EuroMillions Country Raffles

Buy in Britain and your ticket carries an automatic shot at a guaranteed £1 million. Buy in Belgium and it goes into a pool paying €500 to six hundred people. Buy in Austria and there is one prize of €100,000. Same five numbers, same two Lucky Stars, same Paris draw — entirely different second game running underneath it.

This page sets out what each operator offers, which raffles are included in the ticket price and which cost extra, and — the part nobody publishes clearly — how the odds differ.

Every EuroMillions national raffle, compared

Prize structures change from time to time. Confirm the current terms with your national operator before playing — our guide to official lottery sites lists the licensed route in each country.

One big prize, or many small ones

Look down that table and a split appears. Four operators — the UK, France, Spain and Portugal — put everything behind a single millionaire. Belgium does the opposite, spreading the same sort of money across six hundred winners at €500 each. Ireland sits between the two with ten prizes of €5,000, and Austria runs the smallest single guarantee at €100,000.

Neither approach is better. They are answers to different questions. A single €1 million prize is life-changing and almost unwinnable; six hundred prizes of €500 will change nobody's life but will actually pay out to someone you might plausibly be. If what you want is a realistic chance of winning something, Belgium's structure is the most generous in Europe. If you want the chance — however remote — of a second seven-figure prize on the same ticket, four countries offer it.

The odds nobody quotes

Unlike the main EuroMillions draw, where the odds are fixed by the number matrix and never change, national raffles are drawn from that night's ticket sales in that country. Fewer tickets sold means fewer codes in the hat. So the odds move — draw by draw, country by country.

The UK's Millionaire Maker makes the effect visible:

• 1 in 4.27 millionTuesday, base draw
• 1 in 6.04 millionFriday, base draw

Same prize, same game, same ticket price — and a materially better chance on a Tuesday, purely because fewer people play. That is roughly a 40% improvement, and it costs you nothing to take advantage of it. Odds worsen further as the jackpot rolls over and more people buy in: our Millionaire Maker guide breaks the figures down by draw type.

Belgium's My Bonus runs the same mechanic in reverse and is honest about it: 200 winners on a Tuesday, 400 on a Friday. More players, more prizes, roughly proportionate odds.

The general rule holds across every operator: a national raffle is easier to win in a country with a smaller player base, and easier to win on the quieter of the two draw nights. Our page on when EuroMillions draws are held covers the Tuesday and Friday difference in more detail.

Included, or an extra?

Seven of these raffles cost nothing — they are funded from the ticket price and your entry is automatic. You do not opt in, and you cannot opt out.

Two are genuinely optional and are worth treating as separate games rather than bonuses:

• Ireland's EuroMillions Plus adds €1 per line and enters your numbers into a second draw with a fixed €500,000 top prize. Because it does not roll over, it pays out far more often than a jackpot game of comparable size.
• Luxembourg's Joker adds €2 per line for a tiered game paying up to €500,000. At €2 on a €2.50 ticket, it nearly doubles your stake — decide whether you want it on its own merits, not as an add-on.

France and Portugal sit in a middle category worth knowing about: their raffles are compulsory and the cost is built into the ticket. France adds €0.50 to the base price for My Million; Portugal allocates €0.30 of the €2.50 to M1lhão. You are paying for those entries whether you think about them or not.

Ticket prices are not identical either

A standard line costs £2.50 in the UK, €2.50 across the euro-using countries and CHF 3.50 in Switzerland. Comparing raffle value between countries without accounting for that is misleading — the Swiss line is the most expensive in the game.

Can you choose which raffle you enter?

Not directly. The raffle attached to your ticket is determined by the operator you buy from, which is determined by where you are. A British player cannot enter My Million, and a French player cannot win the Millionaire Maker.

If you are playing from outside the participating countries through a licensed concierge service, the ticket is bought in a specific country on your behalf — so which raffle you are entered into depends on where that service purchases. It is a fair question to ask before you sign up, and a reasonable service will answer it.

What you should not do is pay a premium to chase a particular country's raffle. The main draw is identical everywhere, and the raffle is a secondary prize on a ticket you were buying anyway.