Swedish Lotto History
A lot has happened to the Swedish Lottery since it first began in 1897. Below you can find a few of the most important milestones in the history of the Swedish Lotto.
The first form of the Swedish Lottery dates back to 1897 when Penninglotteriet was established. This is one of the companies that make up Svenska Spel.
The other company that makes up the Svenska Spel we know today was established in 1943. The same year, Stryktipset was also launched and is still available to play today.
Lotto is launched by AB Tipstjanst. At this time draws only take place once a week, on Saturdays.
Not long after the launch of Lotto, the first millionaire was made. In October 1980, Kenneth Näslund from Härnösand was the first person to match 7 numbers and win the jackpot.
Joker is added to the Lotto game to give players a chance of winning even more prizes.
In 1998, a new draw is added on a Wednesday. This means draws now take place twice a week.
A new game, Keno, is launched. In the same year, Lotto and Joker are now being broadcast on TV2.
The new exciting European lottery game, Viking Lotto, is introduced. The first draw takes place on 17th March. It is the first multi-national lottery game in Europe. The total turnover from all five participating countries was 17 million kr. It would have cost you 2 kr to enter.
The two separate Swedish Lottery companies – Penninglotteriet and AB Tipstjänst – are merged together in 1997 and the new organisation is called Svenska Spel, the Swedish Lottery company we know today. Its headquarters is in Visby, Gotland.
In 1998, a new draw is added on a Wednesday. This means draws now take place twice a week.
Swedish Lotto becomes available online. Until this time it was only possible to purchase Lotto tickets from agents, for example tobacco shops or grocery stores.
Drömvinsten is introduced to give players a chance to win a dream prize. It is worth at least 75 million kr and, to win, players must match all seven Lotto numbers and also get a Joker prize.
Since the launch of the Drömvinsten in 2005, it has created many multimillionaires - but the first came on 8th October 2005. An unemployed person from Visby, Gotland won 122,860,699 by matching 7 numbers on Lotto and winning a prize on Joker.
An age limit is introduced in 2010. You now have to be 18 years old to purchase lottery tickets in-store in Sweden.
Sweden becomes a member of the Eurojackpot group in February along with Croatia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway.
The largest-ever Swedish Lotto prize, worth 237 million kr, was won on 20th April when a single ticket holder matched all seven Lotto numbers and three numbers on the Joker to win the Drömvinsten. The winning ticket was sold in Norrkoping.
A new Eurojackpot draw is added on a Tuesday, making it a twice-weekly game. The format of the game is updated at the same time, with 12 Euro numbers to choose from instead of 12. The jackpot cap is increased from €90 million to €120 million.