There is no lottery event-calendar more thrilling than that of the EuroMillions.
The EuroMillions is designed to be action packed, full of suspense and mystery, and where fortunes are made.
In fact, the buzz around the EuroMillions event-calendar causes so much excitement each year that the world’s leading lotto agent—Giant Lottos—created an entire product offering around it.
“… demand for EuroMillions event tickets were so high that we created a special product for our VIP members. We give them a giant discount on a bundle that enters them into every EuroMillions draw for an entire year. ” – Mark Marais
So, what is so special about how the EuroMillions structures its event draws throughout the year?
Drama Filled EuroMillions Events
Throughout the year, EuroMillions players get to look forward to:
- Biweekly Jackpot Rollovers
- Surprise Super Draws
- Must-Be-Won Rolldowns
No other lottery packs more value into a year than the EuroMillions Lotto!
What can we look forward to in 2022?
1. Biweekly Jackpot Rollovers
At the beginning of each EuroMillion events cycle, we start our journey at a modest €17 million jackpot (approximately £15 million). This quickly ramps up each week if there is no jackpot winner/s.
Nothing unusual so far…
However, unlike other lotteries, there is no fixed rate at which the jackpot increases; the final figure is determined by ticket sales.
These rollovers continue until the top prize is won, or it reaches €230 million… At which point, the ‘cap’ is reached and the size of the jackpot remains fixed.
Here’s where things start to heat up!
The jackpot can increase no further, any excess funds which would normally go to the top tier will instead be diverted to the next highest tier in which there are winners.
Now, if the €230 million capped jackpot rolls over 5 times without a winner, this 5th draw is designated a must-be-won draw—the winnings are shared by the next tier down (see point 3 below for details).
Now, the slow climb from €17 million to the €230 million cap does take some time and patients, and can dampen the excitement.
This is where the surprise superdraws come in…
2. Surprise Superdraws
Superdraw jackpots are surprise events that are only announced several times a year. And, regardless of where the jackpot is, it immediately jumps to a total of €130 million.
Superdraws operate under the same rules as regular draws. If no player wins the jackpot, the top prize will increase and rollover to the following draw. It will continue to rollover until it is won, or it reaches the jackpot cap of €230 million.
The next EuroMillions Superdraw has been announced for Friday 3rd December 2021. The jackpot is set at a guaranteed €130 million (est. £111 million). If nobody wins the jackpot, it will continue to rollover each time… This paves the way for the jackpot cap to reach €230 million should it rollover enough times.
… When a SuperDraw rolls over 5 times, what happens next is considered one of the biggest events on the world lotto calendar!
3. Must-Be-Won Rolldown Events
“A Super Draw jackpot will rollover to the next drawing if not won, but an Event Draw jackpot will be distributed among the winners in the next lower tiers.” – Wikipedia
Once the jackpot cap has been reached (€230 million), it can only rollover five times before the prize money becomes a must-be-won event.
On this fifth rollover, if nobody wins the jackpot (5 + 2 tier) the draw is designated a must-be-won and the €230 million jackpot will ‘rolldown’ to the ‘5 + 1 tier’.
“In a must-be-won draw, the jackpot rolls down and becomes available to the next prize tier… If there are no winners in that tier, then prizes rolldown to the prize tier below that. And so on.” – Ross Fulford
The table below shows what happens when the €230 million jackpot cap is reached.
| Draw | Jackpot Amount | What Happens? |
|---|---|---|
| First Draw | €230 million | As the jackpot can increase no further, any excess funds which would normally go to the top tier will instead be diverted to the next highest tier in which there are winners. |
| Second Draw | €230 million | Any additional funds continue rolling down to the highest tier in which there are winners. The prize fund for this tier is now likely to be even bigger than it was for the previous draw, as all of the excess jackpot money has been redistributed. |
| Third Draw | €230 million | The same rules apply. As further funds are added to the next highest winning prize tier, there is the potential for many players to become multimillionaires without having to match all the numbers. |
| Fourth Draw | €230 million | This is the penultimate draw at which the jackpot is allowed to remain at the cap. By this point, many millionaires will already have been made in the '5+1' prize tier. |
| Fifth Draw | €230 million | The jackpot has to be won in this draw - no further rollovers can occur. If no one matches all five numbers plus both Lucky Stars in this draw, the entire jackpot amount is shared between winners in the prize tier below. |
| Next Draw | €17 Million | The top prize reverts to its base level of €17 million (around £15 million). |
Why You Should Play Rolldown EuroMillions Draws
The fact is, must-be-won rolldown draws explode your chances of winning a larger prize.
You may have arrived at this article after hearing how a Giant Lottos strategy legally exploited a rolldown rule to win $26 Million for Jerry and Marge Selbee.
The big deal is in that 2nd tier payout, where the rollover funds get allocated to it instead of the jackpot tier…
An actual example; on a Tuesday, a 2nd tier prize was €333,091 and if won by 8 winners, each would have received €41,636.
But on Friday, after a 2nd tier rolled over to a must-be-won rolldown, the 2nd tier prize jumped to a massive €2,174,634…. 9 winners waked away with €241,626 each.
This was in spite of the fact that the €230 million jackpot was won anyway!
