EuroMillions 52% Harder To Win

The details of the changes to EuroMillions have now been revealed.

There is the extra draw on a Tuesday. But also as we mentioned they are going to make it harder to win – in order to generate more rollovers.

The changes will apply from Tuesday 10th May 2011, when the first new Tuesday draw takes place. But will of course apply to all Friday draws too.

It initially doesn’t look too bad, as they are actually only extending the values of the lucky stars. So instead of two balls numbered 1 to 9, we now have two balls numbered 1 to 11. The main balls are unchanged at 1 to 50.

But if you do the figures here’s the depressing reality.

The odds of hitting the jackpot were previously 1 in 76,275,360  (roughly 1 in 76 Million)

Adding just those two extra balls now means the odds will be 1 in 116,531,800 (roughly 1 in 116 Million)

That’s more than 40 Million new combinations of numbers. Which now makes the EuroMillions jackpot 52% harder to win than before.

Of course they have added a new ‘Match 2 + 0 Stars’ lowest prize level, but this will only pay out around £2.70.

Are you happy trading a £2.70 prize level for a jackpot that’s 52% harder to win?