Marking only 1 to 31 leaves your chance of a Sechser untouched, because all 8,145,060 combinations are equally likely. The difference shows up in the split. Fourteen numbers on the Austrian grid sit above 31, and bets that skip them cluster on the same lines, so a birthday-heavy combination that does come up tends to be shared with more people.
The game at a glance
6 of 45 + Zusatzzahl
Wed · Sun
Austria
1 in 8,145,060
The same for every possible combination, including this one.
All divisions →
Bonus Ball
A seventh ball, the Zusatzzahl, comes out of the same 45-ball drum right after the six main numbers, and you never pick it. It upgrades bets that matched three, four or five main numbers into a higher rank, and on its own it pays back the price of the bet.
18+
Must be 18+ to play Lotto 6 aus 45, a limit raised from 16 in July 2023.
Austria Lotto, in brief
Lotto 6 aus 45 is Austria's main number game, run by the Österreichische Lotterien. A bet asks for six numbers from 1 to 45, and a normal slip holds up to twelve bets. Six balls come out of the drum, then a seventh, the Zusatzzahl, which nobody picks. One bet costs 1.50 euros, the same price whether the numbers are yours or a Quick Tipp the terminal generated.
The regular draws are on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, and since 2020 a bonus draw has been added on some Fridays, roughly every second week. Every round guarantees at least 1.2 million euros in the Sechser rank. When nobody matches six, the whole amount joins the next round, and Austrian coverage names each stage after the count: Doppeljackpot, Dreifachjackpot, and upward from there.
The Zusatzzahl is what gives the game eight prize ranks rather than four. Matching three, four or five main numbers pays more when the Zusatzzahl also sits on your bet, and the bottom rank is the Zusatzzahl on its own, which returns exactly the 1.50 euros the bet cost. That rank comes up about once every sixteen bets, so it is the one most players actually collect.
Prize tiers
Sechser (6 numbers)Jackpot
The jackpot, guaranteed at a minimum of 1.2 million euros every round and rolling over with no cap
5 numbers + Zusatzzahl
A pari-mutuel share, often running to four or five figures in euros
5 numbers
A pari-mutuel share, usually somewhere near a thousand euros
4 numbers + Zusatzzahl
A pari-mutuel share, typically a low three-figure sum
4 numbers
A pari-mutuel share, usually a mid two-figure amount
3 numbers + Zusatzzahl
A small pari-mutuel share, in the region of a dozen bets' worth
3 numbers
The smallest shared rank, a few euros
Zusatzzahl only
A fixed 1.50 euros, exactly what the bet cost
Where Austria Lotto came from
The first draw in 1986
Austria came late to a national number game. The first Lotto 6 aus 45 draw was held on 7 September 1986, a Sunday, and Sunday stayed the only draw night for eleven years. The Joker add-on followed on 26 September 1988, putting a second and completely unrelated game on the same slip, one built on a six-digit number rather than the 45-ball drum.
A midweek draw and its add-ons
The first Wednesday draw took place on 3 September 1997, and the schedule has been twice weekly ever since. LottoPlus arrived in 2017 as an extra draw that reuses the six numbers already on a Lotto bet, and from 2020 a fortnightly Friday bonus draw was layered on top. Since 6 July 2026 a LottoPlus bet costs 0.80 euros and runs in two separate LottoPlus draws each round.
Jackpots without a ceiling
Nothing in the Austrian rules forces the Sechser to be paid out, so an unwon pot simply keeps going. The record win is 14.9 million euros, collected by one player in Lower Austria on 21 November 2018 after a sevenfold jackpot. The pot went one draw further in 2026. An eightfold jackpot, the first since the game began, stood after the draw of 15 July 2026 and was struck four days later by a Quicktipp bought in Styria, worth exactly 12,050,822.50 euros, the second-largest win the game has produced.
Picking numbers, honestly
You cannot play the Zusatzzahl on purpose. It is the seventh ball out of the same drum, so it can only ever be a number you already marked and the first six balls missed. Any bet that matched all six main numbers has no Zusatzzahl left to match, which is why the top rank is simply the Sechser.
A jackpot that has rolled six times is no closer to being hit than a fresh one. Nothing in the rules forces a payout at any stage, and July 2026 made the point: the pot ran eight draws without a Sechser, one further than it had ever gone before, and then fell to an ordinary Quicktipp. Every draw starts from the same 45 balls and the same odds, whatever the counter says.
Austria Lotto — frequently asked
The seventh ball, drawn from the same 45 after the six main numbers. You never choose it. It lifts a three, four or five match into a higher rank, and on its own it pays a fixed 1.50 euros.
Wednesday and Sunday evenings, plus a bonus draw on some Fridays roughly every fortnight.
18. The Österreichische Lotterien raised the limit from 16 on 10 July 2023 as a voluntary restriction, and sales points may ask to see identification.
An extra draw that reuses the six numbers from your Lotto bet. It costs 0.80 euros a bet, and since 6 July 2026 each bet is entered in two LottoPlus draws per round. LottoPlus has its own prize ranks and no Zusatzzahl.
No. It rolls until somebody matches six numbers, and the Sechser rank still carries a guaranteed 1.2 million euros in every round. The record stands at 14.9 million euros, won in Lower Austria in November 2018.