A NEW European lottery with a possible top prize of £50 million that can be claimed in Britain, France or Spain is to start next week.

Ten years ago people in Britain were tempted by the chance of becoming a millionaire as the slogan “It could be you” launched the first UK national lottery.

But in order to jolt the nation from “jackpot fatigue”, Camelot, the national lottery operator, is banking on wooing new punters to play EuroMillions with the slogan “There’s something different about Fridays” in an advertisement to be screened for the first time tonight.

The immediate difference is that the public will pay more — £1.50 instead of £1 — to take their chances against French and Spanish players. In France and Spain the cost will be €2 (£1.37).

The draw will take place in Paris on Friday nights, and for the first time the EuroMillions winning numbers will be shown live on a commercial television network, Sky One. Lottery organisers are confident that gamblers in Britain will not be deterred by next week’s launch date of Friday 13.

Current lottery sales are more than £85 million a week. Although this is £40 million a week higher than the lottery launch in 1994, it is well down on the peak weekly figure of £100 million in 1996.

Tickets for the new lottery will go on sale at supermarkets, newsagents and petrol stations from tomorrow. Camelot estimates that the first week’s jackpot will be £10 million and that with a three-country pool of some 160 million potential players the weekly average will rise to about £14 million. With rollovers, however, there could be at least two or three jackpots a year worth £50 million.

Even though the chances of winning the new Euro jackpot are one in 76,279,360, compared with one in 14 million for the national lottery Lotto draw, Camelot insists that the overall chance of winning a prize on EuroMillions is greater — one in 24 compared with one in 54 for the Lotto — because there is a wider range of prizes.

To win the jackpot players have to match five main numbers from a choice of 50 plus two Lucky Star numbers chosen from one to nine.

Then there are 11 other levels of prize depending on the amount of tickets sold in the UK, France and Spain each week. Under a £10 million jackpot the next prizes will range down from £321,119 to £68,902; £6,430; £206.70; £137.80; £96.50; £30.80; £20.10; £13.70; £7.90 and £6.70.

There is no tax payable on the prize money by winners in the UK, France or Spain. Winners buying tickets in the UK must have an address and bank account in Great Britain to claim the jackpot prize, which will be paid in sterling. Prizes in France and Spain will be paid in euros and tickets bought on the continent must be claimed in the country of purchase. So British holidaymakers on the French Riviera or the Costa del Sol must either buy tickets in advance at home before travelling or buy and claim any winnings in their resort. There is no minimum age limit to buy a lottery ticket in France, but you must be aged over 16 to play in the UK and 18 in Spain.

Camelot insists that all the money raised for good causes from ticket sales in the UK will stay in the country. Any difference between the sterling/euro exchange rate will be put in the prize-winning pool for the 11 lower rungs of the prize.

As the €2 ticket in France and Spain is worth £1.37 today, and with the UK ticket priced at £1.50, the difference of 13p will be paid into the pool.

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