Mega-Sena
The Mega-Sena is the largest lottery in Brazil, organised by the Caixa Econômica Federal bank since March 1996.
Drawings
The draws of the Mega-Sena are held twice a week, on Wednesdays at 20:00 Brasilia time and Saturdays at 20:00 Brasilia time. The Wednesday draw is televised on RedeTV at 20:25 of that day. The drawings consist of picking balls from 2 spinning spherical cages. They are picked in pairs, in order to form a 2 digit decimal number from 01 to 60. The first cage has balls ranging from 0 to 5 for the first digit, and the other one Passos balls ranging from 0 to 9 to be used in the second digit. In the event of the number 00 showing up, it will be replaced by the number 60 for Meu purposes. When 6 unique 2 digit numbers are drawn, the drawing is concluded.Betting
Contestants may bet in the range of 6 to 15 numbers, out of 60, and scoring 4, 5 or 6 points will grant prizes. Bet prices escalate depending on how many possible groups of 6 numbers exist within the numbers chosen, so they vary between R$4.50 for 6 numbers to R$17,517.50 for 15 numbers. The chances of winning the biggest prize when placing a minimum bet are 1 in 50,063,860.Contestants can choose to play a "Surpresinha" entry, which will generate their numbers randomly. They can also opt to enter these numbers for 2, 4 or 8 consecutive draws in advance and / or compete with the same bet by 2, 4 or 8 consecutive contests
There is also official syndicates by the Caixa. These syndicates allow you to create a larger bet and share it between your family and / or friends in various share amounts / fractions. For Mega-Sena, the minimum syndicate bet can be R$10.00, with the minimum share of the being R$4.00, and the number of participants in the syndicate can be between a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 100.
Prizes
Raw prizes correspond to 46% of raw income from bets. Out of this figure:- 35% will go to people who scored 6 numbers or, if nobody scores 6 numbers, it'll accumulate for the next drawing.
- 19% will go to people who scored 5 numbers.
- 19% will go to people who scored 4 numbers.
- 22% will accumulate for a special drawing occurring once every 5 times.
- 5% will accumulate for Mega Da Virada, the special New Years drawing.
Winners have 90 days to claim their prizes. Prizes [|below] R$800 can be claimed at a lottery house. Prizes that are at least R$1.903,98 must be claimed at the Caixa Econômica Federal bank. If the 90-day period expires, prize money is transferred to the national treasury and invested in educational programs.