A player in Belgium is almost 175 million euros richer in one fell swoop. It is a record for our southern neighbors: no one has ever won such a gigantic lottery amount there.
The brand new multimillionaire had the winning combination (2, 7, 23, 44 and 46, with the stars 3 and 5) on his ticket on Tuesday. That yielded exactly 174,984,088 euros in the EuroMillions lottery. This pulverizes the old Belgian record from 2016. Then more than 168 million euros went to a street sweeper from Brussels.
The European lottery game often causes bizarre scenes in Belgium. For example, a group of café friends from Zingem divided 123.5 million euros last January. At the end of 2022, the town of Olmen suddenly became nationally known as the ‘millionaire’s village’ when 165 residents together won 132 million euros.
Yet it can be even crazier. The highest jackpot ever is 250 million euros. That mega pot has already been won three times and went to participants from Ireland, France and Austria.
Not in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the highest prize ever won is much lower: 38.4 million euros, at the Staatsloterij draw in May 2013. EuroMillions is a lottery that is played in twelve European countries, but not in the Netherlands.