Menu
Lotteries
App

Pari-Mutuel

When prizes are awarded on a pari-mutuel basis, it means that their value depends on how many tickets have been sold and how many winners there have been in each tier. Pari-mutuel comes from the French for ‘mutual bet’ and Eurojackpot prizes are calculated in this way to ensure that there is enough money to be shared amongst the winners in the simplest way possible.

View the Prize Fund Distribution page for information on how Eurojackpot prizes are calculated.

How Pari-Mutuel Prize Distribution Works

The following example illustrates how prizes are worked out using the pari-mutuel method, by providing a couple of different scenarios for a fictional Eurojackpot draw which takes place after a previous draw that was not won when the jackpot was at its minimum of €10 million:

  • Ticket sales generate €10 million for the prize fund, taking the jackpot up to €13.6 million (36 percent of the prize fund is 3.6 million, added onto the €10 million which has rolled over from the previous draw).
  • The Match 5 + 1 tier receives 8.5 percent of the prize fund, totalling €850,000.
  • The Match 2 +1 tier receives 19.1 percent, totalling €1.91 million.
  • If two players match five main numbers and one Euro number, they will each win €425,000. If no player matches five main numbers and one Euro number in the draw, the €850,000 allocated to that tier is added to the same prize tier for the next draw.
  • If five players match five main numbers and one Euro number, they will each win €170,000.
  • If 191,000 players match two main numbers and one Euro number, they will each win €10. If 382,000 players match two main numbers and one Euro number, they will each win €5.

If more tickets had been sold for this fictional draw, the prizes would be larger if there were the same number of winners, because there would be more money in the prize fund to be distributed between winning ticket holders. Conversely, if fewer tickets had been sold, the prizes would be smaller because there would be less money to spread out if there were the same number of winners.