Do you enjoy pubs and hanging out with your mates on Fridays? So do 10 fellows from one of the Milan bars who jointly bought one ticket for Italian SuperEnalottoon. World best ideas are born in the pubs aren’t they? During the draw held on the 4th of May 2005 the lucky ticket has earned them €71,800,000, Italian largest lottery winning received so far. Two tickets bought by two couples, Larry and Nancy Ross (Michigan) and Joe and Sue Kainz (Illinois), for The Big Game, now named Mega Millions, won the jackpot of the draw held on the 9th of May 2000 making them $363,000,000 richer.

Europe’s largest jackpot was hit on the 3rd of February 2006. Two players from France and one from Portugal shared €180,000,000. Ireland native Dolores McNamara, became Europe’s biggest lotto winner. On the 31st of July 2005 her quick-pick ticket for the EuroMillions lottery matched the game’s five winning numbers and two “lucky stars,” winning Dolores a nine-week rollover jackpot of over €115,000,000 and making her Ireland’s 72nd richest person. McNamara, who had purchased the ticket at Garryowen Stores, a small convenience store half a mile from her home, claimed her record-breaking prize five days later at the Irish lottery headquarters in Dublin and received world’s largest lottery payout given to a single player. €37,600,000 jackpot, the biggest lottery winning in the history of German National Lottery, was hit on the 7th of October 2006 by a nurse from North Rhine Westphalia while Paul and Helen Cunningham won on the 28th of July 2007 the biggest Irish jackpot winning worth €16,200,000.

Do you enjoy pubs and hanging out with your mates on Fridays? So do 10 fellows from one of the Milan bars who jointly bought one ticket for Italian SuperEnalottoon. World best ideas are born in the pubs aren’t they? During the draw held on the 4th of May 2005 the lucky ticket has earned them €71,800,000, Italian largest lottery winning received so far. Two tickets bought by two couples, Larry and Nancy Ross (Michigan) and Joe and Sue Kainz (Illinois), for The Big Game, now named Mega Millions, won the jackpot of the draw held on the 9th of May 2000 making them $363,000,000 richer.

Europe’s largest jackpot was hit on the 3rd of February 2006. Two players from France and one from Portugal shared €180,000,000. Ireland native Dolores McNamara, became Europe’s biggest lotto winner. On the 31st of July 2005 her quick-pick ticket for the EuroMillions lottery matched the game’s five winning numbers and two “lucky stars,” winning Dolores a nine-week rollover jackpot of over €115,000,000 and making her Ireland’s 72nd richest person. McNamara, who had purchased the ticket at Garryowen Stores, a small convenience store half a mile from her home, claimed her record-breaking prize five days later at the Irish lottery headquarters in Dublin and received world’s largest lottery payout given to a single player. €37,600,000 jackpot, the biggest lottery winning in the history of German National Lottery, was hit on the 7th of October 2006 by a nurse from North Rhine Westphalia while Paul and Helen Cunningham won on the 28th of July 2007 the biggest Irish jackpot winning worth €16,200,000.

The first rule when playing the lottery to win is being realistic about the odds and your likelihood of being a winner. Far too many people waste untold mounts of cash on hundreds of lottery tickets, thinking that sheer bulk will make them inevitable winners. This is a silly road to take, and not only because it robs you of lots of money that you might as well just burn. Although it sounds strange, wasting too much money on lotto tickets actually makes it more likely that you will develop a dangerous gambling addiction that could eat up all of your savings and put you on a horrible financial track. As you attempt to win back all of the money you’ve lost playing the lottery, you’ll spend even more on “sure win” chances, and the cycle is for some never ending.

Instead of tricking yourself into believing that your chances to win a million bucks are better than anyone else’s, take a pragmatic view of the lottery. Make yourself the promise that you will never spend more than you can afford on lotto tickets and scratch off games, and be satisfied with modest winnings. Sometimes just breaking even, or winning enough money to buy lunch for you and a friend, is good enough when it comes to the lottery. After all, anything you win is something you didn’t have before, and your goal should be to continue having fun with the lottery so you have the ability to spend affordable amounts on tickets over a long period of time. Whatever you do, don’t blow your entire paycheck on a bunch of scratch off games or lotto tickets. You’ll be unlikely to win much, and even less likely to ever play the lottery again.

If you have access to the winning numbers from a previous drawing, take a look at them before buying your ticket. Although it won’t guarantee a win, you will be slightly more likely to win if you pick numbers that were not chosen in the last drawing, since the likelihood of them being drawn again is small. Also, if you purchase scratch off games, check the state lottery website to see which games still have a large number of jackpots that have not yet been claimed. If you purchase scratch off lotto games that have not yet produced many winners, your chances should be just a bit higher.