UK Players Win Big In EuroMillions
Updated: Wednesday 2nd October 2019
EuroMillions may have now gone 21 draws since its last jackpot winner, but UK players are continuing to prosper and several have even become multimillionaires since the top prize reached its maximum amount.
How Much Prize Money Has Gone To The UK?
Once the jackpot hits €190 million (approximately £169 million), it cannot grow any higher and the funds that would normally be added on top are instead split between ticket holders who match five main numbers and one Lucky Star. This has created much larger prize funds than average in the ‘Match 5 + 1’ category since the jackpot got to its cap on Tuesday 24th September.
It is UK participants who have benefited the most from the jackpot cap, with more winners in the second prize tier than any other country over the past three draws. One UK player banked £3.6 million in the first draw at the maximum jackpot, before two ticket holders received £3.5 million each in the following draw.
There were even more UK winners in the ‘Match 5 + 1’ category on Tuesday 1st October. Out of seven players from across Europe to just miss out on the jackpot by one Lucky Star, five of them came from the UK, with each winner banking £1.7 million. This is in addition to the Millionaire Maker raffle, which also guarantees that at least one UK player in every draw wins £1 million; the latest winning code on Tuesday was HTHM18462.
The UK has also produced lots of winners in all the other tiers below the jackpot. On Tuesday 1st October, five players matched five main numbers without any Lucky Stars to snap up £33,760 each. In total, there were over 1 million prizes paid out to ticket holders in the country.
UK players have now won a total of £85 million in prize money since the last jackpot was won on Friday 19th July, with a large chunk of that coming in the last three draws. Of the other eight participating countries, only France has paid out more (€103 million) in prize money during the 21-draw jackpot run, although this includes payouts for Étoile+, which is exclusive to France and boosts payouts for players who opt in.
Jackpot Must Be Won By 8th October
More than €430 million has been won altogether across Europe since 19th July, even though the wait for another jackpot winner goes on. The wait is set to come to an end, though, with the jackpot now guaranteed to be won in one of the next two draws.
The rules of the jackpot cap only allow the top prize to stay at its maximum level of €190 million for five draws at the most. If there are no winners in the ‘Match 5 + 2’ category in the fifth draw, the full amount still has to be given away and will be shared between players in the ‘Match 5 + 1’ tier. The jackpot will roll down to the next category if there are still no winners in the second tier.
It is therefore possible that you could win a share of one of the largest lottery prizes in history without having to match all the numbers. This means that the odds of winning such a big jackpot have never been better.
The Must Be Won draw will happen on Tuesday 8th October if there are no winners on Friday. You can take part online or by going to an authorised retailer.
Published: Wednesday 2nd October 2019Lottery News News Archive