French say rules of EuroMillions draw short-change them

A few days after a Scottish couple scooped £161m – the biggest ever EuroMillions jackpot – a French woman has formally complained to the European Commission that gamblers in some countries stand a better chance of winning than in others.

Laure Meilheureux, who runs a decorating company, has lodged her objection after discovering that it is much easier to make multiple entries in some countries.

In France, you are forbidden to make more than 378 bets on one ticket (at a cost of €756). But in Belgium, you can choose up to 882 combinations of numbers on one entry slip (costing €1,764). And in Spain, you are allowed to bet a massive €5,040 on one ticket, giving you 2,520 chances of winning. In Britain, meanwhile, you can make only one €2 (£1.75) entry per ticket.

EuroMillions lottery officials say the complaint brought by Madame Meilheureux – under EU fair competition law – makes no sense. They poin t out there is nothing to stop her buying 20 tickets with 378 bets each – or even 1,000 or 2,000 tickets – if she wants to risk that much money, adding that the 378-bet per ticket limit in France was imposed to prevent "gambling bulimia".

Madame Meilheureux, whose name roughly translates as "Mrs Unhappy", does not accept this argument, saying that having to fill in lots of different tickets is tiresome. Besides, she says, there is a European principle at stake. "It's not money I care about but making the rules the same for everyone."