Superenalotto draws in Italy are held three times a week, usually on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and until Saturday no-one had hit the big jackpot (which increases each week) since Jan 31, 2009.

The Superenalotto lottery attracted millions of punters undaunted by the odds of winning that were estimated at about one in 622 million.

Betting fever also spread abroad with people from neighbouring countries such as France, Switzerland and Austria, hopping across the border to Italy just to buy a ticket.

Popular tabloid newspapers in Germany and Belgium ran their own competitions offering winners free air tickets to fly to Italy to buy Superenalotto tickets.