Status: 01/04/2023 1:59 p.m
Despite inflation and the energy crisis, people in Germany spent a little more money playing the lottery in 2022 than in the previous year. This led to a record profit of 120 million euros in November – a highly unlikely event.
In 2022, more people in Germany won millions in the lottery than in the previous year. 187 new lottery millionaires made winnings, in 2021 there were 181. In November, a Eurojackpot player from Berlin received the highest lottery win of 120 million euros ever achieved in Germany, as announced by the German Lottery and Totoblock (DLTB) in Hanover.
A win of more than 110 million euros – also in the Eurojackpot – went to North Rhine-Westphalia in May 2022. The third highest prize of the past year, at 45 million euros, went to Hesse in April – at “6 out of 49”.
Highly unlikely to win millions
Years ago, the mathematician and lottery expert Norbert Herrmann, who taught at the University of Hanover until 2007, explained how improbable such a million-dollar win is: everyone believed that one day it would be their turn to win. But the number of possibilities is far too great for that.
“Each tip is equally likely. A clever mathematician has no advantages either.” And what the lucky winners do with the huge sums of money is only known in the rarest of cases – especially since the lottery companies advise extreme discretion.
Almost eight billion euros spent on lotteries
In 2022, most of the millions in profits flowed into the most populous federal state, after North Rhine-Westphalia (45), followed by Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg (31 each) and Lower Saxony (15). In 1,200 cases in Germany, lottery winnings of at least 100,000 euros were transferred to winners – in 2021 there were 992 times.
A total of 7.97 billion euros were spent on lotteries nationwide last year – a slight increase of 0.9 percent compared to 2021. “Despite the economic and geopolitical situation, Germans continued to seek their luck in 2022,” said Axel Holthaus, Managing Director of the lead lottery company Lotto Niedersachsen. Across all types of games, 3.9 billion euros in winnings were distributed.
Part of the ticket price is taxed
Germany’s most popular lottery remained the classic “6 out of 49”: With a stake of around 3.84 (2021: around 4) billion euros, the lottery accounted for almost 50 percent of the total stake. “The slight decline compared to the previous year can be explained by the shorter jackpot phases,” says Holthaus from Lotto Niedersachsen.
The Eurojackpot, which is offered in 18 countries, defended second place among the most popular lotteries – with stakes of around 1.76 (2021: 1.4) billion euros and a share of 22.06 percent.
As always, it was the state who benefited from the lotteries. The state budgets collected around 3.18 (2020: 3.2) billion euros in taxes and duties – for welfare, sport, culture, monument preservation and environmental protection.