Top 15 Biggest and Richest Lotteries In The World

A LOTTERY is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.

Lotteries are outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments. Though lotteries were common in the United States and some other countries during the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe as well as many other countries. This remained so until well after World War II. In the 1960s casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes.

Lotteries come in many formats. For example, the prize can be a fixed amount of cash or goods. In this format there is risk to the organizer if insufficient tickets are sold. More commonly the prize fund will be a fixed percentage of the receipts. A popular form of this is the "50–50" draw where the organizers promise that the prize will be 50% of the revenue. Many recent lotteries allow purchasers to select the numbers on the lottery ticket, resulting in the possibility of multiple winners.

The purchase of lottery tickets cannot be accounted for by decision models based on expected value maximization. The reason is that lottery tickets cost more than the expected gain, so one maximizing expected value should not buy lottery tickets. Yet, lottery purchases can be explained by decision models based on expected utility maximization, as the curvature of the utility function can be adjusted to capture risk-seeking behavior. More general models based on utility functions defined on things other than the lottery outcomes can also account for lottery purchase. In addition to the lottery prizes, the ticket may enable some purchasers to experience a thrill and to indulge in a fantasy of becoming wealthy. If the entertainment value (or other non-monetary value) obtained by playing is high enough for a given individual, then the purchase of a lottery ticket could represent a gain in overall utility. In such a case, the disutility of a monetary loss could be outweighed by the combined expected utility of monetary and non-monetary gain, thus making the purchase a rational decision for that individual.

Lottery News, Reviews & Resources

• $521 million Mega Millions jackpot won by single ticket in New Jersey - ABC News.
• $560 Million Powerball Winner Can Keep Her Name Private, Judge Rules - The New York Times.
• Billion-Dollar Jackpot: Engineered to Drain Your Wallet - The New York Times.
• Here’s why a $560-million Powerball winner doesn’t want anyone to know her name - CNBC.
• If You Win the Powerball Jackpot, Take the Annuity - The New York Times.
• Irish Sweepstake - Wikipedia.
• Lotteries by country - Wikipedia.
• LOTTERY - Wikipedia.
• LOTTERY.COM - all about the U.S. lotties: news, results, jackpots, and more
• LOTTERY INSIDER - the lottery industry news site. "The ultimate lottery portal."
• LOTTERY JACKPOT RECORDS - Wikipedia.
• MUSL | MULTI-STATE LOTTERY ASSOCIATION (US) - list of US state-lotteries.
• Numbers game - also known as the numbers racket, the policy racket, the Italian lottery, the policy game, or the daily number is an illegal lottery played mostly in poor neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day. In recent years, the "number" would be the last three digits of "the handle", the amount race track bettors placed on race day at a major racetrack, published in racing journals and major newspapers in New York.
• Powerball drawing: Winner declared in Saturday's $559 million jackpot lottery - CNN.
• Powerball jackpot hits $1.3 billion - CNN Money.
• Powerball Winners, Beware: Good Fortune Can Trigger a Downfall - The New York Times.
• SUDDEN WEALTH SYNDROME - definition & explanation.
• Sweepstakes - Wikipedia.
• The Biggest Powerball Jackpot Ever: The Odds and Where the Money Goes - The New York Times.
• THE LOTTER - "Your Global Lottery Agent." Online lottery tickets & lottery results.
• The man who cracked the lottery - The New York Times.
• What You Simply Must Buy After You Win the Powerball Jackpot - NBC News.
• Winner of $560 mio. lottery says she made 'huge mistake' - USA Today.
• You won the $1.5 billion Powerball! Here's your tax bill - CNN Money.

Top 15 Biggest & Richest Lotteries

• CALIFORNIA LOTTERY
• CHINA WELFARE LOTTERY
• EL GORDO - the Spanish national lottery's first category (highest payout: €126 million in 2008).
• EURO MILLIONS - launched February 7, 2004. Pan-European lottery lottery that takes place once a week, on Friday evening. Whereas national lotteries are generally limited to the residents of one particular country, the Euro Millions lottery pools the stakes of the participating European countries (Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain & Switzerland). All prizes, including the jackpot, are tax-free (except in Switzerland) and are paid in lump sum. Highest payout: August 10, 2012: €190,000,000 / £148,656,000 / US$232,978,o00. Winning numbers: 11, 17, 21, 48 & 50, stars: 9 & 10.
• EUROJACKPOT - new transnational European lottery starting March 2012. Participating countries are (in alphabetical order) Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden. The jackpot will start at €10,000,000 and can roll over up to €90,000,000. Playing EuroJackpot will cost €2 per line. The chances to win the jackpot are: 1:59,325,280. The goal is to choose the five correct numbers out of 50 plus 2 out of another 8 numbers.
• GERMAN LOTTO
• LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX - the operator of France's national lottery games.
• LoterÍas y Apuestas del Estado | LAE - the Spanish national lottery game organized every year since 1812. As measured by the total prize payout, the Christmas Lottery is considered the biggest lottery worldwide. In 2006, if all of the tickets were sold, the total amount payout of prizes would be worth more than €2.142 billion (70% of ticket sales). The total amount of all prizes of the first category called El Gordo ("the big one") was €540,000,000 which was distributed among 180 winning tickets (billetes) that won €3,000,000 each.
• MEGA MILLIONS - Mega Millions is America's biggest jackpot game with jackpots starting at US$12 million. The largest jackpot in Mega Millions, and in American and world lottery history: US$640 million annuitized payout / cash option immediate payout: US$462 (March 30, 2012, odds: 1 to 175.711.536. The numbers drawn were: 2-4-23-38-46, Mega Ball: 23).
• NATIONAL LOTTERY - Ireland.
• NEW YORK LOTTERY< - "Hey You Never Know."/li>
• POWERBALL - the number one lottery game in the United States. American lottery game sold in 44 jurisdictions as a shared jackpot game. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), a non-profit organization formed by an agreement with lotteries. Powerball is a game whose advertised jackpot starts at US$20 million (annuity) and can roll into the hundreds of millions over many drawings. The jackpot is paid as a 30-payment annuity; players may choose cash instead. On May 18, 2013 Powerball awarded US$590.5 (annuity) million to a single winner, the largest lottery prize ever. The winning numbers were: 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52. The Powerball selected was 11. The ticket was sold at a Publix in Zepherhills, Florida. The actual cash value of the ticket is US$370.9 million.
• SPANISH CHRISTMAS LOTTERY - since 1812. As measured by the total prize payout, the Christmas Lottery is considered the biggest lottery worldwide. In 2006, if all of the tickets were sold, the total amount payout of prizes would be worth more than €2.142 billion (70% of ticket sales). The total amount of all prizes of the first category called El Gordo ("the big one") was €540,000,000 which was distributed among 180 winning tickets (billetes) that won €3,000,000 each.
• SUPERENALOTTO - the Italian lottery (Europe's biggest-ever lottery prize: Saturday, August 22, 2009 - €147.807.299,08).
• THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY - since 1994. The state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom.