What is the French Lotto?
This lottery was created in 1976, and is operated by the French government. Since 2018, however, 50% of it was made public with the idea of making it more competitive.
The minimum guaranteed jackpot for top winners (5 + 1) is € 2,000,000. This amount is increased by € 1,000,000 if there are no winners, configuring a jackpot that can be accumulated for a maximum of 34 draws.
In the case that there is no successor after these 34 subsequent draws, the accumulated amount will be divided among the following categories in the next draw.
How to play French Lotto?
To play Lottery of France draws, the player must configure their bets by selecting five numbers between 1 and 49, and an extra ball numbered 1 to 10, both inclusive.
Prizepool categories
There are nine prize categories in total. With the exception of the first category (the jackpot), the rest of the prize categories have a fixed amount for each, as we can see in the following table:
| Categories | Matches | Prize Amount |
| 1st. Category | 5 + ball chance | Jackpot |
| 2nd. Category | 5 | € 100,000 |
| 3rd. Category | 4 + chance ball | 1000 € |
| 4th. Category | 4 | 500 € |
| 5th. Category | 3 + chance ball | 50 € |
| 6th. Category | 3 | 20 € |
| 7th. Category | 2 + chance ball | 10 € |
| 8th.Category | 2 | 5 € |
| 9th.Category | Ball chance | 2,20 € |
In addition, 10 prizes of € 20,000 come into play in each draw format, so all physical tickets enter at stake, and the odds of winning depend on the number of participants in the draw
How much does it cost to play the French Lotto?
The price of each French Lotto ticket on LottoHoy is € 3.45.
Special Drawings of French Lotto
Basically, there are two special draws: The draw Friday the 13th draw and the Grand Loto de Noël:
The Friday the 13th draw. Every time the 13th of the month falls on a Friday, an exceptional draw is held with a € 13,000,000 special prize plus 50 fixed prizes in a € 20,000 draw system.
For many, Friday the 13th is superstitious, but in the case of French Lotto, it is special – the first draw French National Lottery draw was held on Friday the 13th in 1930.
Grand Loto de Noël. The Grand Loto de Noël is another special raffle held in France every December 22nd, as well as the Christmas Gordo in Spain.
The first category prize is valued at € 20,000,000 and in addition to the prizes in the other eight categories, there is a special draw for 100 draw codes, with a guaranteed prize of € 20,000 each.
Odds of winning the French Lotto
The odds of winning the first category prize is 1 in 19,068,840, matching the top 5 numbers plus the chance ball.
Whereas, for obtaining any of the prizes offered, the odds are 1 in 5.99
We can see in the following box all the mathematical probabilities: