Temporary changes to Advance Play
If you are playing via The National Lottery in the UK, you can now only buy tickets in advance up to and including the EuroMillions draw on Tuesday 14th April. The number of weeks that you will be able to enter in advance will therefore reduce with each week that passes. It will also be impossible to set up a new Direct Debit.
Any players in the UK that currently have a EuroMillions Direct Debit with The National Lottery will be contacted directly should the need arise to change the scheduling for draws in future, however it is hoped that this will not be necessary.
The decision to reduce Advance Play across the nine EuroMillions countries has been made with the best interests of players in mind, as there can be no guarantee at this point that draws will continue as scheduled throughout the duration of the current crisis.
If you wish to pick your numbers online via a concierge service, you will be able to enter multiple advance draws, however should any be cancelled, your entries would be suspended until draws resume.
No plans to stop EuroMillions draws
It has been stressed that there are no plans to suspend draws or ticket sales. The game is still available in stores and online in the UK so you can still take part every Tuesday and Friday at the moment for the chance to win multimillion-pound jackpots.
The situation will continue to be monitored over the next few weeks as it has been changing so quickly. The National Lottery will then reassess whether there will continue to be restrictions over playing in advance.
Impact of Coronavirus on All Countries
All nine of the countries that participate in EuroMillions have been hit hard by coronavirus over the past few weeks. Various measures have been brought in everywhere to try and combat the disease by keeping people apart.
Some nations have imposed stricter restrictions than others, with Spain and France already locked down. Spain has suspended ticket sales for all of its National Lottery games, while France is the country where draws take place.
All the different lottery operators in the participating countries work together to run the game and provide support, so the impact in one location can have implications for everyone.
How EuroMillions HotPicks is affected
Entries for EuroMillions HotPicks will be subject to the same restrictions as EuroMillions, so it is not possible to play in advance beyond 14th April at this point. This is because the winning numbers for HotPicks are based on the results from the main game.
As draws take place in Paris, there is no certainty that they will continue to be held as scheduled. The National Lottery has not made a similar adjustment to advance play options for its other games that are drawn in the UK.