5.1 billion forints to be exact. Is this a lot or a little? Well, it wouldn't be possible to finance even a day's war in Ukraine, at most 1-2 hours.

Since last July, there has been no hit in the five-number lottery, so Szerencsejáték Zrt. - whose president and CEO, Andrea Mager, gave an exclusive interview to Index - will this week pay HUF 5.1 billion to the lucky person who hits the five numbers 1 and 90, which will be drawn in the draw on Saturday evening.

This is the second largest lottery prize of all time, the previous record amount was HUF 6.431 billion, which was won in the 13th game week of 2020.

The first lottery draw was held in Hungary on March 7, 1957, the first five-hit winner came five weeks later (could it be a coincidence?!), then it was worth HUF 855,000.

The current streak has been going on for 24 weeks, so far there have been 590 players within one winning number of the jackpot. There are 52 weeks available for winnings to accumulate, after which the jackpot will no longer increase. If there is no winning ticket in the last draw, the jackpot is divided among the other winners based on the participation rules, but this has never happened before in the game's 67-year history.

In addition, as of January 1, 2024, according to a bill passed in November, lottery games will be tax-exempt (until now the tax burden was 15 percent, which was paid by Szerencsejáték Zrt.), so the amount of prizes has increased significantly. Only the winnings of number games increase because lotteries are low-risk in terms of gambling passion.

Three pairs of shoes, a luxury villa, José Mourinho for two years: what is HUF 5.1 billion enough for these days? 

If you happen to be the lucky winner who can take HUF 5.1 billion home, we have collected some things that you can buy from it. The range is wide, from sports shoes to luxury villas and paintings. We show that five billion forints can actually be stolen in a matter of minutes if one is not careful.

Michael Jordan 6 shoes: HUF 3.5 billion

Let's start with the cheapest, six shoes. Michael Jordan needs no introduction to anyone, relics of one of (if not the) best basketball player of all time have already sold for record prices, for example this jersey, for which they paid more than HUF 400 million. However, they can take his shoes, which he wore in the NBA Grand Finals won with the Chicago Bulls, for a much higher amount. After each winner's grand final, he signed one half of the shoe he wore and gave it to PR director Tim Hallam, from whom an American collector bought the 6-footer, which is now being auctioned. According to the news, the shoes can be sold for 3.5 billion HUF. We do not recommend them for everyday wear, moreover, Jordan wears size 47, so the new owner will also need a smaller display case to store the shoes.

Puskás Akadémia FC's total player base: HUF 4 billion

Apart from Ferencváros, the players' squads of all NB I football teams can be bought for five billion HUF, after the defending champion, Fehérvár and Puskás Akadémia are the most expensive with their squads worth HUF 4 billion. It is important to add that this only applies to the acquisition of playing rights for football players, based on Transfermarkt's estimates. The value of the clubs is much higher than this, in Felcsút, for example, they built a tea kitchen for 155 million forints - in addition to the purchase of the players' squad, even this would be enough from the lottery prize.

You can get one of the world's most successful coaches, José Mourinho, for two years: HUF 5 billion

Let's stay with football, it is still the nation's sport: the lottery five could finance José Mourinho, one of the world's most successful coaches, for two years. The Portuguese star coach is currently looking for a club, as he was fired from AS Roma a few days ago. Although HUF 5 billion seems a bit low for the Special One (in Rome, he earned the equivalent of HUF 2.6 billion per year), perhaps he could be convinced with a sensational tea kitchen.

The castle of Lajcsi Lajcsi, alias Lajos Galambos: HUF 5 billion

Although it was removed from the list of properties for sale in September last year, Lajos Galambos' castle in Mocsa was assessed at a market value of HUF 5 billion. It would be difficult to do business with the musician now, as he is currently serving his prison sentence in the Baracska Penitentiary.

Acsai Castle: HUF 5 billion

Those who definitely want a castle are in luck, as the Acsa Palace is currently listed for sale on the website of ingtalan.com, and the purchase price is HUF 5 billion. The 3,133-square-meter mansion is located on a 60,000-square-meter estate, with 13 bedrooms, 2 reception rooms and 7 bathrooms waiting for its future owner - who cannot live in just any environment. For example, you can cool off in the summer in the shade of trees planted from the Highlands, you can keep racehorses in the stable and even organize a race for them on the horse racetrack, you can wander around the fishing lake, but you can also jump home by helicopter, because there is also a landing strip on the property. In addition, there is thermal water under its territory, so you don't have to go far for the spa after a little development.

Paintings of the Hungarian National Bank: HUF 5 billion

If you were to invest your lottery winnings in works of art, we have a five-billion dollar tip: buy the painting collection of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank! Since 2020, the real estate subsidiary of the central bank has bought nearly 1,300 works of art, the total value of which is HUF 5 billion.

The third most expensive new car in the world: HUF 5 billion

If you are a lover of cars and speed, you can surprise yourself with the third most expensive new car in the world, a Bugatti Centodieci, the price of which is 4 million dollars, converted to 5 billion forints. The Centodieci model was designed for the 110th anniversary of the Bugatti car factory, and only ten units were produced. The most expensive car in the world would require two lottery tickets, the price of the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail is HUF 10 billion.

It could shorten the distance between Earth and Mars

The average price of fuel is currently HUF 581, and 8.6 million liters of gasoline could be purchased from the lottery ticket, which would be enough to cover 113 million kilometers with an average consumption of 8 liters. This is more than the distance between Earth and Mars (approx. 80 million km), it would be possible to drive around our planet a hundred times, since the distance is approximately 112 thousand kilometers. An interesting fact: Hungary's annual fuel consumption in 2022 was 1.5 billion liters.

There is no chance of being among the 100 richest Hungarians

Forbes prepares (estimates) the list of the richest Hungarians every year. According to the latest 2023 register, HUF 5.1 billion of the current lottery five would not be enough to enter, at least HUF 14.5 billion is needed. If someone were to win all the lottery games at once, they would collect just over HUF 10 billion. Just…

Russian-Ukrainian war: 2.5 hours of fighting can be financed with HUF 5 billion

Taking the Russian-Ukrainian war as a basis, a day of war costs 300-350 million dollars, which translates to 100-125 billion forints. Of course, this depends on several components, so the loss of tanks and other equipment, and the supply (ammunition, food, medical care) depends on the size of the force, the calculation comes out to be this much for an army of one hundred thousand people. So, the lottery five could not finance even a day of warfare, at most 1-2 hours of it.

A person's imagination can only be limited by himself and his wallet, the latter should not be an obstacle if he takes the lottery five.

Index

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