For many people becoming a millionaire is a dream that will probably never come true. Or are we too negative? There is definitely a chance to win a big Lottery prize. How big is your winning chance when you play in the Dutch State Lottery?
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The National Lottery
Almost every Dutch citizen knows the Dutch State Lottery, in Dutch known language known as the ‘Staatsloterij’. It has thousands participants and organizes special draws, including one during New Years Eve. The history of the Dutch State Lottery goes long back. It’s one of the oldest lotteries in the Netherlands. It’s first draw was organized in The Hague in 1726. Place to be was the Ridderzaal, a place that still exists today. In the Middle Ages several lotteries were organized. However, most of them were illegal. By establishing the State Lottery, the government hoped that the illegal lotteries would disappear. The main prize back then was worth 30.000 euros. Back then it was a great amount of money, comparable to millions today.
Try your luck with scratchcards
There are several possibilities to win money with the National Lottery. For example, try your luck with the so called ‘December scratchcards’. It’s great fun to scratch and see if you’ve won something. The winning chance of these scratchcards is 50 percent. This sounds a lot, but most players win a small prize of 5, 10 or 15 euro. The chance that you win 10.000 euros in the National Lottery is 1:98.000. Just two players can win 100.000 euros. If you realize that about 2.4 lottery tickets are sold, then you know that the winning chance of 1:1.2.000.00 is incredibly small.
Oudejaarstrekking: important draw in December
One of the most important draws of the National Lottery is the so-called ‘Oudejaarstrekking’. It can add millions of euros to his or her bank account. During the last days of December thousands of people purchase a ticket. Winning would be a good way to end the year! A ticket is not very cheap though. A complete ticket with Jackpot costs 30 euros and 26 euros without. Half a ticket is a possibility as well. In that case you win half of the prize if your lottery ticket has the matching numbers. A tip is to purchase several tickets at the same time. This increases your winning chances during the Oudejaarsloterij.

Winning chances in the National Lottery
The National Lottery only draws the tickets that are sold. To win millions you need to have a complete ticket though. If this is not the case, the prize money will be divided in several prizes of one million each. A big advantage of the National Lottery is the fact that your chance of winning a prize is pretty big, about 50-50. However, it’s not easy to win a big amount of money, let alone the Jackpot. Just take a look at the statistics. The lottery uses 4.9 million lottery numbers in total. If all these tickets are sold, you have a chance of 1:98.000 to win 10.000 euros. The winning chance with an amount of 25.000 euro or 100.000 euro is even smaller, namely 1:490.000. If Lady Fortune is really at your side you could win the Jackpot of 30 million euros. The winning chance of 1:4.9.000.00. Very small, but you just have to beat the odds!
December is the best month to win
You have the biggest chance of winning a nice amount of money with the National Lottery in December, namely 1:2. A big advantage of this lottery is the fact that you know exactly how many prizes there are. Your winning chances are also very clear. On the other hand, the lottery tickets aren’t very cheap. So it’s totally up to you what you want. Paying 30 euros for a ticket might be worth it.
The advantages of the Bankgiro Lottery
Perhaps you’re not very enthusiastic about the winning chances of the National Lottery. In that case you could try another Dutch lottery, like the Bankgiro Lottery, in Dutch known as the ‘Bankgiroloterij’. One of the advantages of this lottery is that a part of the revenues is given to charity. For many people this is a reason to participate, besides the fact that they want more money on their bank account. The Bankgiro Lottery organizes fourteen draws a year. An interesting difference with other lotteries is the fact that your lottery ticket number is your bank account number.
Winning chance not exactly known
The exact number of prizes of the Bankgiro Lottery is not known, which makes it difficult to estimate your exact winning chances. The organization itself states that the winning chance per person is 56 percent. However, you do need to realize that every participant has about 1.7 lottery tickets on average in December. This decreases your chance of winning.
Prize money
A Bankgiroloterij ticket costs 11 euros, so it’s not very cheap. If you like to add the Jackpot, 1.25 euro is added. Om the other hand, the idea that you can win 10.000, 100.000 or 1 million euros is definitely worth it. It’s also possible to win some nice other prizes as well, including tickets for the zoo and a city trip. And don’t forget that a part of your money will be given to charity, so you’re doing something good as well.
Always recover your prize
Don’t forget to recover your prize at the National Lottery and Bankgiro Lottery. This your own responsibility. It seems weird, but a lot of players forget to do this. As a result, they don’t profit from the prize. At the National Lottery about 7 million euros is not recovered by the winner. Such a shame!
Postcode Lottery
Perhaps you prefer the Postcode Lottery above the National Lottery and Bank Giro Lottery because of the fact that the prizes are even bigger. It has thousands of participants every month. ‘Postcode’ is the Dutch word for ‘zip code’. It means that everyone participates with his or her zip code. The Postcode Lottery organizes fourteen draws a year. One every month, and two extra in August and December.
PostcodeKanjer or EindejaarsKanjer
The Postcode Lottery offers several big prizes. Try your luck with the PostcodeKanjer for example. You might win 500 euros or more, but, the winning chance is quite small with 1:521. Not as small as the winning chance of the so-called ‘EindejaarsKanjer’. At the end of the year Postcode Lottery players can win an astonishing amount of 48 million euros! The millions are given to an area with the same zip code. So the winners have to share the prize money. However, winners who participate many times will be rewarded with a bigger portion of the prize money. Perhaps your dream will come true this year, but don’t forget that the chance of winning 48 million is only 1:235.000. So we wish you the best of luck!
Other prizes besides money
A great thing about the Postcode Lottery is that it offers great prizes besides money. You could win a bike or computer for example. Most people have won ice cream at least one time. In this lottery you always play with two tickets. These tickets aren’t very cheap, namely 10,25 euro each. It’s also possible to double your prize money with the so-called ‘Straatprijsverdubbelaar’. This option costs 1,25 euros more. Not all the revenues of the Postcode Lottery are meant for the organization. 50 percent of the revenues is given to several charities.
Lotto
The Lotto is one of the most well-known lotteries in the world. It’s incredibly popular because a ticket only costs 2 euros, and 1 euro more when you want to have a chance on winning 200.000 euros. A good reason to try it out! One of the great things about the Lotto is the fact that you can decide your own lottery numbers. You need to choose the numbers from a range of 1 to 45. Also pick one of the six Jackpot colors . Perhaps your favorite number or color will bring you luck.
How do you win the Lotto?
To win two numbers and the Jackpot color need to match your ticket. Don’t count your blessings yet, because the chance of winning this is 1:400. You never know! Do you have six correct numbers? Congratulations, because then you’re the lucky winner of 1 million euros! Your life will definitely chance if the Lotto color is correct as well, because in that case 7.5 million euros is yours.
Rules for high prizes
The Lotto uses several rules that might decrease your chance of winning a big amount of money. For example, if several players win at least 100.000 euros, they need to share the prize. Besides that, you need to pay 29 percent taxes over prizes higher than 454 euros. Most players are aware of the taxes and small winning chance of lotteries. of However, people still participate because they don’t want to miss out the chance of becoming a millionaire.