Lottery boom leaves players spoilt for choice

The UK has been experiencing lotto fever since The National Lottery was launched in 1994. The popularity of lotteries is underlined by the large number of charity lotteries that support local causes.

Smaller charity lotteries have become an important way to raise money for local community causes, which is why Swindon Borough Council created the Swindon Community Lottery in 2019. The winning lottery numbers are drawn once a week and the tickets cost £1 of which 60p goes directly to local good causes in Swindon. Each Swindon Community Lottery ticket has a 1 in 50 chance of winning a prize. Of course, national lottery games also raise money for good causes. The Irish National Lottery gives 30 cents from every €1 to local causes all over Ireland and has raised approximately €6 billion since 1987.

Lottery players now have the opportunity to take part in a wide range of international lotteries, depending on their location, such as the Austrian, Polish, and German lotteries on offer in Europe and the mega lotteries which are held in the United States. Therefore, it is important to know the odds of winning in these lottery draws in order to choose the lotto draw that suits you best. Let's take a look at a few options with the best lottery games odds below.

Powerball and Mega Millions

In contrast with local charity lotteries, there are mega lottos such as the two US lotteries with the biggest jackpots: the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries. But, smaller national lotteries should not be discounted, the Mini Lotto from Poland has jackpot odds of 1 in 850,668.

El Gordo

However, the Spanish Christmas Lottery El Gordo, known variously as the fat one or the big one, ranks as the lottery with the best odds of winning a jackpot over €1 million with odds of 1 in 100,000. Meanwhile, the Swedish Lottery provides players with the best chance of scooping a jackpot over €10 million with odds of 1 in 6,724,520.

French Lotto

But, don’t forget that while you are most likely to read about big jackpot wins in the press, lottery draws include the opportunity to win smaller sums alongside the chance of winning large sums. In this regard, the French Lotto gives players the best odds of winning a prize with odds of 1 in 5.99. In contrast, at odds of just 1 in 2,298, the Brazilian Mega Sena has the worst odds of winning any prize.

Hopefully, this guide has given you some food for thought with an idea of the different types of lottery, from smaller charity lotteries such as the Swindon Community lottery to popular international lotteries such as the Spanish Christmas Lottery El Gordo. As you are now aware of the odds of winning the jackpots and smaller prizes in these different types of lottery, this will help you choose the right lottery competition to enter, whether this involves supporting local good causes, going for the big jackpot or winning a smaller prize.