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EuroMillions: a game guide
EuroMillions is a transnational lottery run jointly by several European countries. In this site's verified registry, the base format was confirmed from an Irish operator's page. The numbers come in two sets: five main numbers from 1 to 50 and two Lucky Stars from 1 to 12. This guide shows with exact calculation how that structure produces odds near one in 140 million, how hard each of the 13 prize tiers is, and says plainly that changes announced for autumn 2026 could not be confirmed.
- Base format
- 5 main numbers from 50 plus 2 Lucky Stars from 12 verified
- Jackpot odds
- 1 in 139,838,160 (C(50,5) × C(12,2)) verified
- Chance of any prize
- about 1 in 13 (13 tiers; separate raffles excluded) verified
- Price
- from EUR 2.50 per base line in Ireland (reviewed 2026-10-04) verified
- Draw days
- Not established by the reviewed official text; an independent site lists Tuesday and Friday not verified
- Changes announced for autumn 2026
- Price EUR 3, a new tier, a new matrix and a European raffle are described as pending final approval partly verified
- Supported in this site's tools
- Yes: generator, Lottery Explorer, Combination Calculator and Lab computed by LottoFlick
The distinctive structure: two pools and Lucky Stars
In EuroMillions you choose from two independent pools. Choosing five distinct main numbers can be done in C(50,5) = 2,118,760 ways and two distinct Lucky Stars in C(12,2) = 66 ways. The jackpot requires both, so the counts multiply:
2,118,760 × 66 = 139,838,160
This equals the operator's stated jackpot odds of 1 in 139,838,160. Without the stars the odds would be 1 in 2,118,760; the two stars make the jackpot 66 times harder. The structure is the same "product of independent pools" that this site's Combination Calculator uses, and the generator draws distinct numbers separately from the main pool and the star pool. This page describes the structure only; whatever numbers you choose, the probability is the same.
Exact odds of the 13 tiers
A tier is set by how many main numbers and how many stars match. For (m, s) matches, the number of tickets is C(5,m) × C(45,5−m) × C(2,s) × C(10,2−s). The table gives the exact values calculated by this site. We could not check the operator's prize table directly, so no prize amounts are shown.
| Tier (main + stars) | Winning tickets | Odds (1 in N) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + 2 | 1 | 139,838,160 |
| 5 + 1 | 20 | 6,991,908 |
| 5 + 0 | 45 | 3,107,514.7 |
| 4 + 2 | 225 | 621,502.9 |
| 4 + 1 | 4,500 | 31,075.1 |
| 3 + 2 | 9,900 | 14,125.1 |
| 4 + 0 | 10,125 | 13,811.2 |
| 2 + 2 | 141,900 | 985.5 |
| 3 + 1 | 198,000 | 706.3 |
| 3 + 0 | 445,500 | 313.9 |
| 1 + 2 | 744,975 | 187.7 |
| 2 + 1 | 2,838,000 | 49.3 |
| 2 + 0 | 6,385,500 | 21.9 |
Adding the winning tickets of all 13 tiers gives about 10.78 million, and dividing by the 139,838,160 combinations gives a chance of winning some prize of 1 in 12.97, or about 1 in 13, matching the operator's "about 1 in 13 overall". The easiest tier (two main numbers and no stars) is 1 in 21.9, and that one tier accounts for about 59% of all winning tickets. Add-on products such as Ireland's separate raffle are not in this calculation.
Size against other lotteries
| Lottery | Jackpot combinations | Relative to EuroMillions |
|---|---|---|
| Lotto 6/45 (Korea) | 8,145,060 | about 1/17 |
| EuroMillions | 139,838,160 | 1 |
| Mega Millions (US) | 290,472,336 | about 2.08 times |
| Powerball (US) | 292,201,338 | about 2.09 times |
The EuroMillions jackpot is about 17 times harder than Lotto 6/45 and about half as hard as the two big US games. For how to handle such large numbers see Why big numbers blur our judgement.
Price and regional differences
The Irish operator's page reviewed by this site gives the base line as from EUR 2.50. Each participating country has its own add-on products, taxes and payment arrangements. For tax and reporting duties, start from Prize tax by country and check each country's official sources separately. We did not verify the full list of participating countries.
Autumn 2026 changes: not verified
An independent site about EuroMillions (one that states it is not endorsed by the operators) says major changes are planned for autumn 2026, pending final approval and confirmation of details. The listed items are: the cost of playing rising to EUR 3, a new prize tier, a new game matrix, a European Millionaire Maker raffle and a maximum jackpot starting from EUR 250 million. The date of this guide, 25 October 2026, is already autumn, so we could not confirm whether the changes have taken effect or in what form. The tables here are for the base format as reviewed on 4 October 2026 (5/50 + 2/12, 13 tiers) and will differ if the changes are in force. Please check the operator's current rules. If the matrix changes, all the odds above change.
Putting 139,838,160 to work: three worked scenarios
Odds of one in 139,838,160 are hard to feel, so here are three calculations that anyone can repeat. In each, a line is one independent random pick and the chance that a single line wins the jackpot is p = 1/139,838,160.
- How many lines for an even chance? The chance of at least one jackpot in n lines is 1 − (1 − p)n. Setting it to 50% gives n = ln 2 × 139,838,160 ≈ 96.9 million lines. At the lowest price this guide quotes (EUR 2.50 in Ireland, reviewed 4 October 2026) that would cost about EUR 242 million, to reach a coin flip.
- A very long habit. Suppose someone bought one line in each of 5,200 draws, which is 50 years of two draws a week (the draw days are an assumption here, since we could not confirm them). The chance of at least one jackpot in that whole life is about 0.0037%, or 1 in 26,892. The same person has a far better chance of the 13th tier alone: the lowest tier alone is 1 in 21.9 per line, so about 237 of those 5,200 lines should win it, and about 401 should win some prize.
- A hundred lines at once. A syndicate buying 100 different lines in one draw has a 100 in 139,838,160 chance, about 1 in 1.4 million. Buying more lines raises the chance in proportion, and the cost rises in proportion too, so the ratio of chance to price does not move.
The lesson is the same one the jackpot split risk article draws from the other side: the draw treats every line alike. Nothing about the numbers you pick, or the stars you add, changes p.
Reading the table: which tier produces the wins
What stands out in the 13-tier table is not that 5 + 2 is the jackpot, but that most winning lines come from the bottom. The tiers add up to about 10.78 million winning lines, and the 2 + 0 tier alone accounts for 6,385,500 of them, more than 59%. More than half of every "you won" is therefore the smallest prize, and whether that prize is worth more than the ticket has to be checked against the prize list, which this guide could not confirm. Odds alone cannot say whether a game pays back; you need odds multiplied by prizes, the expected value, which is nearly always below the price (see why people buy negative-expected-value tickets).
Using this game on this site
- The Lottery Explorer lets you compare its format and verification status with other lotteries.
- The Combination Calculator shows the C(50,5) × C(12,2) calculation step by step.
- In the Lottery Lab you can simulate draws in this format and compare them with the exact odds.
- The number generator draws distinct numbers at random from the main pool and the star pool; it does not improve the chance of winning.
What we could not verify
- Draw days and times (the independent site lists Tuesday and Friday, but we saw a search summary saying Ireland's 2025 booklet lists other days).
- The prize table by tier, prices by country, tax and claim deadlines.
- Whether the autumn 2026 changes took effect, and their content.
- The operator's page refused access when re-read on 25 October 2026, so the base format uses the registry's 4 October 2026 review as it stands.
Lottery outcomes are random, and understanding odds does not change the probability of a particular ticket. Set a spending limit and check local age and participation restrictions. This site does not sell lottery tickets.
LottoFlick is independent and not an official lottery operator. Numbers are random and cannot be predicted.
Sources and verification
- Premier Lotteries Ireland, How to play EuroMillions (5 of 50 plus 2 of 12; from EUR 2.50; jackpot 139,838,160; any-prize odds about 1 in 13), as reviewed in the registry on 2026-10-04 — verified · the page returned HTTP 403 to a later fetch on 2026-10-25, so it was not re-read
- euro-millions.com (independent site, not endorsed by the operators): changes planned for autumn 2026, pending final approval — partly verified · not an official source; the changes may or may not have taken effect
- LottoFlick calculation: exact odds of the 13 tiers — computed by LottoFlick