UK Lotto

Lotto is the National Lottery of the United Kingdom which is organised by the Camelot Group, plc. Camelot was originally awarded a seven year licence to run the lottery, and the first draw took place on 14th November, 1994. However, Camelot were so successful in making the UK lottery successful (a whopping £10.6 billion was raised for good causes in the first seven years, which was £1.6 billion more than they promised) that the company was granted a further licence of seven years from 2002.

There are two Lotto draws every week in the UK – one on Wednesday and the other on Saturday. The Saturday evening draw usually offers the biggest jackpot fund (barring rollovers) and is broadcast live on television by BBC One.

The Game
The UK Lotto requires players to make six selections from the numbers 1 to 49. If they would rather have their numbers selected randomly, they can choose to purchase a “Lucky Dip” ticket instead. A payslip allows players to enter several lines of numbers for the same draw, and it is possible to have a few lines of self-selected numbers and a few Lucky Dip entries using the same payslip.

It is also possible to enter several consecutive draws with one payslip, though any Luck Dip lines that are generated by the Lotto terminal for the first draw will stand for all other draws entered. Each line costs £1 and tickets can be purchased at official Lotto outlets (which tend to be newsagents, convenience stores and Post Offices) or via the official national lottery web site.

When the draw takes place, six main numbers are drawn, along with one bonus number. The amount won depends on how many of these numbers the player has on their ticket, as explained in the following section.

The Prizes
The UK Lotto has five tiers of prize. 52% of the total prize fund is allocated to the jackpot, which is won by correctly selecting all six numbers. 16% is paid to players who match five main numbers and the bonus ball. 10% is paid to those who match five main numbers only. The remaining 22% is paid to players who match four main numbers. Players who match three main numbers are paid a flat £10 prize.

The tiers, along with the odds of winning any prize, are presented in the table below:

Numbers Matched	Odds Of Winning
All 6 main numbers	1 in 13,983,816
5 main numbers plus bonus ball	1 in 2,330,636
5 main numbers	1 in 55,492
4 main numbers	1 in 1,033
3 main numbers	1 in 57

The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 54.

Article Last Updated: 02/08/2007