Whilst there might not be much skill involved in entering the lottery, it certainly gets the blood pumping when the presenters start to call out those numbers on live TV! For just a few moments, millions of people around the country dare to dream of a different life filled with Bentleys and luxury holidays, before reality comes crashing down again.
The National Lottery. The UK National Lottery features several games, but the Lotto is most popular as it boasts the biggest prizes. Camelot, the corporation behind the National Lottery, re-engineered the Lotto game in 2015, which has greatly impacted the odds of winning. Now, there are ten new numbers to the draw taking the total to 59. You're 75 times more likely to get a royal flush on your first ever hand of poker than win the UK National Lottery jackpot. The odds of winning the UK National Lottery are 1/45,057,474. If you just buy one lottery ticket in your life, these things are more likely to happen to you. National Lottery prizes are tax-free and paid in a lump sum. UK lottery players must be at least 16 years of age. While lotteries have worse odds than casino games, Brits love the possibility of winning life-changing jackpots for pocket change. Lotto proceeds are used to fund arts, heritage, sport, health, education, and various charitable causes. Smallest jackpot: The Health Lottery (up to £100,000) So, now we know which National Lottery has the best odds, we also know to basically never play Lotto and reduce your expectations of winning big. Oh, and remember, the chances of winning big are still less than some of the most unlikely events ever. Local lotteries and charity lotteries.
If you enjoy buying the odd lottery ticket but still keep coming up empty, then this is the article for you – we’ve gathered together a list of the top 10 easiest lotteries in the world to win big so you can spend your money wisely and hopefully get something in return.
National Lottery prizes are tax-free and paid in a lump sum. UK lottery players must be at least 16 years of age. While lotteries have worse odds than casino games, Brits love the possibility of winning life-changing jackpots for pocket change. Lotto proceeds are used to fund arts, heritage, sport, health, education, and various charitable causes.
Scroll down the list below to find out odds and jackpots for some of the easiest lotteries in the world…
11. UK Lotto from Jackpot.com
Odds – 28 chances to win
First up is a slightly different kind of lottery where you become part of a syndicate. This gives you a cheaper way to play multiple lines, as any prize won is shared amongst syndicate members. If for example, the syndicate wins £10,000,000, and there are 100 shares, then each share will be worth £100,000. Every share contains 28 lines and the more shares you buy, the bigger your slice of the winnings.
You can find out or get involved here.
10. Powerball Lotto
Odds – 1:24.87
Second up on the list, it’s the American Power Ball lottery, a competition which is run by 44 different US States, as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. If you enter this hugely popular US lottery, then you’re looking at odds of around 1:24.87 – not bad when you could be in with a chance of winning over $1,000,000!
9. Mega Millions Lottery
Odds – 1:24
Mega Millions is another American jackpot which used to be known as The Big Game. Like the Power Ball it’s available to play in over 44 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Puerto Ricans miss out on this one sadly!). The Mega Millions lotto is organised by 12 different lotteries and is based in the state of Georgia. Play with odds of 1:24 to try and win the $1,000,000 jackpot.
8. Irish Lotto
 "Best"){kind=logo}
Odds – 1:13
Do you reckon you have the luck of the Irish? Then it might be time to start playing the Irish Lotto, which comes in at #8 on our list and has great odds at 1:13. The current prize money stands at just under €3,500,000 so its definitely worth buying a ticket! Even if you don’t become a winner, you can always look out for a rainbow and try to find that elusive pot of gold…
You can sign up to play the Irish Lotto here.
7. Austria Lotto
Odds – 1:12
The Austrian lotto is another competition run by a small European country which offers big, big prizes. You’ve got better jackpot odds than nearly anywhere else on the continent at 1:12, so why not travel to the land of Mozart and Freud to try your luck? The prize money comes in at €1 million, and there’s also a special double jackpot game you can play too. Nice!
6. Spanish Lotto
Odds – 1:10
The Spanish national lottery is nicknamed ‘El Gordo’ (the Big One), an appropriate title since the competition is currently offering over €2,380,000,000 worth of prizes! It would be silly not to buy a ticket and try your luck at this one – there’s also a draw you can enter which offers a jackpot of 600,000 euros too, just in case you don’t win anything with El Gordo.
5. UK National Lottery
Odds – 1:9.3
The National Lottery UK is a great draw for anyone who dreams of winning big and leaving their old life behind. Why? In 2017, the lottery turned a grand total of 358 people into millionaires! That’s an amazing stat and one that will have people all over the country rushing to buy a ticket (and raising those odds…oops).
4. Polish Mini Lotto
Odds – 1:8.5
OK, so there’s a slight catch with this one! Although the Polish Mini Lotto offers sensational jackpot odds, this means that it also provides smaller prizes, usually in the thousands rather than the millions.
However, we decided to include it on our list because it’s one of the cheapest competitions to enter (only 25p per ticket) and each bet gives you a chance of winning a minimum of £60,000 for the grand prize. You could become one of 30 jackpot winners every month!
3. OZ Mon/Wed Lotto
Odds – 1:8
The OZ Lotto is drawn every Monday and Wednesday, and offers great odds to anyone who wants to bring home a serious amount of cash. Prizes usually range from £500,000 to £1,000,000, so if you do manage to win you could afford yourself return flights to Australia in no time.
Which Lottery Has The Best Odds Usa
2. Swedish Lottery
Odds – 1:7
The Swedish lottery is another draw which runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays to give you double the chance of winning a multimillion pound jackpot. A basic ticket only costs 50p and you can upgrade to other draws from only £1.50 onwards. The odds are in your favour with this one, so why not play today?
1. French Lotto
Odds – 1:5.99
Last but certainly not least, the French lottery tops the list of the easiest lotteries in the world to win big. The ‘France Loto’ has offered some eye-watering jackpots in the past, with the biggest coming in at €24,000,000. FranceLoto gives you a one in six chance of winning any of the prizes on offer, so why not grab your striped jumper and beret, and try your luck at the French lottery today?
Best Odds In Lottery Games
So which gives better odds – is it the UK Lotto or EuroMillions?
The EuroMillions odds have always been worse, but that’s not the whole story. They keep changing the structure of both games, which always affects the odds.
So let’s find out how this stands now.
IMPORTANT: Ticket Price Matters
Ticket price is always forgotten when people are working out game odds. But that’s wrong, because it’s CRITICAL to factor this in to know which is easier to win.
Back when the Lotto was still only £1 per line to play, it cost £2 to play EuroMillions (in the UK). That meant you could cover twice as many UK Lotto combinations for exactly the same money.
This makes a huge difference to your real chances of winning.
What Are The Odds Now?
Back in 2016 EuroMillions added an extra Lucky Star ball (going from 11 to 12 – read more in changes to EuroMillions). This made it harder to win.
The year before there were big changes to the UK Lotto, which increased the main balls from 49 up to 59. That dramatically affected the odds for all prizes.
But that’s not all. The UK Lotto used to be £1 per play, now it’s £2 (since 2013). The EuroMillions ticket price has also now increased, from £2 to £2.50 (since 2016). This changes the answer too.
So these are the current odds of winning the jackpot for both games:-
| Game | Balls Drawn | Odds | Ticket Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| EuroMillions | 5 from 50, plus 2 from 12 | 1 in 139,838,160 | £2.50 |
| UK Lotto | 6 from 59 | 1 in 45,057,474 | £2 |
So Which Is Now Better?
Lotto Odds Formula
If we just look at the odds alone, the EuroMillions odds make it 3.1 times harder to win.
But if we take into account that extra 50p per ticket, it means that the odds of winning EuroMillions vs National Lottery are now 3.8 times worse.
Or in other words, comparing Lotto vs EuroMillions it’s now 3.8 times easier to win the National Lottery (i.e. Lotto).
It used to be 8.3 times easier. So whilst things have shifted strongly towards EuroMillions again, Lotto is still easier to win.
Of course EuroMillions has always had a much larger jackpot, particularly with rollovers. This gap has also narrowed too. Because the jackpot odds are tougher there are more rollover draws for UK Lotto, resulting in bigger rollover jackpots.
The two games have become a lot more like each other. But those tougher odds for the big Euro game have long been the reason why a lot of people play in a EuroMillions syndicate of course. With enough people it more than makes up the difference.
Not The End Of Story
But that’s not quite the end of the story. Because there is also the UK Millionaire Maker (previously called the Millionaire Raffle), which is included in your EuroMillions ticket price.
We’re all about the big prizes, so we don’t greatly care that you can win £2.70 for matching 2 balls!
But we do care that you have an extra chance to win £1 Million every draw with Millionaire Maker. So EuroMillions scores a bonus point on this one.
So Which Game Should I Play Now?
I know a lot of people are disappointed that the UK Lotto is now harder to win. But the increase in the Match 5 + Bonus prize to £1 Million does take some of the sting away.
If you want a game with a better chance of winning the jackpot, the UK Lotto is still the better game. If you want bigger jackpots then EuroMillions still wins out – although the gap is now smaller.
Both games however are also good games to play in a syndicate (for a much better chance of winning), as the jackpot prizes are big enough to share between a decent sized group. So there’s never been a better time to start one yourself, or check out our reviews of online syndicates here.
These changes have made UK Lotto a lot more like EuroMillions, but both games are still a lot of fun to play. So don’t let our ‘negativity driven’ UK media spoil that fun by stopping you from playing!
Keep dreaming big.
Got more questions? Check out our EuroMillions Questions & Answers.