Published: October 11, 2020

Germany Changes its State Lottery Game

Starting today, new rules apply to Germany’s main lottery. The price increases along with the potential wins.

“Winners are rejoicing loudly, louder, the loudest!” This is the best the German lottery association’s advertising agency could think of. They are trying to sell their changed main lottery called ‘6 out of 49’. Its name already says what participants have to do in order to win. Apart from the right six numbers, those who want the jackpot to be wired to their bank accounts need to predict the right ‘Super Number’ as well, one number from 0 to 9.

Not Probable But Possible

This lottery is being played twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Right now, 23 million Euro (27 million U.S. Dollars or 21 Pounds Sterling) are up for grabs. The probability of hitting the big one is one in 140 million. A win of this kind may not be too probable. On the other hand, the hundreds of lotto millionaires in Germany have one thing in common: They all payed the lottery.

Many lotto players in Germany are always part of the game. Others just go for it when the jackpot is high. Changes that are being implemented today are supposed to increase those jackpots along with the mostly modest wins in lower prize categories and the number of players.

Enough for Milk

From now on, those who got two out of 49 numbers and the ‘Super Number’ right, will receive 6 Euro (7 Dollars or 5.50 Pounds), a Euro more than before. With that kind of win, they can purchase four liters (one gallon) of lactose-free cow juice at the ‘Edeka’ supermarket. There are four more categories with low to relatively low wins.

Lotto players who get five numbers right, or even five plus ‘Super Number’, can win thousands of Euro, enough to purchase a pre-owned small-sized car that has been raced through all potholes this planet provides over a distance of 100,000 miles.

A Bentley per Month

It gets better: There are those who actually get six out of 49 numbers right but fail to predict the ‘Super Number’. Previously, they would get hundreds of thousands of Euro, enough for a modest family home. A phone call with the nearest BMW dealer is the first idea some of the winners in this category develop. This applies even more starting today, because the wins in this category will supposedly rise.

Finally, jackpot winners who got everything right can fulfil themselves all material dreams they ever had. A new Bentley every month? No problem. A home at the Florida coast, and a new one every time a hurricane hits? Sure. Or how about ten of them? The sky is the limit here.

Drowned in Cash

Experts believe there would be far more lottery winners if the numbers were announced before the drawing, instead of afterwards. Time travel would increase the number of wins as well, but not necessarily the size of the jackpots.

Up to now, filling out one box of numbers was 1 Euro. Starting today, the new price in the amount of 1.20 Euro (1.40 Dollars or 1.10 Pounds) applies. One of the new rules is that the jackpot definitely falls once it hits 45 million Euro (52.8 million Dollars or 41.4 Pounds). If there is no top category winner in these cases, the winners of the second-highest or the third-highest category will be drowned in cash.

The Good Deed

Germany’s state-controlled lottery associations offer some additional side games players can include or exclude on their lottery tickets, such as ‘Super 6’, ‘Spiel 77’ or ‘Glücksspirale’. And there are those ‘Euro Millions’, a lottery played in several E.U. countries at once. Here, the top win is 90 million Euro (105.6 million Dollars or 82.8 million Pounds).

This kind of jackpot may look low from the perspective of the United States of America, where the ‘Mega Millions’ jackpot even reached more than 1.5 billion Dollars once, or from Spain, where ‘El Gordo’ (‘The Fat One’) creates a frenzy every time. In Germany, 90 million Euro are a lot. There is another difference: In America, lottery jackpot winners have to accept payments spread over 20 years if they do not want to lose a big chunk of their win. In Germany, they get the entire amount immediately without any subtractions.

What the income of Germany’s ‘6 aus 49’ lottery is concerned, 50 percent is being distributed among the winners. The other half covers administration costs and charity projects. In Germany, lotto players do good.

https://berlinspectator.com/2020/09/23/germany-changes-its-state-lottery-game/