The origins of lottery in Netherlands can be traced all the way back to 1726, when the Parliament of the Netherlands founded the predecessor to the lottery game citizens of this country still play to this date. Several decades went by, but their interest for the games of chance didn’t parish – half the population in this country plays the lottery and at least 60 per cent from the sales goes back to them in the form of prize money.
Foundations for the modern Dutch Lottery were set in 1992 when SENS was established – it’s responsible for organizing Staats Loterij and several other games in Netherlands. The drawings are held every week on Saturdays at 8pm CET and you can play by picking two sets of numbers. The first thing you do is select six numbers between 1 and 45 from the main drum. The second drum is what makes the Dutch Lottery so different from many other games – instead of choosing a number, you have to pick a colour: red (rood), orange (oranje), yellow (geel), green (groen), blue (blauw) or purple (paars). The second drum contains 36 balls (6 of each different colour), but only one of them is drawn.
In order to snatch the jackpot you have to correctly guess the six main numbers and the colour of the bonus ball. The minimum amount you can scoop by doing so is worth €7.500.000, but it tends to grow larger. Back in October 2010 the most impressive windfall in this game’s history reached €36.000.000 and was shared between 22 lucky ticket holders.
In addition to this game, Netherlands also organises Staatsloterij, which takes place 12 times a year on the 10th of every month. It also has two special draws: Koninginnedagtrekking (Queen’s draw) held on April 30th Oudejaarstrekking (New Year’s draw) December 31st.