Euromillions rules 'unfair to French'

A EUROMILLIONS player who claims the lottery draw penalises French players has lodged a complaint with the European Commission.

Laure Meilheureux, who runs a small interior design business, says the rules on multiple bets are unfair because they are inconsistent from one country to the next.

Although the price of a ticket is €2 in each participating country that has the euro, some countries make it easier to play multiple combinations of numbers on a single ticket.

In France, players can pick up to nine numbers out of 50 and three stars, betting up to €756 in one go. In Spain, 10 numbers and five stars are allowed, and a total bet of €5,040.

A French player would have to fill out multiple slips to achieve the same number of combinations as a Spanish gambler, Ms Meilheureux claims.

Her lawyer, Daphné Pugliesi, told Le Parisien: "My client is not a statistician. Our complaint is a simple one: we want the same rules in every country."

The French lottery organiser, La Française des Jeux, says the limits are in place to protect consumers and discourage compulsive gambling.

The two biggest individual wins on the Euromillions in the past year have been British players, where multiple bets are not allowed.

UK players are limited to five numbers and two stars. The ticket price is also higher, at £2, but this also includes entry into a UK-only raffle.

Photo: Magnus D/Flickr