Lottery Raffles - What You Need to Know

When you consider lottery games to play, raffles are often overlooked. And when you play a lottery with a raffle, you have additional chances of winning. Your ticket might not match a single number selected in the regular draw but you could still win a generous prize in the additional lotto raffle! While raffles may not draw the attention that huge lottery jackpots bring, they can offer substantial prizes that are guaranteed to be won. That is why playing a raffle lottery can be worth your while!

If you are already familiar with how raffles work and want to get into the action now, you can not only buy EuroMillions tickets or participate in special EuroMillions draws like the next EuroMillions Superdraw, but you can also play a few other international lotteries that offer exciting raffles at theLotter. If you are interested in more information before you buy your first raffle tickets, our informative guide will provide you with everything you need to know!

What Is A Raffle?

By definition, a raffle is "a means of raising money by selling numbered tickets, one or some of which are subsequently drawn at random, the holder or holders of such tickets winning a prize." That sounds very much like the definition of a lottery, yet there are a number of ways that lotteries and raffles are different.

What Types of Lotteries with Raffles Are There?

There are different types of raffles available on theLotter. On the one hand, there are stand-alone raffles, such as the monthly Loteria Nacional Extra in Spain. And on the other hand, there are raffles that take place in conjunction with a regular lottery draw. When you play a stand-alone raffle, you purchase ticket(s) directly to that raffle. When you purchase tickets to a lottery with a supplementary raffle, each line is assigned an additional number which is used in the raffle drawing. If this alphanumeric code, printed at the bottom of each ticket you purchase, matches the code drawn in the raffle, you win the raffle prize!

Confused? Don’t be! Let us explain.

The Main Differences Between Raffles and Lotteries

You choose your own numbers in lotteries. When you purchase tickets to a lottery draw, you get to select your own numbers. When you play a raffle, you are given a pre-printed raffle code.

There is always a jackpot winner in a raffle draw. A jackpot winner is guaranteed as the draw includes only the numbers or codes that correspond to the raffle lottery ticket sold. Lottery draws don’t always have a jackpot winner, as the lotto draw machine contains every number from the guess range, so there is no guarantee that the numbers selected were chosen by any ticket-holders.

Raffles award their prizes on a defined date. While lotteries can rollover multiple times, sometimes even with no limit, raffles take place on a particular date and the winners are determined then. As an example, the French version of the EuroMillions stages a supplementary My Million raffle guaranteeing one €1 million winner per draw, regardless of what happened in the previous draw.

Raffles have a limited number of tickets available. Lotteries are unlimited. There are as many tickets available as there are people who buy them. In fact, the more people that buy lottery tickets, the better it is for everyone because the jackpot grows based on ticket sales. With raffles, there is a limited number of raffle codes on sale. To compensate for this, The Spanish Chrismas lottery and Loteria del Nino print each ticket code multiple times and then divide each copy into shares, so that even more people can participate in the raffle. In the case of these Spanish raffles, it is possible for there to be multiple jackpot winners.

Lottery jackpots grow while raffle jackpots are set. In lotteries, the jackpot is guaranteed at a starting amount but then it grows based on the number of tickets sold. If there is no jackpot winner, the jackpot rolls over to the next draw. Unless the lottery has a jackpot cap, the jackpot can grow indefinitely until it is won. Raffles, on the other hand, have jackpots and other prizes known in advance. Raffle prizes are awarded to winning tickets and do not roll over at all.

There are some lotteries, like when you buy Weekday Windfall lotto tickets, which offer a fixed jackpot prize. Still, there is no guarantee that someone will win the jackpot in that lottery's draw.

theLotter's Lottery Raffle Winners

On 31 December 2016 one lucky Austrian player with theLotter won a £20,000 raffle prize playing the UK Lotto. As you can see on his raffle lottery ticket pictured below, he played three lines and received three additional numbers as raffle entries.

A year later almost to the day, S. from Nigeria also won a £20,000 raffle prize playing the Lotto. S. didn't match a single number in the regular draw but because he played a lottery offering a supplementary lottery raffle, he ended up winning a very nice prize!

Our biggest raffle winner to date is H.S.L. from South Korea! In July 2019 he played EuroMillions but his numbers didn't match those drawn. Still, he came out of the draw with an amazing prize. H.S.L. won €1 million because the code on his EuroMillions ticket matched the code that was drawn in the El Millón raffle. Congratulations to our lucky Korean player! Read his story here.

Which Lotteries Offer Raffles?

Currently, theLotter offers a number of lotteries with supplemental raffle draws: Austria EuroMillions,  Spain EuroMillions, France Loto, and Canada Lotto 6/49. And of course make sure to check out our EuroMillions raffle guide and Spanish raffles guide for additional information!

EuroMillions Austria, Österreich Bonus

Play EuroMillions by purchasing Austria EuroMillions lottery tickets and you also have a chance of winning Österreich Bonus, a special raffle exclusively for Austrian players that guarantees a prize of €100,000 in every draw. This extra raffle was introduced in July 2018. Austria EuroMillions draws take place on Tuesdays and Fridays.

EuroMillions Spain, El Millon Raffle

Play the EuroMillions lottery in Spain and you are automatically entered into the El Millon, Spanish for ‘the million,’ raffle. As the name suggests, the winner of the El Millon raffle receives €1 million.

EuroMillions draws take place twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the El Millon raffle is held with every draw. Two lucky winners win a €1 million prize every week.

Canada 649

Popular Canadian lottery Canada Lotto 649 also gives players an additional opportunity to win either C$1 million or a minimum C$10 million Gold Ball jackpot that can potentially reach over C$60 million! For every line played, an additional number for the Gold Ball Draw raffle will be given. Lottery and raffle lottery draws take place on Wednesday and Saturday every week.

France Loto

A special raffle lottery draw is held at each draw of the France Loto awarding 10 prizes worth €20,000 each. This is in addition to the regular lottery prizes awarded in the draw. During the holiday season, France Loto boosts the number of raffle prize winners from 10 to 100!

Lotto raffles in the UK

Although they are not offered for play at theLotter, it is interesting to know that raffles are quite popular in the UK, where they are run by the National Lottery.

The Millionaire Maker Raffle takes place in conjunction with every EuroMillions UK drawing and awards two EuroMillions UK players with a £1 million prize.

Take a Chance Playing Lottery Raffles

Lotteries with raffles award great prizes, sometimes enough to make you a millionaire! And, all raffle prizes are guaranteed to be won, meaning you have a real chance to win them! However, to be eligible to win an incredible raffle prize you first need to play the lottery! That's how it works: take a chance with a lottery ticket and get two chances to win. Good luck!