France has a version of the Powerball that could intrigue South Africans. It’s straightforward to understand and includes some interesting features.
First up, it’s well worth noting that this draw happens three times a week. It occurs on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. That’s three times a week – and a chance at the start, in the middle and towards the end of any seven-day period to win. A lot of other draws only happen twice a week. Thrice can be a much more appealing frequency for those who don’t want to wait longer between draws.
In terms of how to enter the French Powerball, you have to pick five digits from a pool of 1 to 49. There is an extra number from 1 to 10 to select as well. In order to win the jackpot, all five numbers and this bonus digit have to be matched.
The odds of winning the jackpot in the French Lotto are approximately one in 19 million. That’s not as strong as some draws in the same category, but a lot better than others. For comparative value, consider that the chances of winning the main prize in the German Lotto are about one in 15 million and in the Spanish Lotto it’s around one in 31 million. If you want to drill a bit deeper into comparing the lotteries with the best odds of winning the jackpot, there’s Brazil’s Quina at one in 24 million, Australia’s Powerball at one in 76 million and Italy’s SuperEnaLotto at a whopping one in 622 million.
The French Lotto has one of the biggest ever jackpot wins around the world, too. Yes, this record isn’t right up there with some of the heady figures experienced in, say, the EuroMillions or US Powerball, but it’s still pretty big. What is it? Well, a cool R392 million. Again, for comparative value, that R392 million record is bigger than the highest R302 million, R218 million or R158 million won in the Irish Lotto, Polish Lotto and Austrian Lotto, respectively. If anyone wants to weigh up other record prizes, there’s the record R600 million in the Spanish Lotto, R418 million in the Swedish Lotto and more.
The French Lotto jackpot, like many others across the globe, is subject to rollovers. It’s had some rather lengthy stretches between main prizes over the years. But, to reiterate the frequency of three draws per month rather than, say, two or one, jackpot rollovers can be shorter than in other draws.
Don’t forget that it’s not just about the main prize in the French Powerball. There are some big rand values to be won in the lower tier prizes as well. Let’s take a look at the odds of these and the estimated payouts in rand equivalents. The chances of getting four out of the five numbers – and the bonus digit – right comes in at odds of about one in 88,000. The estimated payout at this level is about R18,000. That’s not a small chunk of change. Even just getting two numbers right and no bonus digit could win about R90 at odds of about one in 16.
French Powerball offers great winning opportunities, it’s worth considering by lottery players.
