The world’s best lotteries

Hereford Times

01 October 2021

When it comes to the lottery, are you on team Europe or team USA? You can now choose your side when you bet online, even if you live in the UK!

Europe v America, from wars to golf, it’s a rivalry which goes back centuries! Some things never change, the lottery is no different, but how do the best lotteries from Europe compare to those across the pond and which one is your best bet?Find out all you need to know about the world’s biggest lotteries with our European vs American lottery comparison.

Euromillions v Powerball

The two biggest lotteries in their respective continents are real heavy hitters.

Powerball started out as Lotto America back in 1988, becoming Powerball in 1992. It was the first lottery to use two drums to draw balls from a main pot of numbers plus an additional bonus ball, a concept which has since been taken up by Mega Millions, EuroMillions and Eurojackpot.

EuroMillions was launched in February 2004. Initially only available in the UK, France, and Spain, with the rest of the countries joining in October of that year.Of course, UK punters will be very familiar with EuroMillions, in fact, only recently a couple from the UK became the second biggest EuroMillions winners ever. Last month, Joe and Jess Thwaite from Cheltenham won an incredible £184.2 million becoming the UK’s biggest ever lottery winners.

However, this amount is dwarfed by the biggest ever Powerball jackpot (and world record), a truly mind-blowing $1.586 billion (£1.269 billion), yes that’s BILLION!

The record win came in January 2016, and was split between 3 tickets, purchased in California, Florida and Tennessee.

In the US, any winnings over $5,000 (£3,990) are subject to 25% tax withholding by lottery agencies. Winnings are also subject to federal income tax. If you opt to take the money as a lump sum, a jackpot such as Powerball, will fall into the highest tax bracket, currently set at 37%.
After the IRS took its cut, the lump sum for the record jackpot was $528.8 million (£422 million). Some states charge a further state tax, however, as there is no personal income tax in Florida and California, and Tennessee do not tax lottery winnings, each winner took home $187.2 million (£149.4 million) each – still an incredible amount!

In March 2019, a single ticket purchased in Wisconsin won a jackpot of $768.4 million (£613.3 million), which after tax, and taken as a lump sum, ended up as $477 million (£380.7 million) – still a much larger jackpot than the biggest ever EuroMillions jackpot of €220 million (£185.5 million).
The biggest ever EuroMillions jackpot was won in October 2021 by a woman from the island of Tahiti, which is part of French Polynesia.

Summary

Powerball ($2 a ticket) is cheaper than EuroMillions (£2.50), there are three Powerball draws a week as opposed to two EuroMillions draws. Despite substantial tax deductions, Powerball jackpots remain generally much higher than those paid out by EuroMillions. However, EuroMillions has better jackpot odds (1:139,838,160) as opposed to Powerball (1:292,201,338) and there are 13 EuroMillions prize tiers as opposed to 9 Powerball prize tiers.

Winner: Powerball

The jackpot odds may be higher than EuroMillions but you would need to be very lucky to win either. At the end of the day, it’s cheaper to buy a Powerball ticket and you have three chances a week to win absolutely mind-blowing prizes, despite the tax reductions.

Secondary prizes should not be forgotten about either. The second prize for Powerball is $1 million, significantly larger than the average EuroMillions second prize, which is about €414,159 (£414,159).

Fortunately for UK punters, you don’t need to book yourself a plane ticket to the US to be in with a chance to win a Powerball jackpot. Lottoland, an online lotto betting company based in Gibraltar and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, offers UK lotto enthusiast the chance to bet on the outcome of PowerBall here.

Eurojackpot v Mega Millions

Eurojackpot is Europe’s most popular lottery in terms of availability, with 18 countries offering this lottery as opposed to only 9 which offer EuroMillions. This means that Eurojackpot is available to around 300 million people, compared to around 217 million for EuroMillions. Spain is the only country where it’s possible to purchase both EuroMillions and Eurojackpot tickets.

Eurojackpot was set up in 2012. In March 2022, there were significant changes introduced to the game; a second weekly draw, a change to the numbers to be picked and larger jackpots. As a result, the odds to win the EuroMillions and the Eurojackpot are the same, although EuroMillions offers larger prizes. The biggest ever Eurojackpot top prize is €110 million (£93.6 million), which was won in Germany in May 2022. However, Eurojackpot remains cheaper.

When it comes to the US, Mega Millions really does give Powerball a run for its money. The biggest ever lottery jackpot in the world for a single ticket, was an incredible $1.537 billion (£1.227 billion) Mega Millions jackpot which was won in South Carolina in October 2018, with a cash value of $877.8 million (£722.6 million). The second largest cash value jackpot for a single ticket was also produced by Mega Millions, with a jackpot of $1.050 billion (£864.4 million), worth a cash value of $776.6 million (£639.2 million) which was won in Michigan in January 2021.

Summary

Eurojackpot is Europe’s second biggest lottery but the gap between Eurojackpot and EuroMillions is much wider than the divide between Powerball and Mega Millions. Mega Millions may not have produced the biggest ever lottery jackpot overall, but it only slightly trails behind Powerball in the race to be the world’s biggest lottery.

It’s very possible that sooner or later, the biggest ever lottery jackpot could be produced by Mega Millions, which already has the record for the biggest jackpot payout for a single ticket. Eurojackpot has the advantage over EuroMillions by being available in more countries and being cheaper, although its prizes are lower.

Winner: Mega Millions

It’s really a no-contest between Eurojackpot and Mega Millions.
When it comes to taking on the American giant, Eurojackpot’s prizes look like those offered by a seaside bingo hall. Mega Millions tickets are also slightly cheaper than Eurojackpot tickets, and there are also three Mega Millions draws a week compared to two Eurojackpot draws. The big disadvantage is that the Mega Millions jackpot odds are substantially higher than those of Eurojackpot, although your chances of winning any prize on Mega Millions is, in fact, higher.

Set For Life vs Cash 4 Life

Both these lotteries differ from traditional lotteries in the way that they offer to pay out their prizes over extended periods of time.

However, in general, US lotteries are more flexible than their European counterparts as both Mega Millions and Powerball offer the options to be paid as an annuity, whereas EuroMillions and Eurojackpot only offer winnings as a lump sum.

Cash 4 Life is no exception, as you can also choose to take the money as a one-time cash payment of $7 million. What makes it different is that if you take the money in instalments, you are paid daily or weekly, rather than monthly – as you would if you took the annuity option for Powerball or Mega Millions. On the other hand, Set for Life only overs monthly payments and no lump sum option.

Summary

The top prize for Set for Life is £10,000 every month for 30 years, totalling £3.6 million. Meanwhile the US equivalent offers a top prize of $1,000 (£825) a day for a minimum of 20 years, totalling $7.3 million.

The jackpot odds for Set for Life are more favourable than Cash 4 Life, with the Set for Life jackpot odds at 1 in 15,300,000 and the Cash 4 Life odds at 1 in 21,846,048. However, the odds of winning any prize on Cash 4 Life are 1 in 8 as opposed to 1 in 12 for Set for Life. Set for life is slightly cheaper at £1.50 a ticket compared to $2 (£1.65) for Cash 4 Life.

The second prize for Set for Life is £10,000 a month for one year, totalling £120,000. Cash 4 Life offers a second prize of $1,0000 (£825) a week for 20 years, totalling $1,040,000 (£865,529). You can also choose a lump sum of $1 million (£833,563).

Winner: Cash 4 life

£10k a month may be easier to administer rather than having $1,000 deposited into your account everyday but ultimately, unless you spend it recklessly, you’ll have significantly more funds overall if you win Cash 4 Life instead of Set for Life.It's also a huge advantage that you can opt to take $7 million (£5.6 million) as a lump sum. Whilst this may increase the temptation to blow the money quickly, you could make investments straight away, rather than having to wait for it to build up over the months and years.The second prize for Cash 4 Life is an incredible prize in itself, and much great than that offered for Set for Life.

Another great thing about Cash 4 Life is that it’s drawn DAILY.

With Lottoland’s Cash4Life, there is one big difference, you really do get paid for the rest of your life!

Top prize is truly £1,000 a day for life for just £2.50 a bet. Just like the US, draws take place daily.
You can bet on Cash4Life here.

*All prices shown in $USD and €Euros are approximate and reflect the exchange rates at the time of publishing.