Hello Everyone!
Welcome back to another blog post of our Free Play Lotto series, we hope you’ve had a wonderful week! We’ve enjoyed doing these blog posts, and we hope you’ve enjoyed reading them! We would love to hear some feedback from you all! What are some things you would like us to write about? What’s a topic you would like discussed here? Let us know in the comment section below – we’d love to hear from you!
Well, today’s topic is about the lottery abroad… How the lottery is played outside of the US! I mean, we already know how it’s played here at home right? In the US, we’ve already covered when the lottery started, and how it developed – but what about the rest of the world? What’s the Chinese version of the lottery? Or the British – do they play the lottery? Is gambling a popular thing anywhere else in the world or just an American thing? Well, let’s find out
Where to start…? Well first off, what are the most popular lotteries outside of the U.S?
Let’s find out!
What are the most popular lotteries outside of the U.S?
Well according to a quick google search, we found that the most popular lotteries hosted outside of the U.S are the following:
The EuroMillions in Europe and England
SuperEnalotto in Italy
The Sports Lottery in China/Asia
And it makes sense right? Some of the biggest population centers in the world are in Europe and Asia, so it makes sense that they run lotteries with lots of participation. Which is something you would need if you were going to run a BIG lottery.
What is the lottery like in those countries & how do they work?
Well, what are these lotteries like? I mean, so they’re popular, but how different are they to ours? For one thing, pretty much across the board, you must be 18 years or older to play the lottery – and this is true for the lotteries we’ve outlined here as well. But let’s take a closer look at each one.
EuroMillions in Western Europe
EuroMillions is an international lottery that is played amongst much of Western Europe, so as you might be able to guess – there are millions of people that play the contest every week, all year round. It started in 2004 and has been a hit every since – growing in participation and popularity.
How is it played?
EuroMillions is a lot like our Powerball that is hosted in the states! A person would buy a ticket to enter for a chance to win. The contest for EuroMillions happens two times a week. Each ticket costs 2.50 Euros, which is equivalent to the $3 Powerball ticket you would pay for in America. Upon purchasing a ticket, a person would pick 5 numbers between 1 and 50, and then 2 special numbers between 1 and 12. Pick the right numbers, you just might be a millionaire!
How is it different?
Well for one, the odds of winning the EuroMillions jackpot is much better than winning the Powerball jackpot in the U.S. The odds of you winning the jackpot in Powerball is 1 in 232 million, and the odds of you winning the jackpot in EuroMillions is 1 in 139 million. These better odds most likely come from the fact that the total possible options of number values to choose from is much less in EuroMillions than in Powerball.
SuperEnalotto in Italy
Italy has their own version of the lottery and it is very popular natively – less so outside of Italy. However, it has some of the biggest jackpots won from a lottery in that region – sizes up a quarter of a billion dollars. ‘Enalotto’ is actually a well-known Italian lottery which has been running ever since the 1950’s. However it wasn’t until 1997 that SuperEnalotto was born.
How is it played?
SuperEnalotto is a little different from what we are used to in America. In SuperEnalotto you must buy a ticket to enter, picking a total of 6 numbers between 1 and 90, if you match the winning set, you win!. And then for a little bit of more money – you can try your chance with a “Jolly” number that acts as a second-try- to winning a much smaller amount, yet still largely sized, jackpot, just in case your numbers match up the first time.
How is it different?
SuperEnalotto has TWO jackpots that are possible to win. One is much bigger than the other and which one you win is indicated by the Lucky Star number – along with matching all the other numbers. The odds of this lottery however, are one of the worst in the world – with your odds of winning the jackpot being around 1 in 622 million. That is 3 times more unlikely to happen than winning the Powerball jackpot!
The Sports Lottery in China
The Chinese Sports Lottery, established in 1994, is a government-run organization which offers a large variety of different games and contests to gamble on – all revolving around sporting activities within the country or internationally. The Sports Lottery is actually one of two lotteries that are legal in China – the other being the Welfare Lottery, it’s just that the Sports Lottery is more popular. It is the second largest lottery on the planet.
How is it played?
Players can decide to enter traditional draw games or, the more popular sport bets that involve players gambling their money on one team or another. Because there are so many sports events occurring, domestically and internationally, there is virtually a new bet event being made every few minutes, they just found a way to facilitate all of those bets.
How is it different?
Well this is different from America’s version of the lottery as – there is no sequence of numbers you have to get right. This level of betting mainly consists of betting on which teams you think will win, with a multiplier clause – where you can double or triple your money – for a small extra price. Another difference between America’s lottery system and the Chinese is that China faces a lot of “illegal gambling” which is essentially gambling that happens without their permission. This illegal activity is so frequent because it cuts out the Chinese government’s fee of a bet transaction, making it a lot more attractive to individual gamblers to keep them out of the loop. Of recent years, China has cracked down harshly on this activity and cut back this prominent problem greatly. With a couple structural changes to their fees as well they have made it more attractive to the average gambler to gamble with them – so people are naturally turning to The Sports Lottery.
It’s a Human Thing!
So it looks like gambling is just a human kind of thing! These lotteries over seas are just as popular, if not even more so when compared to the States! Turns out hoping for the best, makes money pretty much anywhere you are on the planet! Have you ever played these lottories overseas? If so, leave us a comment below of what it was like – and if you won anything!