£43m Lotto Jackpot Whips Up Gambling Frenzy in Italy

Italy is in the grip of lottery fever after the country's main game rolled over for a 43rd time in a row this week pushing the jackpot in tomorrow evening's draw to £43m.

The huge prize in the "SuperEnalotto" is seducing people who do not normally buy tickets, as well the occasional players and foreigners. Italy's AGI news agency said people from neighbouring Slovenia and Austria had travelled to Tarvisio, northern Italy, to pick their numbers.

Long lines formed at ticket outlets in Rome yesterday. Maria Teresa Millozzi, owner of a bar near the Pantheon in central Rome where lottery tickets are sold, said: "When the jackpot is this high, you even get tourists and foreigners trying their luck."

In SuperEnalotto, a number is drawn from a wheel in six of Italy's largest cities, in a tense show televised by the state-run broadcaster RAI every Wednesday and Saturday.

As in the UK's Lotto, ticket holders need all six winning numbers to claim the jackpot.

At one lottery outlet in Rome's central Piazza Venezia, store owners sold ticket after ticket to a seemingly endless flow of people.

"We play rarely, but with such a high jackpot we got organised," said 42-year-old Gianni Meola, who was betting with six colleagues. "If we win we run away together. If not, then it is just a way to reinforce our friendship."

SuperEnalotto, which is run by a government contractor, became an instant hit when it was introduced in 1997. However, the size of the current jackpot has prompted some concern. Alfredo Biondi, a conservative legislator from the Forza Italia party of the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, suggested that whoever wins the prize should get it in annual instalments. "That avoids the risk of upsetting your life," he said.

This week's UK rollover stands at a slightly less impressive £8.5m for tomorrow night's Lotto draw.

The largest ever UK lottery jackpot was £42,008,620, shared by three winning tickets on January 6 1996.