By Todd Northrop
For players of Europe's EuroMillions multi-country lottery game, Friday's drawing is the start of a special capped drawing feature that could inflate the second prize level to extraordinary levels.
The €190 million (US$240.4 million) jackpot is the accumulation of 6 draws without a top prize winner since the October 3 "super draw" of €100 million.
Once the Euro Millions jackpot reaches the €190 million point, it becomes the first of up to two capped drawings. All of the money that normally would have been placed into the jackpot above the €190 million level rolls down into the second prizes.
Second prize is won by matching 5 main numbers plus 1 Lucky Star number. Winning the jackpot requires matching 5 numbers plus both Lucky Star numbers.
If nobody wins the top prize Friday night, the second capped drawing will be on Tuesday. For that drawing, all of the money that would normally be used to increase the jackpot will be used to fund a much bigger second prize level. But if nobody wins the jackpot that drawing, the entire jackpot and second prize pool is split among all the second prize winners. It could be an incredible payout for a lot of people.
The jackpot cap has been reached a couple of times before.
- The current jackpot cap of €190 million was reached on August 7, 2012. Seven lucky second prize winners took home an inflated €2.3 million each, thanks to the roll-down money from the capped jackpot. There was no jackpot winner, so the next draw 14 second prize winners won €2.6 million each, and the jackpot was won by Adrian and Gillian Bayford, who took home the whopping €190 million prize. (See UK couple wins massive EuroMillions lottery jackpot, Lottery Post, Aug. 20, 2012.) Sadly, the couple later split up and Gillian ran off with a car dealer. (No, I'm not making this up).
- On July 8, 2011, the jackpot cap of €185 million was reached, resulting in 6 second prize winners of €4.5 million each. Nobody won the jackpot that drawing, and the second capped drawing on July 12, 2011 produced 11 second prize winners of €2.4 million each. The €185 million jackpot was won that drawing by Chris and Colin Weir. (See Britain's record lottery winners go public, Lottery Post, July 15, 2011.)
The EuroMillions jackpot cap only happens rarely, so tickets are expected to sell at a brisk pace across Europe.
Many lottery players play online, and a link is available in the Related Links section below.
Euro Millions is currently available to players in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Drawings are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 8:45 pm Central European Time in Paris.
All prizes, including the jackpot, are tax-free (except in Switzerland, Spain and Portugal since 2013) and are paid as a lump sum.
Would you look at that! And no taxes on that bread too. You would have to win 3 times that much over here to walk away with that. I need to find a way to play this game
if the EuroMillions jackpot was won by one person, they would walk away with more money after taxes than Gloria Mackenzie who won $590.5 million annuity or $371 million cash from playing Powerball. $371 million is about $222.6 million after paying 39.6% in federal income tax.
Compare that to the EuroMillions jackpot that is $240.4 million cash and 100% tax free if you're a non US citizen.
If you were to play the EuroMillions and you won as a US citizen, you would have to pay federal income tax on it because US citizens are taxed on world wide income.
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Income-from-Abroad-is-Taxable
"If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, you must report income from all sources within and outside of the U.S."
Got my 3 lines ready for Friday, wish me luck!
Good luck Josh. Hope you win big.
Good luck.
Ah yes. This topic of taxing lottery wins is one that keeps coming back. Do you know that NYC lottery winners pay taxes on lottery winnings on 3 levels? City, state and federal taxes. True story too.
Good luck JoshUK
I agree! any EuroMillions jackpot is worth 3 times more than any of the advertised jackpots here in the U.S.A.
It would be nice if the advertised jackpots were closer to the real payouts especially because 90% of the winners take the lump sum option.
Ah, then these lottery players dwelling in Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal -- since 2013 -- are taxed heavily as we U.S.A.ers are! They, too, share our deflated 'walk-away-net-jackpot-winnings' pains and awe.
This said, my mind's still uber open to winning a, lump sum, several millions of dollars jackpot in the U.S.A. though!
Cheers!
What's strange about that? I won $1500 last year in Ohio's Classic Lotto and I had to do the same thing and I'm retired and living in a town with less than 15K people. I couldn't even deduct the $3000 I spent on lottery tickets or anything else because my total lost didn't exceed the standard $4500 deduction that everyone gets even if they don't play the lottery.
I just wished winners could split the jackpot and take a portion in both cash and annuity, especially when it's over $200M.
Actually that would be very nice. I never thought about it like that. Half of the lump sum soon after winning and then the rest to come every Christmas fo ever. I'd go for it
It's not like the lottery is the only place you can get an annuity. There are thousands of insurance companies that sell annuities. If you want fixed income, you can also buy 10 year or 30 year treasuries. If you won the jackpot, you can take the cash then use half the prize money to buy an annuity or treasuries.
Looks like someone hit it
I guess it just wasn't my day!
Back into hibernation until the next 'big one' haha.
Looks like the €190 million will all go to one ticket sold in Portugal. Wow!
Portugal is one of the 3 European countries that tax lottery winnings.
AS I said, Euro Millions Is the world biggest lottery,not Us lottery as people thought.
No Caps on Jackpots in the USA!
It's actually not a bad ideal. Second place would pay alot more then what we have now. It would be like a modifed Monopoly game.
All very interesting but think it does not affect most of us here,unless we are in Europe to play.