“This year too, Germans were able to escape everyday life, dream or even find happiness with our safe, responsible lottery products. We were able to distribute around €4.0 billion in winnings across all types of games. The high winnings usually receive the most media attention. But we are experiencing the joy that even the many smaller winnings bring to game participants nationwide,” says Axel Holthaus, managing director of LOTTO Niedersachsen, the company currently in charge of the DLTB.
Turning an average of at least three people per week into happy new millionaires: This is what the 16 state lottery companies in the German Lotto and Toto Block (DLTB) achieved in 2023. In total, around €8.2 billion was spent on state-authorized lotteries in Germany in 2023. This means an increase in use of around 2.9% compared to the previous year.
“This year too, Germans were able to escape everyday life, dream or even find happiness with our safe, responsible lottery products. We were able to distribute around €4.0 billion in winnings across all types of games. The high winnings usually receive the most media attention. But we are experiencing the joy that even the many smaller winnings bring to game participants nationwide,” says Axel Holthaus, managing director of LOTTO Niedersachsen, the company currently in charge of the DLTB.
Thanks to the taxes and fees paid from the gaming stakes to the respective state budgets and beneficiaries, many projects oriented towards the common good could once again be supported in all federal states in 2023. Around €3.28 billion – around €9.0 million per day – benefited the general public, particularly in the areas of welfare, sport, art, culture, monument preservation and environmental protection. In addition, the state lottery companies entered into wide-ranging sponsorship partnerships in the respective federal states. Climate protection is also an important concern for the companies, so projects have been financed from their own resources and comprehensive measures for ecological sustainability have been implemented in some of the 16 company headquarters.
The 16 state lottery companies take the digital usage habits of game participants into account. The regional websites and apps of the respective DLTB companies recorded increasing user numbers in 2023. Anyone interested in playing can easily submit tips for most game offers online either via these regional offers or via the service and information portal LOTTO.de. In this way, a total of over €1.2 billion in gaming stakes were generated.
“Through the online offering, the 16 state lottery companies are fully fulfilling their channeling mandate on the Internet. The digitalization of the range of games keeps the lottery principle oriented towards the common good sustainable,” explains Sven Osthoff, Managing Director of LOTTO Lower Saxony.
The dense network of around 21,000 acceptance points throughout Germany continued to be the most important pillar of the state lottery companies’ offerings in 2023. “The lottery acceptance points have an important structural policy significance nationwide. They are often part of the village shops, which make a significant contribution to the development of rural regions as independent living and economic areas,” explains Axel Holthaus.
LOTTO 6aus49 remains the most popular lottery in Germany. The stakes for the classic game amounted to around €3.8 billion in 2023, making up around 46% of the total stakes in state-approved lotteries.
For LOTTO 6aus49 and the Super Number, new drawing devices were used in January 2023 after more than 60 years. The new devices were manufactured taking into account the highest lottery standards of security and seriousness. The enlarged drawing drum and an additional camera inside the drum provide comprehensive transparency of the lottery draw, which has been broadcast live on LOTTO.de for ten years. Lotto balls made of PU material have been providing a new lottery feeling since January 2023.
Eurojackpot ranks second among the most popular lotteries nationwide with around €2.0 billion in stakes. This means that almost 24% of the total gaming stakes of the state lottery companies can be attributed to the European lottery.
1,231 game participants were lucky in 2023: they won a prize of at least €100,000.00 in state-approved lotteries. Of these, 179 people hit the jackpot and became millionaires. The most new millionaires in 2023 were in North Rhine-Westphalia (37), followed by Baden-Württemberg (30) and Lower Saxony (26).
The highest lottery win of the year, €120 million, was received by a Eurojackpot player from Schleswig-Holstein on June 23, 2023. Similarly, in August 2023, around €117 million from Eurojackpot went to Hamburg via an internet tip. A Eurojackpot player from Bremen also achieved the third-highest win of the year, around €107 million.
In 2023, the winning number 19 was drawn most often, closely followed by 22, 33 and 25. The winning number 46 was drawn the least often. The number that has been drawn most rarely since the first lottery draw to this day is 13 – even though this was the first winning number drawn by LOTTO 6aus49 in 1955.
The public welfare-oriented gambling of the state lottery companies is expressly regulated by the State Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV 2021) on the basis of regulatory law and within the framework of federal jurisdiction. “It is undisputed that the fight against illegal gambling providers in Germany must continue to be stepped up. Providers who operate without government permission pay almost no taxes or duties in Germany and are not obliged to serve the common good. Regulatory enforcement must continue to be enforced at all levels,” explains Sven Osthoff.
“We are following the scientific research results as part of the evaluation of the GlüStV 2021 with interest,” says Axel Holthaus. “When designing and establishing the legally anchored measures to protect players and young people, the different risk potential of the individual forms of gambling must be taken into account for each target group.”
Sven Osthoff continues: “The state lottery companies are united in achieving the goals in accordance with Section 1 GlüStV 2021. Comprehensive measures for player and youth protection as well as gambling addiction prevention have been firmly anchored in the social concepts and thus also in the value structure of the state lottery companies for over 70 years. We are pleased that the player and youth protection measures as well as the effects of the new legal regulations are being assessed on an evidence-based basis and that possible undesirable developments are being countered.”