Euromillions playing cost raised to £2.50 a line

The cost of playing Euromillions is to increase to £2.50 a line.

In addition, players must choose from an extra number under changes that will decrease the odds of winning the jackpot but promise bigger prizes and double the number of UK millionaires.

Camelot, one of the 10 operators of the European-wide game, announced the price of a line will go up by 50p to £2.50 from September to "reflect all of the community-wide and UK-only enhancements" and up to Euros 2.50 elsewhere.

Players will still pick five main numbers from one to 50 and two lucky stars, now from one to 12 rather than 11.

The extra lucky star will lessen the chance of winning the jackpot from approximately one in 117 million currently to one in 140 million, but Camelot said the overall odds of winning any prize on Euromillions remained at 1 in 13.

Camelot said the changes would bring bigger jackpots more often with higher starting figures of £14 million and more than twice as many jackpots of more than £50 million a year.

There would also be bigger promotional draws offering jackpots of around £100 million, and new "must-be-won" European Millionaire Maker events, the first of which is expected to take place at the end of October with the creation of 25 extra millionaires.

Local UK "enhancements" will include at least two guaranteed UK millionaires in every draw through the UK Millionaire Maker, making double the current number of guaranteed UK millionaires a year at 208.

Camelot consumer and retail director Sally Cowdry said: "Euromillions has always captured the UK public's imagination with its exhilarating jackpots and numerous multimillion-pound winners - boosting returns to Good Causes in the process.

"It's now time to re-energise the game and take it to the next level and these fantastic enhancements will do just that, helping us to deliver even more for our players and UK Good Causes in the years to come."

Tickets for the first new Euromillions draw on September 27 will go on sale on September 24.

Changes to the National Lottery Lotto draw last year saw the number of balls increase from 49 to 59 and the chance of winning the jackpot decrease from one in 14 million to one in 45 million.