Numbers 1 through 31 get picked more often because so many players use birthdays. That doesn't change your odds of winning if you play them, but it does affect the payout if you win. Draws made up entirely of low numbers get shared among more winners more often, while numbers above 31 don't win any more frequently, they just tend to split the jackpot among fewer people when they land.
The game at a glance
5 of 50 + 2 Stars
Tue · Fri
Europe
1 in 139,838,160
The same for every possible combination, including this one.
2 of 12
Lucky Stars: you pick them yourself, drawn from a separate pool.
18+
Must be 18+ to play EuroMillions.
EuroMillions, in brief
EuroMillions is the closest thing Europe has to a single, continent-wide lottery. Rather than one country running it alone, national lottery operators across Europe pool ticket sales into one shared draw, held every Tuesday and Friday night. A ticket bought in Madrid carries the exact same odds as one bought in Dublin or Vienna.
To play, pick five main numbers from 1 to 50 and two Lucky Stars from 1 to 12. Matching all seven wins the jackpot, at odds of 1 in 139,838,160. There are twelve further prize tiers below it, down to a small fixed prize for matching just two main numbers.
Because the prize pool draws from so many countries at once, EuroMillions jackpots often climb far higher, and roll over more times, than any single national lottery could sustain before someone finally matches all seven numbers.
Prize tiers
Match 5 + 2 Lucky StarsJackpot
The jackpot. It grows every draw it goes unclaimed, and once it hits its cap, further rollovers can trigger a special raffle instead of adding to the prize.
Match 5 + 1 Lucky Star
Second prize, a large fixed share of the prize pool, though nowhere near jackpot size.
Match 5 + 0 Lucky Stars
Third prize tier, still a serious amount of money even without either Lucky Star.
Match 4 + 2 Lucky Stars
A solid mid-tier prize and one of the more common ways to win something worth having.
Match 4 + 1 Lucky Star
A smaller prize, but still comfortably above what a single ticket costs.
Match 3 + 2 Lucky Stars
A modest fixed prize. From here down the amounts shrink, but the odds get far friendlier.
Match 4 + 0 Lucky Stars
Roughly the same territory as three-plus-two, won on main numbers alone.
Match 2 + 2 Lucky Stars
A small fixed prize for two main numbers backed by both Lucky Stars.
Match 3 + 1 Lucky Star
A small fixed amount, usually enough to buy a round of further tickets.
Match 3 + 0 Lucky Stars
A modest fixed prize on main numbers alone, no stars required.
Match 1 + 2 Lucky Stars
One main number is enough to win when both Lucky Stars come in.
Match 2 + 1 Lucky Star
One of the most frequently won prizes in the game.
Match 2 + 0 Lucky Stars
The entry-level prize. Two main numbers with no stars pays out for roughly one ticket in 22.
Where EuroMillions came from
Three countries, one draw
EuroMillions began in February 2004, launched jointly by France, Spain, and the UK through their national lottery operators: Française des Jeux, Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, and Camelot. Pooling ticket sales across borders meant a jackpot no single country's lottery could match on its own.
More countries join
Other national operators signed up over the following years, including those in Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria, each selling tickets into the same shared draw. Today nine countries feed one prize pool, and a jackpot won in Lisbon is paid on the same terms as one won in Zurich.
The 2016 and 2020 format changes
The number format has changed more than once since launch. The Lucky Stars pool was widened in 2016, making the top prize harder to hit. A bigger overhaul came in September 2020, when EuroMillions moved to its current structure: five numbers from 1 to 50 plus two Lucky Stars from 1 to 12. Draw results and odds from before that date used a different range, so old records aren't directly comparable to today's game.
Picking numbers, honestly
Tracking which numbers have appeared most or least in past draws is a popular pastime, but each EuroMillions draw is independent of every other one. The balls have no memory. A number that hasn't shown up in fifty draws has exactly the same chance next time as one drawn last week.
Each draw uses two separate machines, one for the five main numbers and one for the two Lucky Stars, run one after the other. The two draws have nothing to do with each other, which is part of why it's worth checking a ticket even when only the stars matched.
EuroMillions — frequently asked
Every Tuesday and Friday evening. Ticket sales cut off earlier than the draw itself, and the exact cutoff time depends on which country's operator you're buying through.
EuroMillions tickets are sold through the national lottery operators in participating countries. Betting sites elsewhere sometimes offer to take a bet on the outcome of the draw instead of selling an actual ticket, which is a different thing legally and financially.
It depends entirely on where you bought the ticket and where you live. UK winnings, for example, aren't taxed as income, but other participating countries have their own rules, and some do tax lottery prizes. Check the treatment for your own country rather than assuming it works like anywhere else.
It rolls over to the next draw and keeps growing. After enough consecutive rollovers, the jackpot can be capped and forced out through a one-time raffle rather than left to grow indefinitely.
Two tickets give you twice the chance of one, so in a literal sense it helps, but the odds against any single ticket are so long that doubling them barely moves the number. No combination of numbers, however chosen, beats any other combination.