SuperEnalotto

SuperEnalotto is a lottery that has been played in Italy since 3 December 1997. Draws take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM. The jackpots won are among the largest in the world

Playing the game

Tickets cost one Euro for two tries.
The object of the game is to match 6 numbers out of 90. Should a player match all of them, he/she wins the jackpot.
Until June 30, 2009 the six main winning numbers were taken from the first number drawn in Lottomatica's regional Lotto draws for the cities of Bari, Florence, Milan, Naples, Palermo & Rome (used in that order). The Venice draw was used as a "Jolly" number. If the first number of a city had been used before, then the second of the city's draw was used - and so on. In this system there was a small probability that the numbers of two cities could be the same - in which case there would have been duplicate numbers and it would have been impossible to win the jackpot.
Since July 1, 2009 the numbers have been drawn independently of the Lottomatica draws. There is one single draw for the six winning numbers and the "Jolly" number and a second independent draw for the "SuperStar" number.
The "Jolly" number gives an additional chance to those who have matched 5 numbers. If they also match the "Jolly" number, they'll win a higher "5+1" prize.
One must match at least 3 numbers to win. The odds of winning for each category are:
Match Odds
6 1 in 622,614,630
5+Jolly Number 1 in 103,769,105
5 1 in 1,250,230
4 1 in 11,907
3 1 in 327
The "SuperStar" number is an additional number which costs extra to play. Under the old rules it was taken from the National Lotto draw in Rome (Ruota Nazionale), under the new rules it is drawn in a separate draw independently from the 6 winning and the "Jolly" number. This means that the SuperStar number may be the same as another winning number. Matching it can increase the winning amount up to 100-fold.[clarification needed] It also pays out fixed amounts with any combination, including no winning numbers at all with the six main numbers.
For a nationwide lottery offering prizes in millions, SuperEnalotto is the most difficult game in the world in terms of hitting the jackpot judging by the odds mentioned above[citation needed]. The prizepool only consists of 35% of the sales, with about 54% going to the Italian state.
When it began the minimum cost (for two tries) was 1600 Italian Lire, rising to 1900 Lire by the time the Euro was introduced in 2002. Today's price, one Euro is equivalent to 1936.27 Lire.
[edit]Biggest payoffs

On May 4, 2005, a jackpot worth €71,767,565.57 (US$ 94,804,954.12) was won by a single ticket shared by ten customers at a bar in Milan.For over three years, this was the game's largest jackpot. This was later broken by a prize of €100,756,197.30 (US$ 129,753,830.88) which was won by a single ticket on October 23, 2008 in Catania. A record breaker prize of €147,807,299.08 (US$ 211,807,859.58) was won on August 22, 2009 by one ticket holder in Bagnone (Toscana).
Source:wikipedia