Brazil’s Mega da Virada lottery can award prize of $72.41 million

Bettors have little more than a week to take part in the drawing of the Mega Sena da Virada lottery, which is turning 10 years old this in 2018. The prize is estimated at $72.41 million, and the drawing is slated to take place at 8 am on December 31, close to the turn of the year. The minimum bet has six digits and costs $0.91.

Bets can be placed at any of the 13 thousand lottery retailers across the country. Bettors can also participate online.

With a simple six-digit bet, the chance of winning is one in more than 50 million. The more digits are bet, the greater the chances of winning. However, the bet with the highest number of digits allowed—15—costs $4.5 thousand. In this case, the likelihood is one out of 10,003.

The Mega Sena da Virada receives a portion of the sum accumulated over the course of the year from weekly lotteries—two drawings a week. The Meda da Virada prize does not accumulate. If there is no winner for the main, six-digit bet, the prize is split among those who got five digits rights, and so on.

According to calculations by the Caixa Econômica Federal—the government-run bank who controls Brazilian lotteries—should just one winner take all of 2018’s Mega da Virada prize by themselves, the investment would makes a return of over $250 thousand a month.

Investment

At least 37 percent of the amount raised with Mega Sena goes to the federal government, which can invest it in health care, social security, culture, and sports. From 2010 to 2018, revenues from the Mega da Virada (one drawing a year), $620.6 million was earmarked for these areas.

In 2017, the main Mega da Virada prize was shared by 17 bettors, who split a total of $79.3 million. It was the largest prize in the history of lotteries at Caixa Econômica.