Which Lottery Is The Easiest To Win?

We all dream of that big payout. The yacht payout. The supercar payout. The house-on-a-private-island payout! These big payouts are obviously incredible, but it is important not to be blinded by them.

Every lottery is going to have additional payouts for matching less numbers. Now, these payouts may not get you that private island, but they can still be very lucrative and easier to win. In fact, some lotteries only require you to match one number to get a payout – but more on that later!

Which Lottery Is Easiest To Win in South Africa?

So, which is the easiest lottery to win in South Africa? The lottery which offers the best odds of winning a top payout is the Polish MINI Lotto, with the unrivalled odds of 1 in 850,668. The record payout for the MINI Lotto was approximately R1.6 million. This may not seem like much compared to the huge top payouts offered by other lotteries, but you are still going to enjoy spending it!

In the table below, we have ranked the lotteries available on Lottoland to discover which offers the best odds of hitting the top payout.

Easiest Lotto To Win
	Lottery	Odds	Record Payout
	Mini Lotto	1 in 850,668	R1.6 million
	Austrian Lotto	1 in 8,145,060	R303.7 million
	Irish Lotto	1 in 10,737,573	R386.96 million
	Polish Lotto	1 in 13,983,816	R255.3 million
	French Lotto	1 in 19,068,840	R530 million
	SA Lotto	1 in 20,358,520	R110 million
	Melate	1 in 32,468,436	R706.1 million
	Lotto x5	1 in 45,057,474	R23.8 million
	German Lotto	1 in 139,838,160	R927.1 million
	Eurojackpot	1 in 139,838,160	R2.45 billion
	EuroMillions	1 in 139,838,160	R4.83 billion
	US PowerBall	1 in 292,201,338	R38.5 billion
	MegaMillions	1 in 302,575,350	R29.86 billion
	SuperLotto	1 in 622,614,630	R7.57 billion

It’s interesting to note that the lotteries which have more favourable odds, don’t always have smaller top payouts. Look at the Irish Lotto, for example. It appears to be easy lotto to win when compared to the Polish Lotto (10.7 million to 1 vs 13.9 million to 1), but the record top payout is a whopping R131 million more!

What Lottery Gives The Best Odds

Naturally, the first thing that attracts the attention of most lottery enthusiasts is the top payout. Many people only check the odds of winning the top payout; others also check the odds for secondary payouts, but many simply try their luck, regardless.
The minimum payout is hardly ever on anyone's mind, but even if you win a smaller payout, it's still a win! The minimum payout may only just recover your investment, but it's better than a kick in the teeth!
Therefore, when considering which is the easiest lottery to win, we should also consider the odds of winning the minimum payout, no matter how low the payout, you've still won a payout on the lottery!
The table below shows which lottery offers the best odds to win any payout, and there are some interesting results!

Best Minimum Prize Odds
Lottery	Country	Odds	Match
	Italy	1 in 3	1 Number
	Mexico	1 in10	2 Numbers
	UK	1 in 10	2 Numbers
	Austria	1 in 16	Bonus Ball
	France	1 in 16	2 numbers
	France	1 in 22	2 Numbers
	South Africa	1 in 35	Power Ball
	USA	1 in 38	Power Ball
	USA	1 in 37	Mega Ball
	Finland	1 in 49	2 Numbers + 1 Euro Number
	Ireland	1 in 54	3 Numbers
	Poland	1 in 57	3 Numbers
	Germany	1 in 63	3 Numbers
	South Africa	1 in 72	3 Numbers
	Poland	1 in 128	3 Numbers

Interestingly, SuperLotto, which has the lowest top payout odds, is the lottery which offers the best odds for winning a minimum payout, at only 1 in 3. That’s right, the most difficult lotto to win is also an easy lotto to win! Conversely, MINI Lotto, which offers the best top payout odds, lies towards the end of the table.

What is the Easiest South African Lottery to Win?

In South Africa we are in the privileged position of having two huge lotteries to choose from: Lotto and PowerBall. These are the two most popular lotteries in the country, each offering something a little bit different. The Lotto is the easiest South African lottery to win, if we are only taking the chances of winning the top payout into consideration. The Lotto’s odds of hitting the top payout are just 20,358,520-1, compared to PowerBall’s much larger 42,375,200-1.

However, when all payout tiers are considered, it ius actually the PowerBall that gives you the best opportunity of hitting a payout. Matching PowerBall or the PowerBall plus 1 number have odds of just 35-1 and 57-1, much shorter than likelihood of hitting the bottom two payouts on the Lotto (72-1 and 96-1).

Best Lottery Overall

If you go purely by the odds, the 'easiest' lottery to win is the Polish MINI Lotto, with odds of 1 in 850,668; the top payout for the MINI Lotto is R5 million.

One of the most popular foreign lotteries amongst South African lottery enthusiasts is the French Lotto and with good reason! The odds of winning the French Lotto are lower than both the SA Lotto and SA PowerBall (1 in 42,375,200). Even better, the minimum top payout for the French Lotto, R33.8 million, is significantly larger than that of SA PowerBall at R7 million.

Taking into consideration overall odds and the amount of the record payout, some consider the Irish Lotto to be the best overall lottery. This lotto has even more favourable odds than the French Lotto, with the odds of winning the top payout for the Irish Lotto standing at 1 in 10,737,573. The odds are better, but the minimum top payout is the same at R33.8 million!

Last Updated: 18 December 2023