Lotto-Style Lotteries in Europe — Format, Draw Days, Odds

The largest European number lotteries are Eurojackpot and EuroMillions — both cross-border, both in a 5-out-of-50 plus 2-out-of-12 format. Among national games, the most commonly cited are Germany's Lotto 6 aus 49, Italy's SuperEnalotto (6 out of 90), Spain's La Primitiva and the Nordic Vikinglotto. Poland's Lotto is a 6-out-of-49 format with draws on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Cross-border lotteries emerged for a simple arithmetic reason: the more countries in the pool, the more tickets sold, and therefore the higher the jackpot. Below is a comparison of the most frequently described games — with an emphasis on what actually sets them apart, rather than the size of record-breaking wins.

Comparison of the largest European lotteries

The format is written as "how many numbers you pick out of how many". The "jackpot odds" column shows the mathematical probability of matching all numbers in a single ticket — a fixed figure, resulting solely from the game's format, independent of who plays and when.

Game	Coverage	Format	Jackpot odds
Lotto	Poland	6 out of 49	1 : 13,983,816
Eurojackpot	European countries, including Poland	5 out of 50 + 2 out of 12	1 : 139,838,160
EuroMillions	Western European countries	5 out of 50 + 2 out of 12	1 : 139,838,160
Lotto 6 aus 49	Germany	6 out of 49 + supplementary number 0–9	1 : 139,838,160
SuperEnalotto	Italy	6 out of 90	1 : 622,614,630
Vikinglotto	Nordic and Baltic countries	6 out of 48 + 1 out of 8	1 : 98,172,096
La Primitiva	Spain	6 out of 49 + supplementary numbers	1 : 13,983,816

Draw days and format details are subject to change at the operators' discretion — check the current rules with the relevant lottery organiser before playing. You can find current results for the Polish games in the Lotto results section.

Eurojackpot — a lottery with Polish participation

Eurojackpot launched in March 2012 and is today the largest lottery in Europe in terms of the number of participating countries. Poland joined in September 2017, with ticket sales run by Totalizator Sportowy. The format consists of five numbers from the range 1–50 and two numbers from the range 1–12.

Since 2022, draws have been held twice a week — on Tuesdays and Fridays. Previously draws were held only on Fridays, so older articles citing a single weekly draw day describe an earlier state of the game. This lottery's jackpot has an upper cap: once it is reached, any surplus flows into the lower prize tiers instead of growing indefinitely. This sets Eurojackpot apart from most national games.

The current jackpot size for the Polish games is shown on the Eurojackpot jackpots page.

EuroMillions — the older cross-border lottery

EuroMillions was launched in 2004 on the initiative of three operators: France's Française des Jeux, Spain's Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, and the UK's Camelot. The first draw took place on 13 February 2004 in Paris. Lotteries from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland joined later.

The format is identical to Eurojackpot's — five main numbers plus two so-called Lucky Stars. Both games therefore share exactly the same mathematical odds for the top prize, even though they are entirely independent of each other and have separate prize pools. Poland does not participate in EuroMillions.

National lotteries: Germany, Italy, Spain

Germany's Lotto 6 aus 49 has been running since 1955 and, in terms of format, is the closest to Poland's Lotto — six numbers out of 49. The difference lies in an additional number called the Superzahl, drawn from the range 0–9, which must also be matched to win the top prize. It is this extra number that lowers the odds from 1 : 13,983,816 to 1 : 139,838,160 — exactly a tenfold reduction.

Italy's SuperEnalotto has the toughest format on this list: six numbers out of 90. That's over 622 million combinations, roughly 44 times more than Poland's Lotto. The game was launched in 1997. Until 2009 the numbers came from regional draws held in several Italian cities; since then SuperEnalotto has had its own independent draw.

Spain's La Primitiva is one of the oldest lotteries in Europe — it has run in its current form since 1985. The base 6-out-of-49 format gives the same odds as Poland's Lotto, but the supplementary number system (Complementario and Reintegro) creates additional prize tiers, resulting in a more elaborate prize table.

Vikinglotto — the oldest multi-country lottery

Vikinglotto launched in 1993 and is eleven years older than EuroMillions. It originally covered the Nordic countries, later joined by the Baltic states and — somewhat unusually for a Nordic-themed game — Slovenia. The format is six numbers out of 48 plus one supplementary number from the range 1–8.

Jackpots here are noticeably lower than in Eurojackpot, but the odds of winning the top prize are correspondingly better: about 1 : 98 million versus 1 : 140 million. This is a trade-off, not a bargain — a smaller number pool comes hand in hand with a smaller prize pool.

Poland's Lotto against the European backdrop

Lotto has been running in Poland since 1957, organised by Totalizator Sportowy — the only entity licensed to operate number games in the country. The 6-out-of-49 format hasn't changed in decades. Draws are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, in the evening.

In this comparison, Poland's Lotto stands out with one of the most favourable odds: 1 : 13,983,816 is the best figure in the table, tied with Spain's La Primitiva. This doesn't mean a win is realistic in any practical sense — fourteen million combinations is a scale that no everyday example can meaningfully capture.

The difference in jackpot size between games stems primarily from the number of tickets sold, not from operator "generosity". A lottery serving several hundred million people will collect a larger pool than a national game, even if both return a similar share of revenue to players. The distribution of hits in the Polish games is shown in the Lotto statistics.

Taxation of winnings in Poland

Winnings from number games in Poland are subject to a flat-rate income tax. Winnings whose single value does not exceed PLN 2,280 are exempt — this threshold remains unchanged. The organiser withholds the tax at the time of payout, so the player receives the amount already reduced.

A prize won at a foreign lottery is subject to separate settlement rules and may need to be reported in the annual tax return. Before playing with an operator based outside Poland, it's worth checking what tax obligations this entails. You can calculate the payout amount at various thresholds using the winnings tax calculator.

What these comparisons don't tell you

Format comparisons are sometimes read as a hint about which game is "better to play". Three things are worth sorting out.

• The odds are fixed and don't depend on the numbers chosen. The combination 1-2-3-4-5-6 has exactly the same probability as any other. Historical statistics describe the past — they don't predict the next draw, since each one is independent of those before it.
• A smaller number pool doesn't mean "easier" in terms of value. Vikinglotto has better odds than Eurojackpot, but also correspondingly lower prizes.
• The choice of numbers affects only how many people you might end up sharing a win with. Popular patterns — birth dates, sequences, shapes drawn on the ticket — get picked by more people at once, so the amount per winner can end up lower. The probability itself stays exactly the same.

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