Types of EuroMillions Scams
EuroMillions scams can turn the popular dream of winning a jackpot into a costly nightmare. Here are some of the most popular methods used by fraudsters.
The first point of contact is generally made using one of the following approaches:
Direct Mail
A letter is sent through the post informing the recipient that they have won a lottery prize and need to register their claim in order for their winnings to be processed.
Telephone
A ‘lottery official’ calls the potential victim to tell them about the ‘good news’ and, during the telephone call, will try to extract a payment and/or bank details under the pretence that a ‘processing fee’ or ‘tax’ needs to be paid.
Some scammers have taken to selling fake lottery tickets over the phone. They will ask for payment upfront, requiring the target to disclose their bank details, but the tickets are never sent as they do not exist.
Mobile
A text message is sent informing the recipient that their mobile number was entered into a raffle or lottery and selected at random as the winner.
How to Identify a EuroMillions Lottery Scam
- It is not possible to win a EuroMillions prize, raffle, sweepstake or competition that you have not entered. If you receive a notification informing you that you have won a prize in a game you have never played, it is a scam.
- To win a EuroMillions prize, you must have purchased a ticket for the correct draw date and your number selection must match the balls required to win the relevant prize.
- You do not win EuroMillions prizes based on randomly selected mobile phone numbers or email addresses, including for games which you did not enter.
- EuroMillions will not ask you to pay any type of ‘fee’ to receive your prize.
- EuroMillions will not ask you to pay the ‘tax’ due on the win in advance of receiving a prize.
Clues to Identify a Scam
All of the points listed below are usually a good indication that the winning notification you have received is a scam:
- The email has been sent from a free webmail address (for example @hotmail.com, @outlook.com or @yahoo.com) or from an unrelated address that could have been compromised.
- The letter or email does not address you personally but instead starts with something vague like ‘Dear Winner’. This may not always be the case, however, so don’t assume the message is genuine just because it uses your name.
- Scam letters are often on poor quality, photocopied letterhead (although some will include a genuine business address in an attempt to provide legitimacy). It is worth noting that not all scam letters are of a low quality; scammers are constantly updating and improving technology so their messages may appear more legitimate.
- There is often a strict time limit to claim the ‘prize’. This is intended to put the potential victim under pressure and deter them from seeking advice or investigating the matter further.
- Confidentiality is often demanded as a ‘condition of winning’. Again, this is to deter the recipient from seeking the advice of friends or family who may be more familiar with this type of scam.
- The communication may contain complicated language and jargon, such as ticket numbers and ‘batch’ references in an attempt to give the document an ‘official’ feel.
- Poor spelling, grammar and syntax are usually a good indication that the letter or email is a scam.
- A photocopy of a cheque with your name on it may be contained within the communication to entice you into sending funds, something which real lotteries would never do.
- Some scams may claim to be from Euro-Millions.com, but please remember that we will never contact you under any circumstances to say you have won a prize. Any prize notifications that supposedly originate from Euro-Millions.com are fraudulent.
How to Beat the Odds of the EuroMillions Game
Of course, you cannot beat the odds of EuroMillions. But thankfully, math can help. There’s a way to increase your chances of winning the game.
The only way to increase your chances of winning is to buy more tickets.
But buying more tickets is useless if you’re making the wrong choices. It’s not OK to choose 1-2-3-4-5, and 2-3-4-5-6, and 46-47-48-49-50.
I will explain why.
But first of all, I must ask you to forget about hot or cold numbers. For the longest time, people mistakenly believe that if a number frequently occurs in the past, the same number is bound to be drawn more often in the future. This belief must be corrected.
Now, let’s proceed.
All combinations in EuroMillions 5/50 have the same probability.
It means that 1-2-3-4-5 is equally likely.
Play 2-4-6-8-10, and that is equally likely too.
Perhaps your combination is 5-10-15-20-25, this combination has the same probability as any other in the universe of Euromillions’ possible combinations.
The truth, all combinations have equal chances.
But think about this. Consider more tickets where all numbers are picked in the form of straight combinations:
- 1-2-3-4-5
- 2-3-4-5-6
- 3-4-5-6-7
- …
- 46-47-48-49-50
If I ask lotto players to spend their money on the above combinations, the surest response I will get is “no way.”
And why not?
That’s because people don’t trust their understanding of probability.
“Gut feeling” dominates the logic
You see, if you are confident that all combinations have the same probability, why be afraid to play all those combinations.
In other words, while you believe that all combinations have the same probability, there’s part of you that says buying “multiple tickets where all combinations are straight numbers” cannot be right.
But gut feeling shouldn’t be superior to mathematics.
If you want to win the EuroMillions game, you have to have a strong mathematical foundation.
And mathematics says:
There’s a big difference between having lots of wrong combinations and having the right combinations.
But how do we explain this mathematically?
How Prizes Are Funded
EuroMillions prizes are funded using revenue from ticket sales. A percentage of the money you spend on entering the game is allocated to the prize fund, with the remainder distributed to good causes, Government Lottery Duty and retailer commission, as well as covering operating costs.
When you play EuroMillions in the UK, the £2.50 you spend per line is broken down into £1.74 for entering the main draw and £0.76 for the UK Millionaire Maker raffle. Fifty percent of the £1.74 spent on the main game is allocated to the prize fund. Thirty percent of the £0.76 spent to enter the Millionaire Maker is used to pay prizes in the supplementary raffle.
Number Frequency Table
See how many times each ball has been drawn. The main numbers are shown in blue and the Lucky Stars in yellow.
1
Drawn:40 times
2
Drawn:35 times
3
Drawn:39 times
4
Drawn:47 times
5
Drawn:36 times
6
Drawn:39 times
7
Drawn:39 times
8
Drawn:38 times
9
Drawn:45 times
10
Drawn:31 times
11
Drawn:44 times
12
Drawn:45 times
13
Drawn:35 times
14
Drawn:41 times
15
Drawn:40 times
16
Drawn:38 times
17
Drawn:36 times
18
Drawn:33 times
19
Drawn:46 times
20
Drawn:34 times
21
Drawn:47 times
22
Drawn:35 times
23
Drawn:37 times
24
Drawn:37 times
25
Drawn:38 times
26
Drawn:38 times
27
Drawn:30 times
28
Drawn:26 times
29
Drawn:42 times
30
Drawn:36 times
31
Drawn:35 times
32
Drawn:32 times
33
Drawn:32 times
34
Drawn:31 times
35
Drawn:38 times
36
Drawn:44 times
37
Drawn:44 times
38
Drawn:43 times
39
Drawn:31 times
40
Drawn:36 times
41
Drawn:38 times
42
Drawn:38 times
43
Drawn:34 times
44
Drawn:38 times
45
Drawn:39 times
46
Drawn:31 times
47
Drawn:36 times
48
Drawn:29 times
49
Drawn:40 times
50
Drawn:54 times
How My Million Works
A My Million code is automatically generated for every line of EuroMillions numbers purchased. There is no extra cost to enter the game.
Shortly after the main EuroMillions draw, one unique My Million code will be selected at random from all of the codes purchased for that particular draw. From time to time, special editions of My Million are held in which multiple prizes of €1 million are given away.
The odds of winning a My Million prize will vary from draw to draw as they are dependent on the number of EuroMillions tickets purchased, rather than correctly matching the numbers drawn in the main EuroMillions game.
