First of all it took time and epic case of case luck. The SuperEnalotto jackpot was allowed to grow for a full nine months before anyone managed to match the numbers. Most lotteries may occasionally go a month or two without any winners. This is because of the sheer number of people who play a popular lottery like the SuperEnalotto. Millions of people are picking numbers, and for a lottery to have a gestation period of 9 dry months before birthing a record breaking jackpot is almost unheard of. When you add the internet players and how cyberspace has made traditionally local lotteries available to the world, you further narrow the odds that any lottery will go nearly a year without crowning a winner. That is exactly what happened though. In defiance of the sheer number of people selecting millions of combinations of numbers, it took three-fourths of the year for the jackpot to be awarded.
While time had a lot to do with it, the size of the jackpot itself was a contributing factor as well. The bigger the jackpot, the bigger an attraction it is. While there will always be the stable core of lotto players who will buy tickets no matter the size of the top prize, there are millions of people out there who get sucked in by a huge jackpot, and join the fray. As the SuperEnalotto jackpot frenzy was reaching its crescendo, lotto players were pumping an estimated $760,000 per hour into the jackpot via ticket sales.
In 2009 the SuperEnalotto set a European record with when it gave away 144 million Euros to a lucky winner. Obviously that record was broken this year. With online players now participating in much greater numbers, and millions of new players from outside a lottos traditional region playing online, it may be awhile before we see the new record broken.
