It is a EuroMillions draw that is worth its weight in gold: the equivalent of nearly 4,100 1 kg bars.
This Friday evening around 10 pm, some 5 million number wedges in France, twice as many as usual, will know whether or not they are becoming "richer than rich".
To pocket, a historic jackpot of 200 million euros.
Their chances are almost zero.
Whatever, hope gives life.
Never in our country or in the eight other participants in this lottery born in 2004 (United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg) has a jackpot reached such a sum.
So far, the record peaked at 190 million euros, won four times outside our borders.
But since a rule change in February, the cap has been raised.
The "sheriff", the bailiff and the "unalterable" balls
It is on our territory that everything will be played out.
Since the creation of EuroMillions, it is the Française des Jeux (FDJ) which, twice a week, pilots the draw in its recording studios in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine).
"In the event of unavailability", a fire or a flood (the Seine is not far), an emergency site, the exact location of which is kept secret, is planned "in the north of Ile-de-France ".
About thirty employees are mobilized.
A judicial officer ensures the smooth running of operations.
But as this profession is a French specificity not recognized by the other members, a second controller nicknamed "the sheriff" - an "independent auditor" - also keeps an eye on the grain.
This tandem of supervisors is present during the recovery of the balls kept in the room of the safes whose access is biometric, via fingerprints.
They rest in two black cases sealed with lead and wire.
One contains balls numbered 1 to 50, burgundy in color and each weighing 67 g;
the other houses the twelve stars, smaller (34 g) and ocher in color.
There are spare sets for "monthly rotation" or possible failure.
And rehearsal balls with a cross on them so as not to confuse them with their "official" sisters.
Twice a year, they are examined from every angle by a certification body analyzing their mass, their rebound, their diameter ... "They are also passed to X-rays", details Mathieu Alfonso, in charge of coordinating the printing operations at the FDJ.
These rubber starlets are "unalterable", "full".
Impossible, therefore, for a cheater, to weigh them down.
The "made in France" Plexiglas spheres which accommodate them also have the right to a regular technical inspection, just to check that the arm capturing the ball and releasing it on the "display" is working perfectly.
The green light comes from England or Spain
The combinations are recorded by each nation in a processing center.
In France, they sleep in computers in Vitrolles (Bouches-du-Rhône).
As soon as the games are closed, around 8 p.m., the lottery data is transmitted to powerful centralizing machines in England and Spain.
It is one of these “primary sites” which gives, around 9 pm, to the FDJ, the “go for draw”, translate the “green light for the draw”.
This authorization arrives on a secure server in the form of PDF.
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1, top ball!
»Exclaims, in the studio, a scriptwriter.
The draw is done automatically after "pressing once on a touch screen".
At 9:30 p.m., the images are sent to the various lotteries by satellite.
They are free to “dress” them as they see fit.
As soon as the winning formula is known, the English and Spanish super-bikes spin for fifteen minutes to find out if there is a lucky guy who has found the five good numbers and two good stars and in which country he validated his ballot.
The verdict called “reveal” is then sent to the FDJ.
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PODCAST. From the lottery of the “broken faces” to privatization: the little-known story of la Française des Jeux
Evening dress for Karine Ferri
Once the EuroMillions draw is over, the host can take the stage.
The sequence is recorded and broadcast on TF 1, around 10 pm, to signal the magic combination in front of more than 2 million fans and in the second part of the evening for the “reveal”.
They are seven cathodic stars - five women and two men - to officiate in turn including the ex-Miss France Iris Mittenaere and the legendary Jean-Pierre Foucault.
This Friday, Karine Ferri will have a hell of a night under the watchful eye of the cameras.
"It's great, it falls on me," she enthuses.
"We like when there is a lot of money at stake, we try to find an exceptional outfit, evening, to mark the occasion," she explains.
The 38-year-old presenter would find it "brilliant" to announce "a French winner".
"My fingers are crossed," she blurted out.
She always imagines the viewer whose fate is turned upside down by a series of numbers.
"I'm happy for him, that his dreams can come true," she describes.
As soon as there are "extraordinary amounts", it itself leaves it to chance.
What if it seized the nest egg of 200 million euros?
“I would help lots of associations, I would protect my family, my friends…”, she dreams while swearing that she would “always take so much pleasure in going to work.
His madness?
The acquisition of a "small private island", obviously sheltered from the paparazzi.