Brazilian lottery has estimated prize of BRL 450 million

Bets for Mega Sena’s Mega da Virada lottery begin today (Nov. 16). The drawing will be held on December 31. Whoever matches all six tens of the jackpot will win an estimated prize of BRL 450 million ($ 84.88 million dollars).

This is the largest amount ever paid by Caixa Econômica Federal, the bank tasked with managing the contest in the country. Bets can be placed in any lottery retailer accredited by Caixa, throughout the country, or online.

As in the other special contests, the Mega da Virada jackpot does not accumulate. If the main group has no winner (at least five numbers guessed correctly), the prize is divided among the winners in the second group (four numbers correct), and so on.

To place a bet on the Mega da Virada, players simply choose six to 20 numbers among the 60 available on the ticket. Players can also let the system choose their numbers using the "surprise" mode. The minimum bet, with six numbers selected, costs BRL 4.50 ($ 0.84 cents).