Mega Sena is a lottery game that is played every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in Brazil. It is just as straightforward as playing any other mainstream lottery game in South America or anywhere else and can offer some of the biggest jackpots found anywhere in the world.
How to Play Mega Sena
Playing Mega Sena is a simple matter of selecting 6 numbers from 01 to 60 and marking these on a play slip or – if playing online – on a virtual play slip. You then select the number of draws that you want to enter your numbers for and pay for the appropriate number of tickets.
Any player who matches all six numbers will win the jackpot (or a share thereof if there is more than one winner) and consolation prizes can be won by matching fewer than six numbers, as shown in the table below:
| Prize Level | How to Win | Odds of Winning |
|---|---|---|
| Jackpot | Match 6 main numbers | 1 in 50,063,860 |
| 2 | Match 5 main numbers | 1 in 154,518 |
| 3 | Match 4 main numbers | 1 in 2,332 |
Claiming Prizes
Mega Sena lottery winners must claim their prize within 90 days of the draw taking place, and failing to meet this deadline will result in the prize being forfeited. In that event the money is used to help various good causes, but the player will have no further entitlement to the prize, so it makes sense to claim any prize you win as promptly as possible. As always, players who participate in the Mega Sena game online will be notified of any win by email, but it is also a good idea to check the latest Mega Sena lottery results personally as an extra precaution.
Mega Da Virada
Although the twice-weekly Mega Sena game is the one that most Brazilians will be referring to when talking about the lottery in general terms, there is also a Mega Da Virada draw that is held every year on 31 December. 5% of proceeds raised by the Mega Sena game each week are set aside to fund the prize pool for the Mega Da Virada, so jackpots are particularly special (think nine figures). Despite the supersized jackpots that are offered by Mega Da Virada draws, tickets cost the same as in regular Mega Sena games.