Everything You Need To Know About the Finland Lotto
Playing the lottery has become one of the most popular pastimes for everyone around the world. This is especially the case with most people having to still stay home because of the quarantine. So if you find yourself in somewhat the same position, then the Finland Lotto might just be for you.
However, you might be thinking that you do not know anything about playing the lottery, let alone the Finland Lotto. Lucky for you, here we will go over everything that you need to know about the Finland lotto and how you can play it.
History
The Finnish Lottery has a history that rests deeply in sports betting and the rise of a betting agency in the 40s. Before the Finnish National Lottery came into being, citizens of the country would only bet on various sports. Sports betting came into popularity after the start of the Veikkaus Oy – the Finnish national betting agency.
The Finnish workers sports federation and the football association of Finland founded the Veikkaus. Both organizations founded the name under the OY Tippaustoimisto AB, which eventually became Veikkaus OY.
In 1971, the Veikkaus kicked off the Finnish Lottery to great success. Although not everyone had a massive interest in sports betting, many did have an interest in winning the jackpot. It’s success resonates to this day, as 70% of Finnish people still play the lottery at least once a year. With so many people playing the lottery, Finland’s Ministry of Education is responsible for allocating the profits of the lottery responsibly.
Draw Days and Time
After you buy the ticket for a lottery you will wait for the next draw to find out if you won or not. And the day that they announce the winners of a lottery, that day is the draw day. Every lottery has a draw day, where they announce winners. Depending on the type of lottery, the draw days will change considerably. Special draws will usually have a single draw once every few months or once a year. Other rollover lotteries will have at least one draw every week to help the lottery grow.
The Finland Lotto follows the latter format of draw days, in that they have one draw every week. Every Saturday, they will announce the winners of their lottery. With only one draw a week, participants will have plenty of time to buy their tickets. Of course, if no one wins the Saturday jackpot, it will move on to the next Saturday draw.
However, if you are unable to buy the lottery ticket before the draw day, you don’t have to worry. You can still buy tickets, as long as they are before the cut off time. The cut off time differs from lottery to lottery, and for the Finland Lotto, the cut off time is 9:10PM CET. as long as you get you tickets in before this time, you will be able to participate in the next lotto.
Special Draws
Special draws are very prominent throughout most lotteries, and is the best way to bring in participants. Being able to win a large amount of money for a limited time is sure to make people scared of missing out. They will often have unique rules and a unique setting, which improves the chances of people winning large prizes.
Even though these are very exciting for participants, the Finland lotto does not have any special draws. But for the most part you will not miss them seeing how the regular draws are able to reach the highs of most special draws.
Record Jackpots
If there is anything that excites people for a lottery, it is the highest record jackpot anyone has one. That itself is quite the excellent motivator, as people will now know that they can win that prize as well. Some might even want to be the ones to surpass that jackpot record and be the new record holder.
The highest Jackpot of the Finland Lottery comes at a massive €14.1 million on February 13th, 2016. Since winners can remain anonymous in lotteries when taking their winnings, no one knows who won it. The winning number, on the other hand, was 6, 10, 22, 26, 29, 33, 37 + 7, 16.
The second biggest winner they had won over €12 million. Winning numbers for the second largest winner was 9, 17, 22, 29, 34, 35, 36 + 13, 16. By looking at both of these winning numbers, you can surely come with a plan of your own as to how the lottery chooses its winners.
Rules
Lotteries are often times so similar, that the only thing differentiating them is a region or a name. In terms of variety, there is very little with most lotteries. In fact, every lottery follows the same fundamental principles. Buy a ticket with a unique combination of numbers on it and wait for the draw. When they draw the results, you will match your winning numbers with the numbers that you chose. If the numbers match you will win the jackpot.
While all of the lotteries you find will follow these rules, each of them is still unique in a number of ways. They will have different rules or they will have very different numbering choices. Either way, the Finnish National Lottery also stands out in a number of ways.
How You Will Be Playing
To start playing the lottery you will first have to buy a ticket. And that is a great place to start talking about Finland Lotto’s many differences. The first difference that you will notice is the numbering convention.
Each ticket will contain seven unique numbers that you can choose. Each of these numbers will be between 1 and 40, and they all have to be different. Therefore, you cannot have the same number in two different number slots. At the base ticket there are no special numbers, so the jackpot will be seven numbers.
Once you buy the ticket, you will now wait for the draw to find out if you win or not. The draw will take place on Saturday a little while after 9:10PM CET. But if your numbers don’t match all the winning numbers, you can still win different prizes.
The Finnish Lotto also offers participants a plethora of different prizes that they can win depending on the different numbers that they match. Among the different divisions that they offer, the fewer numbers you match, and the lesser your reward will be. So if you manage match six numbers and miss the last one, you will get the second division prize.
Buying Tickets to Play the Next Draw
To participate in a lottery, you will first have to buy a ticket. Once you buy the ticket, you will have a chance at winning. More importantly, you will have to buy the ticket before the cut off time. The cut off time, varying from lottery to lottery, is the limit on when you can buy your tickets.
You can find tickets for the next Finland Lotto draw fairly easily. You can buy the tickets from various local retailers and even from online websites. Online websites offer you the leisure of buy the tickets from the comfort of your home.
By playing online you get the advantage of buying multiple tickets for multiple draws. You simply pay an upfront fee, and the website handles the rest. When you manage to win from any of the tickets you buy, you will often receive a notification.
Statistics and Odds
A lot of people just look at the jackpot prize before committing to a lottery and betting on it. On the other hand, some people will like to look a little deeper before betting on a lottery. These people will usually check the odds of a lottery to see what their chances are of winning.
While it is not possible to have very low odds of winning with good prizes, lotteries need to find the right balance. They need to offer decent odds along with good prizes. The odds of winning the jackpot and various other prizes are quite good with the Finland Lotto. Here are the odds of winning:
- Jackpot = 1 in 18,643,560
- 2nd tier = 1 in 2,663,365
- 3rd tier = 1 in 83,230
- 4th tier = 1 in 681
- 5th tier = 1 in 97
- 6th tier = 1 in 107
- 7th tier = 1 in 30
Prizes That You Will Win
Here we are to the highlight of the lottery, the reason why people join the lottery in the first place; the prizes. When you play the lottery, you always want to buy tickets for the lottery that will give you the most bang for your buck. You want to win the most that you can possibly win in a given situation.
Other than having a good jackpot prize, lotteries will also need to have good supplementary prizes. Fortunately, Finland Lotto has both great supplementary rewards as well as great jackpot rewards. Here are the prizes that they offer:
- Match 7 main numbers = jackpot
- Match 6 main numbers + bonus ball = €100,000
- Match 6 numbers = €2,000
- Match 5 numbers = €50
- Match 4 numbers = €10
- Match 3 numbers + bonus ball = €2
All of the values mentioned above are estimations, so your prizes can vary greatly depending on the jackpot.
Bonuses and Multipliers
One factor that makes most lotteries exciting is the prize multipliers. These multipliers change your winnings by multiplying them to the multiplier drawn. This means that even small prizes can become much bigger with the help of a proper multiplier.
The Finnish Lottery has two distinct bonuses in the form of a supplementary number and a multiplier. When they are drawing the winning numbers, they will also draw a supplementary number along with it. This supplementary number will be the same number as the other ones that you draw. So if you match six numbers but miss one, you still have a chance of matching the supplementary number and winning the second tier reward.
The Plus Number is a multiplier that is very similar to the one you would find in the Powerball lottery. You will choose a plus number between 1 and 30, and this will go on your ticket. During the draw, the Plus number will appear, and if it matches yours your rewards will multiply by 5. Of course, this does not apply to the jackpot, but applies to all of the other prize tiers.
Jackpot Starting Prize
Jackpots that rollover always start from somewhere. This starting prize is often pretty small, but is just big enough to still bring in players. The jackpot should also be small enough to leave enough room for it to grow over time.
The Finnish Lotto jackpot starts from €700,000, and will increase with every draw that no one is able to win. This jackpot prize is just big enough for people to try their luck, and just small enough for it to grow over time.
Rollovers
These are another very important part of the overall identity of the Finland Lotto. With the help of rollovers they are able to reach massive jackpots that would otherwise not be possible. With each rollover, the jackpot will increase by €700,000 and the ticket sales. Of course, the jackpot will only increase if no one wins the jackpot and it rolls over to the next draw.
Winning a Prize Online
A major advantage that comes with playing the lottery online is that you can also receive your winnings online. You do not have to go anywhere to get your winnings, and can instead wait for them to come to you. But you might not know what happens to your winnings as soon as you find out that you won. Well, here is what happens to your jackpot online.
Your Winnings
Before you can even start playing online, you will first have to make an account. Other than being the means through which you will access the lotteries, you will also pay for these lotteries with your account. Furthermore, the account will also be holding all of your winnings as well. So any amount that you win will instantly go into this account.
In most cases you will have to wait some time before your winnings can reach your account. When they finally do, you will be able to take it from there whenever you want.
Checking Your Lottery Results Online
Having to check your lottery results online is part of the entire lottery playing experience. Even though the website that you play on will often send you a notification about your win, people still prefer checking themselves.
Of course, checking the lottery results yourself is also very beneficial when you are considering whether or not to bet on it. You can find out how far the rollovers have come, and even the current size of the jackpot. Taking all of these factors into consideration can help you make a better decision.
Winning Prizes From Anywhere In the World
Other than playing the lotteries from anywhere in the world, you can receive prizes for your participation from anywhere. Since all of the winnings will go into your online account, you don’t have to worry about where your winnings are going.
However, it can take some time for your winnings to make their way to your account. Lottery officials will first have to conduct a thorough investigation to find out if you are the rightful winner. This investigation can take a few weeks, after which your winnings will go straight into your account.
Paying Taxes on Your Winnings
When you win the lottery, you will also have to pay taxes on your winnings. This is the case with most countries, though other countries have exceptions. In some countries, winnings are taxable and in other winnings are not.
In Finland, winnings from any lottery are taxable by the government. Finnish lottery officials will deduct 5% from your winnings in taxes. Moreover, they will extract this amount before the final amount reaches you, so you do not have to worry about paying any taxes. Other than this 5%, the lottery board will not charge any other amounts.
Choosing Lump Sum or Annuity
While you might be thinking about all of the things that you will buy after winning the lottery, you will have to make another decision much sooner. When you play any lottery, you will usually have two options when it comes to taking your winnings. You can either take them in lump sum or annuity. In other words, you can take all of the money at once in cash or in yearly installments. Both of them are very viable options, which means it all comes down to you.
Despite most lotteries offering both lump sum and annuity, Finland Lotto does not offer any. If you play with them, your winnings will always be in lump sum.
Increasing Your Chances of Winning with Syndicates
If you have been playing the lottery for a long time, simply playing it isn’t as fun anymore. However, winning a lottery is not easy. Since there is not skill with playing the lottery, the only thing that you can depend on is the odds. And the only way to increase your odds is by buying more tickets. But you can only buy so many tickets before playing the lottery becomes a little too expensive.
Luckily, lottery syndicates can help increase your odds of winning, while simultaneously reducing the cost of playing. Of course, the major pay off to playing with a syndicate is that you will be splitting the winnings. Depending on the members you are playing with, you can only get a very small part of te original jackpot.
Syndicates work on shares, which you will choose before joining the syndicate. The more shares you have, the bigger share you will receive of the winnings. But this also comes with a trade off, as people with more shares contribute more to the tickets.
Play Lottery Games Online From Finland
One of the best things that online lottery platforms bring to its players is the ability to play from the comfort of their homes. Play the lotteries of your choice throughout a catalog of great lotteries both in Finland and outside. You can play the Finland National Lottery, or you can play a lottery anywhere in Europe online.
If lotteries are not quite your fancy, you can play other betting games there as well. Games like Blackjack and Poker require a lot more skill and might be just up your alley.
Summary
The Finland Lottery is the national lottery of Finland held by the country’s Workers Sports Federation and Football Association. Starting in the early 70s, the Finnish Lottery was a massive hit and soon became one of the biggest events in the country.
Over the years, the lottery has seen some major changes throughout, especially in its rules. The major changes came in how it will be handling all of the different prize divisions, as well as the numbering system. They adopted both the supplementary number and the prize multiplier mechanics that you would find in other lotteries.
You can have six different numbers on your ticket, with a seventh plus number added after paying extra. To win the lottery you will need to match all of the seven digits on your ticket to the winning number. If you don’t match all of the numbers, you can still win other prizes depending on the numbers you match. Moreover, if you match the plus number, prizes other than the jackpot will multiply by 5.
Playing the Finnish lottery is simple and very fun. If you are new to lotteries you will find it especially welcoming and easy to play. And when you play online, you can play it from anywhere in the world.
