This year again, players in Haute-Garonne have won the jackpot. Between the draws and the scratch games, eight wins of 500,000 euros or more were recorded in 2021.
Hope. It is this inexplicable feeling that drives thousands of Haute-Garonnais to go to a tobacconist every day and buy a lotto grid or a scratch game. In search of a financial El Dorado for a few euros. “It is a department where games of chance are doing very well. Particularly thanks to Toulouse, where, due to its population density, points of sale are experiencing a significant flow. This year is also special, ”says Sabine Bachichet, head of the Toulouse Haute-Garonne agency of the Française des Jeux (FDJ). Of the 23 million players, the number in the department remains unknown, however, for lack of precise data.
In 2021, eight big gains were recorded. Six of which were won thanks to scratch games, offering players between 500,000 and 1.5 million euros. The last were in Labarthe-Rivière and Toulouse, in November. 500,000 euros in winnings won by scratching a “Cash”, the players’ star game, and a “Take it or leave it”. The biggest gain of the year was recorded in Saint-Lys, 30 kilometers from Toulouse. The winning Mission Patrimoine 2021 ticket was validated in September in the tobacco shop in the Halle, 17 place Nationale. A player bought two scratch tickets. It was with one of them that she won 1.5 million euros.
The winners of the Loto draws in the department have familiarized themselves with this amount. Two players from Colomiers and Lacroix-Falgarde pocketed € 1 million each in May and August.
We play more Loto than elsewhere
So officially 6 million euros were won with games of chance. But unofficially, it’s a lot more. Besides the big prizes, a rain of smaller sums was collected. However, the FDJ could not identify all the gains in Haute-Garonne.
There is one reason why the majority of wins in the department come from scratch games. They represent 48% of the market share of the FDJ in Occitania in 2020. At the national level, this figure climbs to 51%.
In the region, players also have a penchant for ticking boxes. We play more at the draw (Loto, My Millions, Keno) than elsewhere. This range of games constitutes 29% of the market share of the FDJ against 22% in France. Sports betting weighs 19%. Express games are marginal, accounting for only 4% of the market share.
This year again, millions of euros were raised by the Haut-Garonnais between the draws and the scratch games. But the year has not come to an end. With the FDJ’s gift bags, the month of December could reserve some big prizes at the foot of the tree.
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