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The UK National Lottery is synonymous with Lottery in the UK. If anyone mentions ‘Lottery’ in the UK they are talking about the UK National Lottery. Their market share is truly staggering. When it first launched in 1994, it was the only lottery available to UK players and backed by the UK Government so essentially had a monopoly. However, in recent years the whole lottery landscape has changed quite significantly with the introduction of other lotteries such as Euromillions, Health Lottery and Postcode Lottery then even more recently the ‘bet on jackpots’ operators such as Jackpot.com and LottoGo that truly are giving the whole industry a shake up.
Firstly, let’s take a look at some numbers:
- £1.5 BILLION donated to good causes from April 2018 - March 2019 See report
- £7.2 BILLION in ticket sales from April 2018 - March 2019
- On average £30,000,000 is raised for good causes every single week!
- Approximately 70% of UK adults play the UK National Lottery at least once per month. This equates to approximately 30 Million people.
- 5,500 UK Millionaires made since first draw in 1994
Absolutely incredible numbers, both for money raised for good causes and for the amount of winners created. So, where do the UK Lottery spend all of their ‘good causes’ money? Well, who better to tell you than Jimmy Carr and a whole host of other UK celebrities:
To summarise, that’s:
- Charities
- Wembley Stadium
- Community Project
- Olympic Medals
- The Angel of The North
- Heritage Sites
- Films
- Support for Homeless People
- Archeology
- Wildlife
- ...plus many others shouted at the end of the clip!
Undeniably an amazing force for good in UK culture and a very effective way to raise £1.5B per year while providing an exciting services for its customers.
How To Win The Jackpot
To play the UK National Lottery you have to pick 6 numbers from 1 - 59. Each line you play costs £2. To win the jackpot you need to match all 6 numbers. The odds of this happening is 1 in 45,057,474, which although that sounds bad, compared to other lotteries it’s fairly average. The odds of winning the US Powerball is 1 in 292M and the odds of winning the Euromillions is 1 in 139M.
Syndicates
The UK National Lottery claims that 1 in 5 large wins are won by syndicates. Syndicates are a great way of sharing the excitement with friends and families while also increasing your chance of winning - obviously, the flip side to this is you have to share your winnings.
Unfortunately, the experience of creating a syndicate on the National Lottery is clunky and feels like it hasn’t been updated since the nineties (which, it probably hasn’t!). Firstly, you have to download a ‘Syndicate Agreement’ which is essentially a contract to make sure the syndicate manager doesn’t run off with all the winnings. Then, you, or whoever is the syndicate manager, is responsible for collecting payments from the other members and playing the lines each week. This is quite laborious and unnecessary and another example of where companies like Jackpot.com are able to innovate faster and provide a better service to customers - Jackpot.com allows you to join a syndicate online with everything automated.
Scratchcards & Instant Wins
Almost as synonymous as the National Lottery are their scratchcards. You can’t walk into a newsagents, petrol station or supermarket without seeing the colourful displays.
The amount you pay for scratchcards vary from £1 to £5 with the jackpot varying from £100 to £4,000,000.
The National Lottery has a page which tells you how many jackpot scratch cards are still available to be won for each title (see here). However, as they don’t publish the total number of scratchcards printed out it’s impossible to work out the odds of winning the jackpot.
Some of the most popular scratchcards are:
- Instant Millionaire - £5 to play - Win £1,000,000
- Monopoly Jackpot - £5 to play - Win £1,000,000
- Bee Lucky - £1 to play - Win £5,000
- Bangers ‘n’ Cash - £1 to play - Win £5,000
- Super 7’s - £2 to play - Win £100,000
The scratchcards on offer are changing regularly, for an up to date list click here.
All UK National Lotteries
Aside from ‘Lotto’, the UK National Lottery also offers the following games:
| Lotto | Price To Play | Average Jackpot | Odds Of Winning Jackpot | Value Ratio |
| Lotto - The original, classic. Drawn every Wednesday & Saturday. | £2.00 | £10,000,000** | 1 in 45,000,000 | 9 |
| Euromillions - An amalgamation of lotteries from nine different European countries. Drawn Tuesday & Friday. | £2.50 | £55,000,000* | 1 in 139,000,000 | 6.3 |
| Set For Life - Win £10,000 per month for the next 30 years. Drawn Monday & Thursday | £1.50 | £3,600,000 (£10,000 per month for 30 years) |
1 in 15,000,000 | 6.25 |
| Lotto Hotpicks - Based on the main Lotto draw. You can pick 1 - 5 balls to play. Drawn Wednesday & Saturday | £1.00 | £350,000 | 1 in 800,000 | 2.2 BEST VALUE |
| Euromillions Hotpicks - Based on the Euromillions draw. You can pick 1 - 5 balls to play. Drawn Tuesday & Friday | £1.50 | £1,000,000 | 1 in 2,000,000 | 3.0 |
| Thunderball - Select 6 numbers from 1 - 39. Don’t share the jackpot if you win. Drawn Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday. | £1.00 | £500,000 | 1 in 8,000,000 | 16 WORST VALUE |
* September 2016 - 2019
** Approximate. Based on 2015 - 2019.
Value Ratio Explained
The value ratio shows the value for money you are getting. The lower the value ratio the better value for money it is. The calculation is:
(Odds of Winning ÷ (Average Jackpot ÷ Stake))
Lotto Awards Won
How To Buy A Ticket
- Create an account. It’s quick and easy to do. You must be over 16, have a registered debit card and be a UK resident.
- Deposit funds. You have to deposit a minimum of £10 - slightly annoying if you're only planning to play once. This is secure as the site using SSL.
- Play. Select the lotto you want to play, numbers you want to play and number of weeks. Or select continuous if you would like to play weekly by direct debit.
- Receive email. Email confirms you've been entered and shows you where to find your numbers.
- Winners. The National Lottery will email you if you've won.
UK National Lottery Lotto Offers
The National Lottery doesn’t offer any promotions or promo codes. The only big changes to keep an eye on are the rollover jackpots. These can significantly increase the jackpot size without massively increasing the odds of winning it.
UK National Lottery Odds
| Match | Win | Odds/Probability |
| 6 Numbers | Jackpot. This is calculated as 56% of ticket sales. Can rollover multiple times |
1 in 45,057,474 |
| 5 Numbers + Bonus Ball | £1,000,000 | 1 in 7,509,579 |
| 5 Numbers | £1,750 | 1 in 144,415 |
| 4 Numbers | £140 | 1 in 2,180 |
| 3 Numbers | £30 | 1 in 97 |
| 2 Numbers | Free Lucky Dip | 1 in 10.3 |
Pros
- Massive amounts of good cause donations
- Good choice of lotteries to choose from
- Great range of scratchcards
- Available in your local newsagent, supermarket or petrol station
Cons
- Smaller jackpots than the likes of the US Powerball or Mega Millions
- No regular offers or promotions
- No way to play with a syndicate other than organising one yourself
- Lack of innovative features like some of the Bet on Jackpot providers - double jackpots, number shields, frequency of draws.
- When depositing funds you have to deposit a minimum of £5
User Rating for uk national lottery
Overall Rating
Average Rating: 2.0 / 5
User Reviews: 4
Latest Reviews
SCAM
Yes i agree boycott
What a load of rubbish boycott
Love it
Thanks for your comment Samantha, we agree that the National Lottery truly does provide an amazing service. However, remember that playing the lottery is a risk, you should never treat it as a way to earn money. You should be prepared to lose everything you stake
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