A guide to the EuroMillions Lottery

Last Update September 7, 2020

Almost any country in the world has its own national lottery. It’s a great way to provide its residents with entertainment while gathering resources to fund closely monitored public projects. However, over the years the need for international lotteries emerged.

The EuroMillions lottery was conceived as the highest paying and most lucrative to play lottery on the grounds of Europe. It’s the equivalent to the popular US lottery MegaMillions. The EuroMillions attracts millions of players on a weekly basis, which means the jackpot is quickly propelled to sky-high figures.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Euromillions lottery then this guide is for you. We’ll tell you all about how you can play the lottery, from buying a ticket to checking to see if you have won a prize.

Where to Buy Euromillions Tickets

So, first things first. How do you go about buying a Euromillions lottery ticket? The answer is that the process is very easy if you are resident in the UK or one of the other European countries where Euromillions is offered.

You can go into a participating retail outlet and fill out a payslip. You can tick the Lucky Dip option if you want your numbers chosen for you, or choose your own numbers. Decide whether you want to enter the Tuesday draw, the Friday draw or both.

You can also pay for tickets for four weeks in advance if you want to. After you have chosen you numbers, take your ticket to the counter and pay the retailer. It’s as simple as that. You can buy tickets from 6am until 11 pm, or until 7.30 pm on draw days.

Even if you are not resident in the UK, you can still participate in this lottery by buying a ticket online. In the next section of this guide we will show you just how easy it is to buy a ticket online for the Euromillions lottery.

How to Buy Euromillions Tickets Online

There is a much more convenient way of paying for Euromillions tickets, though, and that is buying them online. You can do this by heading over to the National Lottery website and following these simple steps:

You need to make sure you have opened an account at the National Lottery website. Log into this account when you want to buy a ticket.
You can buy tickets from 6 am until 11 pm every day, or up until 8.15 pm on draw days.
Choose five numbers from one to 50 and two Lucky Stars from one to 12.
You can try Lucky Dip if you prefer to use randomly selected numbers.
Choose whether to play the Tuesday draw, Friday draw, or both.
Choose the number of weeks you want to play.
You can play up to 7 lines of numbers and buy up to 10 play slips at a time.
Make sure you keep an eye for the results of the draw!

Paying by Direct Debit Makes Things Easier

One easy way of making sure that your Euromillions play is always funded is to set up a direct debit. This can be done if you have an account at the National Lottery website, and you are physically located in the UK or Isle of Man. This makes buying tickets much simpler, and your numbers will even be checked for you.

Further convenience is added by any winnings you manage to snare being paid directly into your account. Setting up a direct debit is also a free service, so you won’t be paying any more for your tickets than you would be if you were buying your tickets at a shop or separately online.

Direct debit payments are collected automatically each month. You can choose your own numbers too. To set up a direct debit, you need to choose you numbers and ensure that you inform the National Lottery that you want to play Euromillions. You also need to make it clear which days you want to play.

Euromillions Ticket Draw - Twice a Week

Euromillions is drawn twice a week, on a Tuesday and a Friday. The results are published on the Euromillions website on those days from around 9.30pm UK time. You can also check the results by using the app that is available from the National Lottery website in the UK.

If you really want to experience all the excitement of the lottery draw, you can watch it live on the National Lottery website or on their YouTube channel. The live broadcast starts at 8.40pm UK time every Tuesday and Friday.

Euromillions Ticket Prices

Buying tickets to play the Euromillions is not expensive. A one-line entry costs £2.50 if you are resident in the UK. Further details of how much more lines cost can be found on the National Lottery website.

How to Claim Euromillions Prizes

If you are in the UK, you can collect prize winnings either online or from a licensed retailer. This depends on how you purchased your ticket. The tables below show you how you can claim your winnings.

Online

Prize total	Procedure
Up to and including £500	Money is paid into your National Lottery account. You can withdraw this to your bank account.
Over £500 to £30,000	Confirm within 180 days of winning that the money is to be paid into the bank account associated with your National Lottery account
Over £30,000 to £50,000	Call the National Lottery Customer Care Team on 0333 234 44 33. Have all your details to hand.
Over £50,000	Call the above number. Arrangements will be made for you to collect your prize or have it delivered to your home.
Direct Debit	If you pay for tickets via direct debit, any prizes over £50,000 are paid directly into your bank account, or you will receive a cheque.

Retailer

Prize total	Procedure
Up to £100	Prize can be claimed from any official lottery retailer.
Over £100 up to £500	If any authorised retailer has sufficient funds available, you can claim it from them, as long as your ticket has not been validated. If it has been validated, claim online or go to the retailer where you bought the ticket or at the Post Office.
Over £500 up to £50,000	Can be claimed at a National Lottery affiliated Post Office. Alternatively, send a claim form to The National Lottery Accounts Department.
Over £50,000	You need to complete a claim form and contact the National Lottery, who will make arrangements for your prize to be given to you at a specified location, like your home.

Potential Euromillions Prizes

The table below shows you what you can expect to win with certain combinations of numbers on the Euromillions lottery. You can also see what the odds are on you picking up certain wins.

Numbers	Prizes	Odds of winning
Five main numbers plus two lucky stars	Jackpot	1: 139,838,160
Five main numbers plus one lucky star	£190,018.80	1: 6,991,908
Five main numbers	£19,670.00	1: 3,107,515
Four main numbers plus two lucky stars	£1,924.20	1: 621,503
Four main numbers plus one lucky star	£102.60	1:31,076
Three main numbers plus two lucky stars	£65.10	1:14,126
Four main numbers	£36.10	1:13,812
Two main numbers plus two lucky stars	£11.80	1:986
Three main numbers plus one lucky star	£8.90	1:707
Three main numbers	£7.50	1:314
One main number plus two lucky stars	£6.30	1:188
Two main numbers plus one lucky star	£5.00	1:50
Two main numbers	£2.70	1:22

How does the Millionaire Maker Work?

The Millionaire Maker game is only available if you are living in the UK or the Isle of Man. If you buy a Euromillions ticket then you are automatically entered into the Millionaire Maker draw. The Millionaire Maker draw offers you the chance to boost your winnings, as one lucky player in each draw is guaranteed to win £1 million.

A Millionaire Maker code is automatically generated for each line of EuroMillions numbers that has been bought. This code is made up of four letters and five numbers, like HFEH78543, for example. Each code is then entered into a raffle. One of the codes is then picked at random in a standard draw to determine the prize winner.

Your code has to match all of the characters in the order they appear to win one of the £1 million prizes. Partial matches do not allow you to claim prizes. You can check the winning codes on the National Lottery website.

Things to Keep in Mind When Playing Euromillions

When playing any kind of lottery or doing any kind of gambling it is always important that you do not get carried away and let emotion take over. Emotional gambling leads to you making bad decisions, and spending too much money chasing lost causes. Always bear in mind the long odds against winning that you can see in the table above.

Always remember that playing the lottery is supposed to be fun. It should not be seen as a way of getting out of financial difficulties or as a way of paying bills. If you are worried that your lottery play might be leading to problems with gambling, contact a body like Gamblers Anonymous for further expert advice.

The 5 Biggest Euromillions Jackpot Winners

There have been some huge wins on the Euromillions lottery. Here you can see the top five biggest wins of all time. These wins are huge, and certainly give you plenty of insight into why Euromillions remains so popular.

Draw Date	Prize Won	Winners
08/10/2019	£170,221,000	Anonymous
12/07/2011	£161,653,000	Colin and Chris Weir
10/08/2012	£148,656,000	Adrian and Gillian Bayford
11/06/2019	£123,458,008	Anonymous
24/04/2018	£121,328,187	Anonymous

Play Euromillions for the Chance to Take Home Big Prizes

As you can see, playing Euromillions really is a very easy thing to do, especially if you live in the UK. You can buy tickets very easily from participating retail outlets, which are usually newsagents, garages or supermarkets of various sizes. Playing online makes things even more convenient.

Checking the results is easy and you can go online and watch the draw if you want to. This certainly makes you feel more involved in the event and adds a real touch of excitement to things. Playing the Euromillions is a very safe way to play lotteries too, as it is run by Camelot, the company who run the UK’s National Lottery.

Euromillions is a great lottery with superb prizes on offer. If you’re looking to win seriously life-changing prizes then buy your ticket today!

Euromillions FAQs

How old do I have to be to play Euromillions legally?

In most of Europe you have to be 18 years of age to be able to play the Euromillions lottery legally. The exception to this rule is the United Kingdom, where you need to be over the age of 16 to be able to play. If you are in any doubt, you should check local regulations where you are residing to make sure you can buy a ticket legally.

What is the address of the National Lottery Accounts Department?

If you bought your ticket at a licensed retailer and you win between £500 and £50,000 you can claim using a claim form. To get a claim form, you can phone 0333 234 50 50 or visit an affiliated retailer. The claim form needs to be sent to this address: The National Lottery, Accounts Dept, PO BOX 287, Watford, WD18 9TT.

If I buy multi draw Euromillions tickets can I still win the Millionaire Maker prize?

Yes you can. UK-based players can purchase tickets up to four weeks in advance for any of the weekly draws that are held on Tuesday or Friday. So that means tickets for eight draws in total. he ticket will include one unique UK Millionaire Maker code for each line of EuroMillions numbers purchased, with the code being the same for each draw. That code will be entered into each Millionaire Maker draw for which a ticket has been purchased, and has the same chance of winning as any other code.