Well bet: 181 new lottery millionaires in one year

Created: 01/05/2022Updated: 01/05/2022, 1:14 PM

Lotto balls lie on a lottery ticket.

© Tom Weller / dpa / symbol image

No more financial worries, become a lottery millionaire in one fell swoop: In 2021, more people achieved this in one year than since the 80s.

The likelihood of this is negligible.

But at least one always benefits.

Hanover - If only you knew beforehand which lottery numbers will be drawn. Anyone who plays the lottery should be familiar with this sigh - and wonder again and again how close you can lie with your little cross on the lottery ticket without winning a single euro. How can you help yourself? In any case, last year the winning number 15 in the lottery classic "6 out of 49" was drawn the most frequently - closely followed by 1. In third place was 10. The number that has been drawn the least since the first drawing in 1955 is the 45th But does that help your own happiness on the jumps?

Hardly, because not many things in the world are as unlikely as this - to become a lottery millionaire in one fell swoop.

But it happens.

And in 2021 more often than not since the 1980s: 181 new lottery millionaires enjoyed their winnings in Germany last year, in 2020 there were 145 million winnings.

The highest lottery winnings of 90 million euros each were received in 2021 by two Eurojackpot players from North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, as the German Lotto and Totoblock (DLTB) announced on Wednesday in Hanover.

Another Eurojackpot player from North Rhine-Westphalia won 73.7 million euros.

The fourth highest win of around 36 million euros went to Lower Saxony - in the “6 out of 49” lottery.

181 millionaires, 90 million euros?

How unlikely that is, the mathematician and lottery expert Norbert Herrmann, who taught at the University of Hanover until 2007, explained years ago: Everyone believed that it would be their turn to win at some point, but the number of possibilities was far too great for that .

“Every tip is equally likely.

A clever mathematician has no advantages either. "

Most of the millions in profits went to Baden-Württemberg (39) in 2021, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (35) and Lower Saxony (26).

Lottery prizes of 100,000 euros and more were transferred to lucky people in Germany 992 times - in 2020 there were 1094 times.

A total of 7.9 billion euros were spent on lotteries nationwide last year - that means a slight decrease of 0.3 percent compared to 2020.

"We are satisfied with this result," said Axel Holthaus, managing director of the lottery company Lotto Niedersachsen, which has been in charge since the beginning of the year. The stakes are stable and are subject to the jackpot-related fluctuations. The task will be to strengthen the lottery offers against the background of the new State Treaty on Gambling "in an increasingly digital and competitive environment". The State Treaty on Gambling came into force on July 1, 2021. Among other things, it should guarantee the protection of young people and players and counteract black markets.

In fact, in 2021, the tipsters put around 985 million euros on the websites and apps of the lottery companies - an increase of 7.8 percent compared to the previous year.

Nevertheless, the network of around 21,000 acceptance points in Germany is not only the most important pillar.

In addition, in the second year of the corona pandemic, a contribution was made to support rural areas, said Holthaus.

"The acceptance points are often part of the remaining village shops that also keep small communities alive."

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Germany's most popular lottery remained the classic game of chance "6 out of 49": With a stake of around 4 billion euros, the lottery made up 51 percent of the total stake.

The second place of the most popular lotteries was defended by the Eurojackpot offered in 18 countries - with stakes of around 1.4 billion euros and a share of 17.3 percent of the total stake.

But who always benefits from the lotteries?

It is the state.

The state budgets collected around 3.2 (2020: 3.1) billion euros in taxes and duties - for welfare, sport, culture, monument preservation and environmental protection.

That means around 8.8 million euros per day.

dpa