Brazilian's Mega Sena Lottery

The most popular lottery in Brazil is Mega Sena, which is managed by the Brazilian Local Caixa Economica Federal Bank since 1961. Mega Sena makes life better in Brazil by raising funds used to improve various areas such as education and development. The reason being that money earned through the Mega Sena lottery is given to educational plans and social advancement organizations.

In 1861, the Caixa Economica Federal Bank was founded to establish order and promote national saving for the poor population. Over the years, other institutions were founded with the same goals and they all combined to form the CAIXA in 1967. Caixa conducts most of the national lotteries in Brazil, such as the Mega Sena lottery.

How to play Mega Sena

Players need to match all six numbers choosing from between 1 and 60. In the Mega Sena lottery two cages are used, filled with balls that have numbers written on them. In the first cage, the numbers written on the balls are 0 to 5, and in the second cage the numbers written on the balls are 0 to 9. A number is drawn from the first cage, and then from the second cage, making a two digit number. If a 2 was drawn from the first cage, and a 3 from the second, then the two digital number would be 23. When two zeros are drawn it counts for 60. This process is repeated until there is a total of 6 numbers, and the Mega Sena drawings are held twice a week on Wednesdays and on Saturdays at 2 p.m.

Mega Sena Prizes

People can win the jackpot by guessing all six numbers correctly and two other prizes by guessing 5 or 4 of the numbers correctly. Because there are only three ways to win, each prize is bigger than most other lotteries.

The percent of money allotted to each type of winner is as follows. To those who guessed all six numbers correctly 46 percent. To those who guessed five numbers correctly 20 percent. To those who guessed four numbers correctly 20 percent and the remaining 25 percent is given to special draws held five times a year.

Mega Sena's big jackpots

Mega Sena lottery paid R$ 64.9 million in 1999, their biggest payout ever. A few other times the jackpot got close to this amount. Once in 2007 at R$ 52.8 million and again in 2008 at R$ 53.1 million, which was shared between two winners.

In the Mega Sena, winners have 90 days to claim their prize. All Brazilian lottery games pay in a lump sum, and winners can show their winning tickets to any lottery house in Brazil to claim their prize, but if it is over R$ 800 then the prize money must be claimed at the Caixa Economica Federal Bank.

If no one claimed their prize in the 90 day period, the money is given to the National Treasury who distributes it to different fund raising organizations.

A true lottery fan