry smile, and replies: “It’s not my bag, it’s my wallet!”
The inspector gazes at the suitcase which is stuffed with cash before the traveller zips it back up and walks off to start her new life as a multi-millionairess.
These ads are just some of the memorable campaigns lotto companies have launched recently and using bizarre or cheeky messages speaks to a great deal of lotto fans in some way.
Following on from our guide to what some European lotto names mean, lottery fans may be left scratching their heads over what led to the names of some USA draws.
Indeed, there is much more to some of the names of these lottos than meets the eye in many cases and knowing why they have been called what they have been called could help players get a better understanding of what these draws are all about and what makes them special.
Powerball
The USA Powerball began life in 1988 as Lotto America and changed its name to Powerball in 1992.
It was the first game to use the two-drum matrix system allowing for high odds for top-tier prizes and low odds for smaller payouts. This second drum draws the Power Ball, the additional number than gives players the ‘power to win the jackpot’.
The Power Ball is chosen from this second drum and its number is filled in by the player in a different grid on the ticket from the main range of numbers. The system proved so successful that it has been adopted by many massive lottos including the Mega Millions and EuroMillions.
Mega Millions
Just like the USA Powerball, USA Mega Millions started life as a completely different draw.
The Big Game was founded in 2000, when multi-state games were growing in popularity, and then became the Big Game Mega Millions. By May 2002, the nine states of New York, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, Massachusetts and Virginia were all playing this draw and that was when the name was shortened to Mega Millions – with these states to welcome Washington, California and Texas into the group in the years to come.
Because millions of people are able to play the game, it means jackpots can roll over to higher sums more quickly – hence the name Mega Millions.
Hoosier Lottery
The USA Hoosier Lotto has – to those who do not live in its home state of Indiana – perhaps one of the more peculiar names of all the USA draws.
Indeed, the term Hoosier is another word for a resident of Indiana, which adopted the nickname of Hoosier State more than 150 years ago.
But what is a hoosier? According to Indiana University, the word was once a derogatory term to denote a roughneck or somebody who lived out in the sticks, but has since become an affectionate nickname.
So what better to call the state lotto of Indiana, especially as Indianans elected the name of the Hoosier Lotto to replace the original Lotto Cash name given to the draw back in 1994.
To those people who play the lottery regularly, the jargon associated with buying and filling in a ticket may come as second nature – but for those who may not be familiar with these terms, it could be a little confusing trying to understand the lotto language.
For the players who want to know exactly what the words in the lottery ticket vocabulary mean, here is a guide to the terminology that may come in handy.
Line
Lottery tickets – both online and on a paper slip from the shop – consist of lines. These are filled in by the lotto player using their own numbers or digits chosen with a Quick Pick random number selection.
Additional Number
Additional numbers – which are sometimes called Power Ball, Mega Ball and other names too – appear at the end of a line in some lottery games. Players have to select an additional number from a new range of digits, entering this figure in a different grid from the line of main numbers. These are not to be confused with the bonus balls and multipliers, which have been explained in previous Lottery Terms blogs.
Entry
The entry is when a set of numbers are chosen and the fee to enter the draw has been paid for.
Draw
Finally, the draw or drawing is the event during which numbers – that are usually printed onto balls that are mixed up in a drum – are picked at random by the lottery organisation. The numbers that are called will make up the sequence necessary for players to match to their lotto tickets in order to win the jackpot or secondary prizes.
These terms in practice
So, to put these terms in practice, a lottery fan who wishes to play EuroMillions – either playing lotto online or in a store – selects five numbers from 1-50 for their line themselves or using a Quick Pick.
Next they pick – in this case – two additional numbers from 1-11 to complete their line.
They then submit their entry by paying to play EuroMillions and await the results of the draw – which is when they will find out whether or not they chose the winning numbers.
Lottery fans and the press are clamouring for the player with the winning numbers for the Mega Millions draw on December 27th to step forward – because they are now entitled to a huge $206 million fortune.
Very little is known about who this new multi-millionaire is, but it is believed they are a resident of Long Island, New York.
Perhaps the winner is getting used to the idea of having such a life-changing sum of money appear unexpectedly like this, because so far officials at the New York Lottery have not yet heard anything from anybody claiming to own the golden ticket.
Spokesman Alex Traverso told the Appeal Democrat that it is not unusual for those who win enormous jackpots to wait a few days or weeks before coming forward to collect their payout.
He said that not enough time has elapsed since the draw to be concerned that the lottery ticket has gone unnoticed in a handbag or jeans pocket.
“When it goes a month or two months, then you think maybe the person misplaced their ticket,” Mr Traverso added.
The lottery official revealed that recently a man had routinely gone into a local shop to buy his tickets for that week and check the previous few draw’s numbers when he realised he had scooped a six-figure sum playing the lotto.
He suggested this latest USAMega Millions champion may also have a similar habit, hence the delay.
In addition to the top prize, there were five lotto players who won the second prize by matching five correct regular numbers but missing out on the Mega Ball.
This mean five lucky people in Los Angeles and Tustin have started the new year $250,000 richer.
Fans of the USA Mega Millions – or those who would like to try a new lottery to ring in the start of 2012 – may want to try their luck at theLotter where they can enter the lotto online, check results and learn more about their favourite games.
The next USA Mega Millions draw is tomorrow (January 6th) and players who enter could be in with a chance of winning a jackpot worth $25 million.
Lotto hype was at its zenith in the run-up to the December holiday season and now 2012 is well under way, fans may be left wondering just who won the EuroMillions at Christmas.
It seems lady lucky was smiling down on the little town of Grange-over-SandsinCumbriathis yuletide, as a family from the northernUKcounty realised they were millionaires on the big day itself.
Karen Shaw and her husband Anthony had entered the EuroMillions on the Friday (December 23rd) before Christmas, but left their lottery tickets under the tree to check while opening their presents with their children.
The couple – who have two grown-up children, Sara and Karl – forgot to look at their numbers on Christmas morning and did not inspect them until later that afternoon, which is when they realised they had landed a €1.2 million fortune.
Mrs Shaw said: “We eventually all sat down around 16:00 GMT on Christmas Day to open the presents and I remembered the tickets. I had put them in an envelope under the tree.”
“Karl was looking at numbers on his phone and suddenly said, ‘You had better check it – I think it’s a winner’.”
The mum-of-two manages a sheltered housing scheme and admitted she had only bought the EuroMillions tickets on a whim.
And the family have not wasted any time when it comes to how they will spend their newfound wealth.
One of the first things they will use the cash for is helping their children get out of the family home and onto the property ladder, as Mrs Shaw says she would like to have less mess to clear up.
Then once their son and daughter are sorted out, the Shaws have decided they would like to take a luxury cruise toAlaska, as well as treat the rest of the family and ensure all their loved ones are financially secure.
Lottery fans who would like a taste of the good life the Shaw family are now enjoying can enter the lottery online and check EuroMillions results at theLotter to be in with a chance of landing Friday’s (January 6th) €73 million top prize.
As the new year approaches, some people may be taking stock of the amazing things that happened in 2011 and are perhaps wondering what will be making the headlines in 2012.
This year was certainly a big one in terms of memorable lottery wins and none more so than the record-smashing EuroMillions jackpot of €185 million, which was won by Scottish couple Christine and Colin Weir back in July.
Indeed, there have been two major wins for the game since the pair from Largs landed their life-altering windfall, with Dave and Angela Dawes from Wisbech inEnglandscooping a €101 million in autumn after an anonymous French lotto fan landed a €162 million jackpot.
And maybe 2012 will set some new top jackpot wins for the biggest American lotteries, however it has been some time since those records have been broke.
USA Powerball holds the record for the largest top prize ever won by one person – a $340 million payout claimed byOregonman Steve West in 2006.
Furthermore, the USAMega Millionsrecord jackpot is the biggest in the history ofNorth America.
The mind-boggling sum of $390 million was won by truck driver Eddie Nabors from Georgia and builder Harold Massner fromNew Jerseyback in 2007.
Lotto fans keen to find out where their luck will take them in 2012 can find out at theLotter, where they can enter draws and check results online.
Europe is home to some great lottery draws, but sometimes the true meaning of what these lottos are called can get lost in translation – or even disregarded altogether
So what exactly is in a name when it comes to these lotteries? Because understanding this could help fans really get to grips with their history, style and exactly what these games are all about.
Spanish El Gordo
The Spanish El Gordo is one of the most popular lotteries available in its home country and its name does not hold any great mysteries.
Translated, El Gordo means the Fat One or Big One and its juicy payouts attract millions of Spaniards and those living overseas to entering their lucky numbers every Sunday to be in with a chance of landing its weekly jackpot prize.
Indeed, the Fat One is so popular that it was expected 90 per cent of Spaniards over 18 would be playing El Gordo at Christmas, with around 30 million fans entering the lottery online.
Spanish La Primitiva
The name La Primitiva may be an easy one to overlook, but there is so much more to this Spanish lottery‘s title than first meets the eye.
Directly translated La Primitiva means ‘the primitive’ – and this makes reference to the advanced history and age of this draw, as it was first played in 1763, making it one of the oldest lottos still in existence.
As well as offering fantastic jackpots – such as tomorrow’s (January 5th) €3 million top prize – La Primitiva is also tax-free, which allows winners to keep the entire amount if they strike lucky.
Italian SiVince Tutto
If lotto fans have a love of the Italian way of life, they may be unable to stop themselves saying SiVince Tutto in an Italian accent – and it does sound lyrical in its mother tongue.
But what does SiVince Tutto mean? The direct translation sounds just as lovely in any accent because SiVince Tutto means ‘win it all’.
This monthly lotto really does offer its fans exactly what its name implies, with the next jackpot set at €15 million promising whoever wins it that they can have every worldly thing their heart desires.
The excitement of beginning the new year seems to have prompted millions of fans of the Europelottery draws to buy up tickets in the hopes of starting 2012 with a pocketful of cash.
But it seems luck was thin on the ground at the end of December, with the continent’s most popular lottos rolling over, inflating their jackpot values just in time for the start of the year.
The EuroMillions jackpot rolled over again yesterday (January 3rd) after ending 2011 without making any new millionaires.
This boosted the total payout to €73 million and second prize to over €1.3 million if a sole ticketholder strikes lucky.
No stranger to rollovers – the thrilling Italian SuperEnalotto draw saw its top prize ratchet up again on the last day of the year, as nobody had the requisite six main numbers and the Jolly number.
Fans of the game can play again tomorrow (January 5th) to be in with a chance of starting off the 2012 with a cool €49.6 million in the bank.
The Italian SiVince Tutto also saw 2011 come to a close without anybody landing its top prize on December 30th.
Its monthly draws mean fans will have to wait 21 days to be in with a chance of taking home €15 million.
In its first game of the year, the Spanish El Gordo also witnessed its jackpot roll over to €9.1 million, as its New Year’s Day draw saw nobody land the top prize by picking all five main numbers correctly plus the bonus number.
France’s Loto is another lottery that rounded off 2011 with an exciting draw, but on December 31st and on January 2nd there were no players lucky enough to bag the top prize, so it is now inflated to an exciting €9 million.
Despite all these rollovers, one lottery did manage to make somebody a millionaire in time for midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The UK National Lottery‘s December 31st draw resulted in one lucky fan taking home £1.3 million to start their 2012 in style – a cash prize that may be more than welcome after the expense of Christmas.
The state lotteries of the USA may generate some of the most exciting jackpot draws out there, but they also make a lot of money that goes towards supporting their local area and its residents – with education topping the bill as one of the main beneficiaries of this kind of funding.
These donations can sometimes fall under the radar, so what good causes do lottery funds go towards in the home states of the Florida Lotto, Hoosier Lottery and New York Lotto?
Florida Lotto
The USA Florida Lottois famous for making enormous top prizes that lotto fans from all over the world clamour for, but many people may not realise the draw plays an important role in generating finances to support the state’s education.
According to the Florida Lottery, it is the organisation’s mission to maximise funding to enhance public schooling inFlorida.
For the financial year from 2010-2011, the lottery generated more than $1.19 billion to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund.
This is the ninth time in the 23-year history of the lotto that it has surpassed the $1 billion mark in a single year and since it began, the Florida Lotto’s total contribution to this cause has exceeded $23 billion.
Hoosier Lottery
The Indiana Hoosier Lottery is another draw that does much to support its state.
Indeed, the lotto generated $188 million in net income for the fiscal year of 2011, which was used to lower motor vehicle tax for allIndiana drivers.
Additionally, this money also went to boost the pension funds of those who do essential work in the Indiana community, including teachers, policemen and women and firefighters.
Since it was launched in 1989, the USAHoosier Lottery has produced nearly $4 billion for the citizens of its home state.
New York Lotto
The New York Lottois also committed to its regional education and the lottery allocates revenue to local school districts, teaching and related facilities.
If the lotto makes more than its budget estimates then the additional finances go into its aid distribution pot.
For the year 2010-11 alone, the New York Lotto gave $2.12 billion to aid state education.
USA Powerball fans may already be aware of some of the big changes that are going to transform the game this month, but there may well be many lottery players who are unaware of the alterations.
From January 15th, the famous lottery is set to offer better odds and even bigger prizes, giving players great value for money in-line with the new lottery ticket pricing system.
So, what can fans expect form the new game?
Prizes
The new USA Powerball system will result in more millionaires.
Jackpots are being inflated from the starting sum of $20 million to a whopping $40 million.
What’s more is that following every rollover, these jackpots will increase to the tune of $10 million, which could see these massive windfalls rise in value by 50 per cent in the space of one week, as draws currently take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 23:00 local time.
Furthermore, the prize for choosing numbers that match five regular balls drawn in a game will be given a really big boost, driving up the windfall available from $200,000 to $1 million.
In addition, the Match 5 prize with the additional Power Play option will increase from the current $1 million payout to $2 million.
These changes mean there will be three times as many millionaires thanks to USA Powerball than there are at the moment.
Playing the game
Lottery ticket prices from regular outlets will be going up by $1, while the Power Play option will also be rising to $1.
But, the way lottery fans play the game will stay more or less the same.
Players will still choose their first five numbers from between 1 to 59, but for the Powerball number, individuals will choose between 1 and 35 – not 39 – increasing their odds of taking home a fabulous prize.
Additionally, the Power Play option will no longer be a multiplier, but will award fixed prizes – with second place prizes with the Power Play set at a cool $1 million.
Play Powerball at theLotter
There are four more draws before the USA changes take place but lottery fans may already be itching to play USA Powerball – and they can play the online lotto at theLotter.
The next game takes place tomorrow (January 4th) and enthusiasts could take home a huge $30 million jackpot if their numbers come in.
Last year, the EuroMillions lottery made two couples obscenely wealthy, with the newspapers following their every move after they opted to go public with their enormous fortunes – but what have they been doing since their numbers came in playing the Euro lotto?
Christine and Colin Weir of the marina town of Largs in Scotland scooped a €185 million jackpot in July after months of rollovers.
The husband and wife pair have not been shy about how they have spent their windfall, lavishing €185,000 on cars for friends in November by snapping up six vehicles at a local Suzuki dealership, according to the Daily Record.
In addition to splashing out on a holiday to the Canary Islands, lengthy stays in luxury hotels and incredible gifts for friends, the couple have also put their lotto cash to good use, donating a sum to keep the historic Waverley paddle steamer tourist attraction afloat, rescuing it from being decommissioned.
Their generosity does not end there, however, as Mrs Weir made sure her hard-working former colleagues at the Ravenscraig Hospital in Greenock received a share of her and her husband’s fortune at Christmas, giving nearly €60,000 to her friends there.
She also donated nearly €6,000 to patients spending their festive season at the hospital.
But what about 2011′s other big EuroMillions winners?
Dave and Angie Dawes of Wisbech landed an incredible €115 million playing the Euro lotto in October, making them the third-richest lottery winners in the history of the UK.
The couple made their generosity well known, announcing upon landing the fortune that they would be making 20 of their friends millionaires.
Indeed, the mother of Mr Dawes, Jean Smith, was named as one of the handful of people the pair would share their lottery wealth with.
The couple have not changed too much since landing their enormous payout, with newspapers reporting that during a stay at a luxury hotel in London they eschewed the caviar and champagne in favour of cups of tea and pints of lager.
However, they have enjoyed a chauffeur-driven Mercedes S-Class and a shopping spree on Oxford Street since scooping their enormous prize.
Dave and Angela Dawes tied the knot in December in a simple ceremony in Gretna Green rather than the A-list bash they could have afforded, with just a handful of guests witnessing their marriage by candlelight.
Recently, popular European Lotteries have shown an upward trend as jackpots continue to climb in 2012. The SuperEnalotto, currently at €48 million, has yet to declare a winner of the since a lucky ticket holder claimed a win of €15 million on September 17nd, 2011. The recently added Italy-Super Star on theLotter.com enables SuperEnalotto fans to add millions to the SuperEnalotto jackpot, multiply secondary prizes between 25-100 times, and win with 8 new prize categories. The Euromillions has reached €58 million after more than a month of rollovers since the beginning of December.
Players interested in kicking off the New Year with Europe’s biggest jackpots can take a peek at the Euromillion’s recent commercial.
Brazil is welcoming the New Year with carnaval flare and a record jackpot of R$170 million in the annual Mega da Virada draw. The country’s premiere lotto is brushing shoulders with European and American holiday jackpots, offering players a top prize of more than US$91 million.
Brazilian sources report that ticket sales have recently broken past years’ records, giving way to speculation that the jackpot could reach as much as R$200 million (US$107 million)!
The countdown has begun to the world’s biggest available jackpot, and theLotter.com is offering 10% off your one time entry in the December 31st draw.
Get your ticket in the Mega da Virada lottery by Saturday, December 31st at 11: 00 GMT, and see how Brazil is heating up the world’s jackpot climate in this video clip!
One lucky resident of Maryland, USA became the fortunate winner of Powerball’s $128.8 million jackpot this Christmas season. The lottery winner successfully matched the 5 numbers of the regular guess set and the additional number (Powerball) after purchasing the ticket at Wesley’s Restaurant, near Elkton on Christmas Eve.
The holiday draw’s winning numbers are: 14, 16, 30, 51, 52, the Powerball number is 19, and the Power Play number is 2.
With the approaching holidays and mounting jackpot, USA-Powerball’s Christmas Eve draw yielded a total of 1,211,530 winners. Since Powerball joined Maryland’s lottery offerings in 2010, the multi-state game has twice graced the state with impressive wins: the Christmas jackpot joins the company of a Havre de Grace man who won a $1 million prize earlier this month.
Employees at Wesley’s Restaurant confirmed that an anonymous caller inquired about the lottery’s winning numbers although the ticket holder has yet to claim the prize in person. Carole Everett, the Maryland Lottery’s director of communications, notes that jackpot winners may prefer to receive financial and legal advice before coming revealing their identity.
The New Year promises to bring major changes to USA-Powerball which will add significantly to the prize pool and improve the odds of winning the jackpot and other prizes.
To read more about the upcoming changes in USA-Powerball in 2012, please visit the Powerball LotteryInfo section of the siteor visit Lottery News for more information.
A 50-year-old father from Staten Island has scooped $14 million playing USA New York Lottothis week.
According to New York Daily News, Edward Foti went down to the lottery headquarters on Tuesday (December 20th) to collect his prize where he revealed that he feels “Blessed, especially in these hard times”.
Mr Foti used a Quick Pick random number generator to select the winning numbers on his lottery ticketand has chosen to receive his payout as a lump sum rather an annuity.
But despite this incredible new wealth to play with, the grievance representative has claimed he will not be changing too much, admitting he will be staying in his job and using the money to set his son up for college and care for his mother.
Mr Foti was even laid back when he discovered his good luck, revealing that when he realised he was holding the ticket to a $14 million fortune on his lunch break, he went on eating his sandwich and returned to the office as normal.
Fans of USA New York Lotto may want to try their chances at a Quick Pick number selection at theLotter to be in with a chance of winning the jackpot in the Christmas Eve draw on Saturday (December 24th).
When tonight’s (December 22nd) Italy SuperEnalotto results are revealed, one lucky lottery fan could have the Christmas they have always dreamed of.
This evening’s draw is estimated to have a jackpot of €45 million – a payout that has been growing since September 22nd, when a lucky player walked home with €65 million.
As such, the Italian SuperEnalotto top prize has been steadily increasing in value for 37 draws.
Of course, this lotto is known for its great rollover jackpots and has fans on the edge of their seats week after week, but what should a player do with their winnings if their lucky numbers come through for them tonight?
Director of personal finance with Morning Star Christine Benz said a savings account and ring-fencing a certain amount for luxury spending is essential, if lucky lottery players want to make their money go further.
She advised setting aside five per cent of the total sum - if an individual takes home more than €1 million – to use for splurging, while the rest should be set aside in a special account so it does not drip away into daily expenditure such a grocery shopping or meals out.
A cash-strapped widow has said how grateful she is after finding out her Lotto 649 numbers landed her C$500,000 in time for Christmas.
According to Kamloops News, Bonnie Marchand – who is 59 – has been living hand-to-mouth since the death of her estranged husband in 2008, but decided on a whim to spend the last C$5 in her purse on a lottery ticket on December 7th.
The following day, she only checked her slip to see if she had won when she heard a lucky soul from her neighbourhood had scooped half a million playing the same lotto and admits she could hardly believe her good fortune.
“I looked and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can buy a brand-new sewing machine’,” Ms Marchand remarked.
Ms Marchand had been living on welfare payments after the death of her husband as a result of a heart attack and the stress of living alone and other family ups and downs.
She revealed her low income meant having to get her bread from the local Salvation Army outlet, but with her newfound wealth she can enjoy fresh baked goods every day.
And lottery fans can play Canada Lotto 649 on December 24th to be in with a chance of winning the C$12 million jackpot in time for Christmas.
Lottery players who get their USA Powerball winning numbers right on Saturday (December 24th) may be lucky enough to take home a whopping $125 million, as the jackpot has climbed yet again in anticipation of the Christmas Eve draw.
It seems festive enthusiasm has had a real impact on the lotto world this week, because the USA Florida Lotto’s top prize has also been given a yuletide boost, climbing by $1 million to $50 million in the space of one day.
The USA Florida Lotto also has its draw scheduled for Christmas Eve, so there is every chance that one lucky lottery fan will be delivered a juicy cash prize by Santa Clause in time for the big day.
Regular players of these games may have been on the edges of their seats for a while now, as both lotteries have been rolling their jackpots over for weeks and weeks.
The last person to win a top prize in USA Powerball was on November 19th, when the lucky player scooped $59.9 million.
Things have been even more exciting for USA Florida Lotto fans, because its jackpot has been steadily rising since the last time somebody got all six numbers correct on their lottery ticket back on September 14th.
Tonight may well be the night for one USA Florida Lotto player if their lucky numbers come through when the balls are drawn this evening (December 21st).
The game has been rolling over for not just weeks, but months, as the last jackpot – which was worth $4 million – was landed on September 14th.
Since then, 27 draws have taken place, with that top prize ratcheting up just a little more after each game that resulted in nobody taking home the jackpot.
This has led to tonight’s amazing reward which has reached the $49 million mark – a payout that could make for a very happy holiday if somebody’s lottery ticket matches all six numbers.
If the jackpot rolls over again, for a 28th time, this evening then there is still time for players to grab that enormous cash prize before Christmas Day, because USA Florida Lotto has draws on Saturdays as well as Wednesdays, which could mean some fortunate fan becomes a multi-millionaire in time for December 25th and the new year.
Lottery lovers who are excited about the chances of bringing home $49 million to their loved ones this festive season can play online at theLotter – after all, this rollover trend has got to end sooner or later.
The Italian Super Star may be something fans of Italian SuperEnalotto are aware of but have never tried – perhaps because they want to learn more about it.
Super Star enables players of SuperEnalotto to play the game that is familiar to them but with the additional benefits of the Super Star number.
Playing is easy. Entrants fill in two lines with a selection of six numbers between one and 90 – the standard SuperEnalotto range – they have either picked themselves or via a Quick Pick random number generator.
The Jolly ball number is drawn from the same drum as the normal number selection and in the event a set of numbers matches five numbers and the bonus number, the player is entitled to secondary prizes.
This will all come as second nature to many lottery fans familiar with Italian SuperEnalotto, but where the Super Star comes in may not be as well-known.
Indeed, the Super Star additional number is selected from a separate drum from the Jolly Ball number and regular numbers. This ball will be numbered between one and 90 and adds major cash prizes to the SuperEnalotto‘s five existing prize categories.
As such, the Super Star generates three more prize categories of its very own and can add an additional €2 million to a SuperEnalotto jackpot, an extra €1 million to a second prize and can multiply other prize categories by between 25 and 100 times.
Lotto fans may be interested to learn that the Super Star is a recent addition to theLotter.com.
In the two weeks it has features on the site, there have already been two winners, both taking home €2,500 thanks to their good fortune.
Christmas is a time for people to give, receive, have fun and play games – which is probably why the lottery is a popular festive activity for many.
Ticket sales usually rise around the holiday season and there are a number of reasons why this might be.
For some, it could be that the chance of landing a tidy cash sum before the big day is too tempting to resist – after all, who would say no to the opportunity of having a full wallet at this time of year?
Other people buy up lottery tickets because they can make great stocking stuffers – and this gesture is now becoming something of a tradition in many families, especially for grandparents who may have dozens of grandchildren to treat this yuletide.
But what about all the fabulous Christmas jackpots?
Indeed, as more people get in the game over the holiday season, those top prizes tend to climb even higher than normal – especially if their draws take place on Christmas Eve or on the big day itself.
Some of the prizes that could be paid out on December 24th include the Australia Saturday Lotto, which promises a jackpot worth AU$4 million, while the New Zealand Powerball will also be played on Christmas Eve, giving fans the chance to land a NZ$5 million payout.
The Italian SuperEnalotto is also offering players the chance to take home their weight in euros on Saturday, but tomorrow’s (December 22nd) draw will determine whether the jackpot starts afresh or is rolled over to upwards of €45 million.
Also, if the USA Florida Lotto rolls over again tonight (December 21st), then its Christmas Eve jackpot could be upwards of $50 million, which could make for a very happy holiday.
Lottery lovers do not need wait until this weekend to be in with a chance of winning some of the biggest jackpots out there at the moment, as one of the very biggest cash sums up for grabs could go as quickly as tonight, if a fan’s numbers come through for them in the USA Powerball.
Finally, players could really ring in the new year playing Brazilian Mega da Virada on December 31st, because this holiday lotto is offering a top prize of R$170 million.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Big Lottery Fund (Big) have announced they will be putting £19 million in lotto funding forward to help restore public parks in the UK.
Both organisations have earmarked the cash to help get green spaces in Brighton, Crawley, Goole and Manchester back to looking their best for local residents and visitors in the near future.
Chief executive of HLF Carole Soutar said lotteryofficials and her colleagues are working alongside local authorities and communities to make sure public parks do not lose out on this kind of investment.
“Our parks are invaluable to people’s well being and an integral part of local communities,” she stated, adding that ensuring they are well maintained – and that the money to do this is available – is essential to safeguarding their future as features for adults and children to enjoy in their home town.
One of the spaces receiving the lottery funding treatment is Alexandra Park in Manchester, which is being given a £2.2 million grant to restore its 19th-century pavilion and set up a learning centre for environmental projects and other activities.
The Heritage Lottery Fund is the UK’s largest dedicated financier of historical, conservation and restorative ventures, putting forward around £255 million annually towards such undertakings.
Have a whirl at the South Africa Lotto could be one way lottery fans round off their 2011 with a bang, landing them a life-altering cash prize to start the new year with.
Tomorrow’s (December 21st) draw is estimated to have a jackpot worth R27 million – and with three more games on top of this scheduled for before the calendars get replaced, there is still time to land an amazing payout to ring in 2012.
Spokeswoman for the South Africa Lotto Thembi Tulwana stated there is no need to wait for an end-of-year bonus if a lottery fan’s luck comes in and their chosen six numbers appear when checking the results of the draws.
“The festive week is an opportunity for Lotto to give big prizes to the public, as a way of bidding farewell to an exciting year of winning,” she stated.
Ms Tulwana added that as 2011 comes to a close, the lottery would like to thank its players for helping to raise the money the organisation puts forward to good causes.
Tomorrow’s South Africa Lotto draw could be the chance lottery online fans have been waiting for to scoop a life-changing sum of cash and players can get in the game at theLotter if they like the sound of a R27 million payout before the new year.
This year the USA Powerball has made hundreds of millionaires, producing some of the most thrilling jackpot prizes in North America.
In addition to the excitement surrounding these enormous payouts, the world has been reading all about the lotto fans who won them.
One of this year’s biggest prizes was the $254 million prize that was won by three wealth managers from Connecticut last month (November).
Gregg Skidmore, Tim Davidson and Brandon Lacoff founded the Putnam Avenue Family Trust – named after the street they all work on – which is where the after-tax lump sum will be held so they can access the money for themselves and their charitable efforts.
Another massive prize was scooped by a Tom and Kathleen Morris – a Minneapolis couple – who landed a $228.9 million fortune in August and stated they would use their fortune to retire early.
In September, a Maryland couple from Abingdon won $108 million, which was a fantastic coup for the state, as the pair were its first ever USA Powerball jackpot winners.
Finally, in April, William Swanson of Merrillville in Indiana won $74 million and revealed he would spend his riches on his mother and would treat himself to a new house and a Cadillac.
Lottery fans may want to buy Powerball tickets online to be in with a chance of winning big prizes.
There are many excited USA Mega Millions fans around the world eagerly anticipating tomorrow’s (December 20th) draw.
This is because on Friday (December 16th) the massive North American game saw no lucky winners take home the enormous $135 million top prize.
As a result, this huge payout has ratcheted up to $152 million – and with just two more games before Christmas, lottery fans might be on the edge of their seats as they excitedly await the coming draws on Tuesday and Friday.
Long-time fans of the USA Mega Millions may already be aware that the game’s jackpot payouts have not reached such staggering heights since March of this year.
The draw is known for its massive top prizes and in March 2007, the largest ever sum of $390 million was shared between two winning ticketholders based in New Jersey and Georgia.
This jackpot is the largest-ever to have been won in North America.
Lottery fans who are already growing more excited about their chances tomorrow may also be watching events unravel in the USA Powerball – as both lottery draws are reflecting one another in terms of rollovers resulting in massive jackpots such as Wednesday’s estimated $104 million top prize.
A lucky Northern Ireland lottery fan has won €4.8 million playing Ireland Lotto on Saturday (December 17th).
According to the Belfast Telegraph, the draw – which is based in the Republic of Ireland – is popular north of the border, just like the EuroMillions and other lotteries are to those who want to increase their chances of “instant riches” by playing lotto online.
However, there are fears the disenchanted winner may have thrown their lottery ticket in the bin, because when the results were first called in a live broadcast on the night of the draw, an error was made.
Although the mistake was corrected shortly afterwards, officials have expressed fears their blunder may have resulted in a potential millionaire unknowingly scrapping their slip.
Fans of playing lotto online at theLotter would have overcome such an oversight because the site not only publishes the correct results, but alerts winners if they are lucky enough to win a payout.
Some 46,000 ticketholders won cash prizes in the draw, which should lead to a few happy faces and fuller wallets in time for some last-minute present buying this week.
Fans of the Ireland Lotto do not have to wait long before the coming draws to be in with a chance of winning €2 million.
The next lottery game will take place on Wednesday (December 21st) and fans can play online at theLotter if they are feeling like they have a touch of the luck of the Irish.
Christmas came a week early for one lucky soul from the town of Nelson on New Zealand’s South Island, as the lotto lover scooped an enormous NZ$6 million prize playing New Zealand Powerball on Saturday (December 17th).
Chief executive of New Zealand Lotteries Todd McLeay said this is good news for the region because it is an area of the nation that has been stricken with devastating flooding over the past few months.
He added: “There are also seven shopping days until Christmas, so our latest Powerball winner has time to upgrade their Christmas presents if they wanted.”
This comes just weeks after a man from Aukland on the North Island scooped NZ$6.1 million playing New Zealand Powerball.
The lotto fan admitted that when he bought his ticket – which would ultimately win him the fortune – he used numbers that appeared to him in a dream.
Lottery players who think some of this kiwi luck could rub off on them at some stage may want to get in the game and play New Zealand Powerball in time for the next draw – which will take place on Christmas Eve (December 24th).
This coming game is estimated to have a jackpot worth NZ$5 million, which could make for a very merry Christmas for one lucky lottery fan.
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