The Swiss national lottery turns 40 years old on Sunday, having made more than 500 people millionaires in the process.
This content was published on
1 minute
More than SFr5 billion ($4.9 billion) has been distributed to good causes in areas such as sport, culture, social projects and the environment, according to Swisslos and la Loterie romande.
The first draw tool place on January 10, 1970, but it was nine years before anybody won the first jackpot of over SFr1 million.
Since then 2,759 draws have taken place, with SFr7.7 billion being distributed. The most popular number, statistically, is one, which came up 491 times.
The new “Plus” format introduced in 2009 allowed a Genevan man to take home the largest winnings in Swiss lottery history at more than SFr19 million, said la Loterie romande, which covers the French-speaking part of the country. Swisslos is played by people in the German and Italian-speaking areas.
Overall, around half of the Swiss take their chances on the lottery at least once a year.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Lottery sets new records in 2009
This content was published on
The largest win was SFr19.1 million ($18.45 million), breaking a record set in 1990, when someone won SFr18.2 million. In one week in April no fewer than four people chose the six winning numbers, bringing them more than a million francs. Swiss gamblers were not so lucky with the Euro Millions lottery, which is played…
This content was published on
swissinfo.ch put that question to psychoanalyst and long-time gambling critic Mario Gmür on the occasion of the second biggest take in the nearly 40-year history of the Swiss lottery. swissinfo.ch: Everyone would like to win a million in the lottery. Does happiness follow hitting the jackpot? Mario Gmür: It means happiness in so far as…
This content was published on
Five years after the first Swiss casinos opened for business, almost 17,000 people have been banned from playing in the country’s 19 gambling houses, mostly for addiction reasons. Casinos have a legal obligation to work to prevent gambling addiction. swissinfo visited a casino on a midweek afternoon to see the everyday players the law aims…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.