How to Play French Lotto (France Loto) from Brazil: A Brazilian Player's Guide

Yes, you can hold a France Loto entry from Brazil, but only through a lottery courier. FDJ (La Française des Jeux), the French national lottery operator, sells Loto at tabacs across France and online, and its own website and app are restricted to players located in France. A player in Brazil has no official outlet, so a courier buys a genuine grid in France on your instruction and scans it into your account.

The game itself has no nationality rule: whoever holds the winning ticket is paid. The questions for a Brazilian player are the legal position, the time of the draw, the cost in reais and the tax, which the next sections take in turn.

We could not find a Brazilian rule that names a courier purchase of a foreign draw ticket, and we could not find an official statement that it is allowed either, so we cannot give you a clear yes. What exists is narrower. Brazil's Law 14,790 of 2023 set up a licensed regime for fixed-odds betting run inside Brazil, which is a different product from a lottery ticket bought in France.

The ticket itself is an official FDJ ticket issued in France, so the purchase takes place under French rules. Use only an established courier with a track record, keep the money you put in to an amount you can afford to lose, and take advice from a Brazilian lawyer or accountant before committing a sum that matters.

France Loto is drawn every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 8:20 pm Paris time, the draw time on FDJ's how-to-play page. Entries close at 8:15 pm on draw days.

Brasilia time (UTC-3) is the same all year, so the Brazilian clock time moves when Paris changes its clocks. While Paris is on summer time (CEST), the draw is at 3:20 pm in Brasilia. Paris went back to winter time (CET) on 25 October 2026, so from the Monday 26 October draw it is **4:20 pm in Brasilia on the same day**, and entries close at 4:15 pm.

Unlike players in Asia or Australia, you do not have to stay up for it: the draw lands in the afternoon on the same calendar day, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Results appear on FDJ's site and app shortly after. If you buy through a courier, its own cut-off is earlier than FDJ's, so check the deadline it shows against your ticket before you plan around the draw.

• Pick a courier that serves Brazil and actually carries France Loto. Not every operator offers every game.
• Open an account and verify your identity. Expect a photo ID and proof of address.
• Choose five numbers from 1 to 49 and one numéro Chance from 1 to 10, or take a quick pick.
• Pay with a method the courier accepts for Brazilian customers and your bank will allow.
• Check that the scan of your ticket appears in your account before entry closes. That scan is your proof of entry.
• After the draw the courier checks your line and credits any win to your account.

A France Loto grid costs €2.20 at FDJ. At the European Central Bank's 30 October 2026 reference rate of 6.0692 reais to the euro, that is about **R$13.35 per grid**, before the courier's service fee, which is added on top and charged at the rate of the day. Your real cost per line therefore always sits above R$13.35.

Because the exchange rate moves, the amount on your receipt will differ a little from draw to draw. Ask your bank whether a card payment in a foreign currency attracts extra charges on its side, such as the IOF transaction tax, because that comes on top of the courier's fee. The courier's fee is its income, not a cut of any prize, so a win is paid in full.

Couriers generally take international credit and debit cards, and some also take e-wallets. Whether a Brazilian card goes through is up to the issuing bank, and a declined payment is usually the bank applying its own risk policy to a foreign gambling-type merchant rather than a sign the courier is fake. If a card is declined, a different card or a wallet the courier lists for Brazil is the usual workaround.

Methods and availability change, so confirm which ones the courier supports for Brazil before you rely on one for a draw you care about.

France Loto differs from most games sold abroad because of its second number. You pick five numbers from 1 to 49, plus a numéro Chance from 1 to 10 drawn from its own machine. Five numbers plus the Chance wins the jackpot at 1 in 19,068,840. Matching the Chance number with no more than one main number refunds your €2.20 grid, a fixed rank-9 prize, which is why the odds of winning something are about 1 in 6.

There are nine prize ranks in all, and every draw FDJ also assigns ten raffle codes worth €20,000 each among the grids in play. The jackpot starts at a guaranteed €2 million and grows by €1 million each draw it is not won, with no cap. The record was €30 million, won in December 2021. Our France Loto guide lists what every rank pays, and the results page shows the latest numbers.

Expect to, in Brazil, even though France takes nothing. French law does not treat gains from games of chance as taxable income, so FDJ pays the full advertised amount with no withholding at any size.

Brazil is the other side. A Brazilian resident is taxed on income from foreign sources, and a 2025 ruling from the Federal Revenue, as summarised by EY, says gains Brazilian residents obtain from foreign games and bets are subject to income tax through the monthly *carnê-leão* collection, with no deduction of losses against winnings. The 15% rate in the 2023 betting law applies to prizes from Brazilian fixed-odds bets, and we found no source stating which rate applies to a foreign lottery prize, or whether it is paid monthly or yearly. Reports differ on that point.

Because France withholds nothing, there is no French tax to claim relief for, so the Brazilian side is the whole question. This is not tax advice and the rules are still being clarified. For a prize that matters, pay for an hour with a Brazilian contador before you claim.

Lower-tier wins are credited to your courier account and withdrawn to your bank, converted to reais at the rate on the day. Larger prizes are paid by FDJ in France, not by the courier. For a top-tier win the operator transfers the official ticket into your name and handles the claim on your instruction, which means identity documents and sometimes a trip to France to collect in person. Ask your operator how it handles claims before you play, because the answer differs between them.

The step that deserves caution is the last one. Bringing a large foreign payout into Brazil is where the tax reporting above and your bank's own checks meet, so take professional advice before a claim of that size rather than after.

The jackpot needs five numbers from 1 to 49 plus the numéro Chance at about 1 in 19,068,840. The overall chance of winning something is roughly 1 in 6, and most of those wins are the €2.20 refund.

Set beside the games Brazilian players see most, that is a very different shape. EuroMillions has jackpot odds of 1 in 139,838,160 for a ceiling of €250 million, so France Loto is easier to win by a wide margin but pays far less at the top. No method of picking numbers changes either figure. The realistic outcome of ordinary play is the refund or a small prize, converted to reais on withdrawal.

Three rules protect you more than any number system: you cannot win a draw you never entered, no genuine operator charges a fee to release a prize, and a licence should be checked on the regulator's own register, not trusted from a badge. Advance-fee lottery fraud is widespread, and messages saying you have won a French or European lottery you never entered are scams.

We would rather you played less than played badly. If it stops feeling like entertainment, speak to a counsellor, and see our responsible-play page for the limits worth setting. Reading about another game from Brazil? The EuroMillions guide for Brazilian players covers the same legal and payment questions, and the India guide to France Loto goes deeper on the game itself.