Loto
France may be the most romantic destination in all of Europe and it may be the home of haute cuisine, however what we think it ought to be famous for is the France Loto game, created way back in 1936. The French lottery game is run by the Francaise des Jeux, a semi public corporation which runs all the of the various French lottery games. Other games they offer are the multi national Euro Millions, Super Loto, Keno, Joker+, Rapido, Loto Foot 7 & 15, Crote and Match and numerous assorted instant scratch off games. However, for the French consumer, the quintessential lottery game is still the France Loto (sometimes spelled France Lotto) game, played regularly by over 15 million people.
Game Type
The France Loto game is similar to many modern lottery games, including the popular American Powerball game in that it requires picking two sets of numbers in order to win the jackpot. The first numbers you need to choose are 5 numbers out of a pool of 49 possible choices. However, in order to win the jackpot you also need to pick another number between 1 and 10, which they call a “lucky number.” If you match both the 5 main numbers and the lucky number, you win the jackpot.
Progressive Jackpot
The French Loto game is also a progressive jackpot game meaning that each time the prize isn’t won (it starts out at €2,000,000), the prize is rolled over and added to, with a maximum of 34 roll overs to create ever larger prizes for the lucky jackpot winner.
How to Play the Game
The France Lotto game used to be only to French citizens, however the French government has now opened the game to anyone over the age of 18 who cares to purchase a ticket. Tickets can had from a number of kiosks all over France or by purchasing one from a specialty store which sells them online. There are no restrictions other than the age limit on who can play or how many times you can play.
Odds of Winning
The odds of winning the France Loto game jackpot are 1 in 19,060,000. However, the odds of winning the second prize are just 1 in 2,110,000. Third prize odds are 1 in 9,631, fourth place odds are 1 in 224, fifth place odds are 1 in 16 and sixth place odds are 1 in 18. The largest jackpot ever won in the France Loto game was €18,200,000 or about $25,000,000.
Game type | |
Schedule | |
Jackpot type | |
Cash option | |
Taxes | |
Participating |