Note: *The following article is purely for fun. It is based on individual opinions and does not constitute advice. The drawing of lottery numbers is entirely random. Please always gamble responsibly. #Ad. Find out more on our How Our Site Works page.
The Health Lottery and the National Lottery are two of the most popular lottery games in the UK. But the big question is: which provides players with the best chance of winning?
Here, we will dig deep into the numbers to see which lottery is best for you...
Did you know... that lottery was illegal in the UK for over 230 years? The ban came in way back in 1698 and it wasn’t until 1934 that small lotteries were allowed to take place again.
The UK’s first state-franchised lottery was created in 1993, with the Camelot Group operating the program which saw its first draw on 19 November 1994. An incredible seven players won the top prize, sharing a jackpot of £5,874,778.
The National Lottery thrived in the early years, but player numbers dropped over the years as the odds of winning were gradually reduced. Nevertheless, the Lotto remains one of the most popular lottery games in the UK today.
Several other lotteries popped up in the intervening years, one of which was The Health Lottery, which launched in October 2011, with an eye-catching five draws each week. Although the Health Lottery offers significantly smaller jackpot prizes, it has much better odds of winning the jackpot than the National Lottery.
Health Lottery | National Lottery | |
Ticket Cost | £1 | £2 |
Numbers | 1 to 50 | 1 to 59 |
Numbers Drawn | 5 (Plus a Bonus Ball) | 6 (Plus a Bonus Ball) |
Draw Dates | Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday + Saturday | Wednesday + Saturday |
In order to play The Health Lottery or the National Lottery, you must buy a ticket from an official vendor. The Health Lottery has less numbers in the draw that the National Lottery, while only five main numbers are drawn (compared to the Lotto’s six). Both of these factors improve players chances of winning the Health Lottery.
But what are the odds of winning either Health Lottery or the National Lottery?
Unsurprisingly, you are more than 20 times more likely to win the Health Lottery jackpot compared to the National Lottery jackpot. However, when you take Value into consideration then the National Lottery is far better than the Health Lottery.
What exactly do we mean by Lotto Value? Well, you are more than 20 times more likely to win the Health Lottery than the National Lottery, however, the Health Lottery jackpot is 200 times smaller than the National Lottery jackpot (based on average historical jackpots). But then, the ticket price is 2 times more for the National Lottery (£2) than the Health Lottery (£1).
Sounds confusing, right?
Luckily, the boffins at CompareTheLotto.com have created a formula and done the sums for you. The formula is:
(Odds of Winning ÷ (Average Jackpot ÷ Stake))
Which creates the following table:
Average Jackpot | Odds Of Winning Jackpot | Value | ||
£50K* | 1 in 2.1M | Low | ||
£10M* | 1 in 45M | Average |
* Approximate jackpots based on previous six months.
Want to understand how we calculate 'Value'? Read More
The final answer being: If you are choosing between the Health Lottery and the National Lottery then we would recommend the National Lottery every time.