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PlaySwiss Player Hits Jackpot
Expectations for Tuesday’s EuroMillions draw were high, but few would have predicted that the jackpot would go to a player from Switzerland. Only 4.5% of EuroMillions jackpot winners originate from the country, and this win of £144 million (or 183 million Swiss francs) is by far the biggest to drop there. The previous record was for £119 million (CHF157 million), which was won on Tuesday 19th December 2017.
Switzerland’s operator of EuroMillions, Swisslos, announced that the winner is from the Northwestern region of the country, from the canton Aargau, Basel-Land, Basel-Stadt, or Solothurn. The ticket holder has six months from the date of the draw to claim their prize.
Once they do claim, however, they will be met with the news that they will face an eye-watering tax bill. Switzerland is one of only three EuroMillions countries to levy a tax bill on its lottery winners, and in this case it will amount to 35 percent of the jackpot value, or 64 million Swiss francs (roughly £50 million). The winner will still walk away with a nine-figure sum, but they might feel aggrieved to know that they wouldn’t pay any tax on the prize at all if they had bought their ticket in neighbouring France or Austria,
The winner from Switzerland was the only one to hit the winning numbers 7, 17, 29, 37, and 45, with Lucky Stars 3 and 11, in the draw on Tuesday 2nd October. One ticket holder from the UK was just one Lucky Star away from landing the jackpot, and instead took home a tax-free sum of £53,895. There were nearly 700,000 British winners in the draw, who won a total of £2.7 million between them. See the Results page for more information about the draw, including details of the winning UK Millionaire Maker codes.
The EuroMillions jackpot resets to its starting value of £15 million for the next draw on Friday 5th October.
£26 Million Lotto Jackpot Must Be Won
The focus on the enormous EuroMillions prize may have distracted some people from the UK Lotto jackpot, which currently sits at an estimated £26 million, exceeding its jackpot cap. What this means is that the money must be won in the draw on Wednesday 3rd October, so there is no better time to buy a ticket.
The Lotto jackpot has not been won since Wednesday 22nd August, so has rolled over 11 times to reach its current value of £26 million. Once it hits its cap of £22 million, the jackpot can only roll over once more, and then in the following draw it must be given away no matter what. We have reached this point now, so can say with certainty that the £26 million prize money will be awarded in tonight’s draw. You might not even have to match all six numbers to win it.
If a player does match six numbers in tonight’s draw, they will win the jackpot as normal, but if no one manages to hit all the numbers, the prize money will roll down to be split between all winners in the next prize tier. This would mean that players who match five numbers plus the Bonus Ball could take home a share of the £26 million.
This means that your chances of winning the Lotto jackpot are better than they will ever be. The odds of hitting six numbers are 1 in 45,057,474, while your odds of matching five plus the Bonus are just 1 in 7,509,579, an improvement of 83 percent. If there are no winners in the 5+1 tier, the prize money again rolls down to be shared between all winners who match five main numbers at odds of just 1 in 144,415.
Of course, if the jackpot does roll down to a lower tier, there is more chance that you would have to share it with other players, but even if you had to split it 20 ways, you would still be a millionaire.
If you want to be in with a chance of winning in this special Lotto draw, you can choose your numbers online.
