The National Lottery - Just the facts

The National Lottery - Just the facts

The National Lottery is the United Kingdom's largest lottery. It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the license was granted in 1994 & again in 2001. The lottery is regulated by The National Lottery Commission. The National Lottery undertook a major rebranding programme in 2002 designed to combat falling sales. This resulted in the main game being renamed Lotto. However, the games as a collective are still known as The National Lottery. It is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the United Kingdom.

All prizes are paid as a lump sum & are tax-free. Of every pound (£) spent on Lottery games, 50 pence (p) goes to the prize fund, 28p to good causes as set out by Parliament (though some of this is considered by some to be a stealth tax, supported in many polls, levied to support the New Opportunities fund, a fund constituted to support public spending), 12p to the British Government as duty & 5p going to retailers as commission, while Camelot receives 4.5p to cover operating costs & 0.5p profit. Players must be at least 16 years of age to participate in the lottery, either in the drawn lottery games or by purchase of lottery scratchcards.

There are eleven different machines that can be used for the Lotto draw. The machine & set of lottery balls to be used is selected at random, & is announced just prior to the draw. The machines are designated Merlin, Arthur, Galahad, Vyvyan, Lancelot, Garnet, Topaz, Opal, Amethyst, Moonstone & Pearl. Ball sets, of which there are eight, are designated by number.

Lotto
Six numbers are drawn from a set of individually numbered balls with numbers in the range 1–49, as well as a further bonus ball. Balls, once drawn, are not returned to the draw machine, therefore each ball (including the bonus ball) can only be drawn once per Lotto draw. Players choose six different numbers by a method of their own choosing at the time they purchase a ticket. Ticket issuing machines can generate a random set of play numbers as a so–called Lucky Dip. Prizes are awarded to players who match at least three of the six drawn numbers with increasing prize value for matching more of the drawn numbers. In addition to the six drawn numbers, an additional number is drawn as the Bonus Ball. The bonus ball is only relevant to those players who match five of the six drawn numbers, whereby those players matching exactly five of the drawn numbers who also match the bonus ball receive a larger prize than those matching just 5 of the drawn numbers. Anyone matching all six drawn numbers wins a share of the jackpot; the chance of doing so is 1 in 13,983,816. For players matching at least four of the drawn balls the prize value is dependent on the total number of players also matching the same number of balls in that the prize fund is divided equally between all players matching that number of drawn numbers. In the event that no player matches all six of the drawn numbers the jackpot is accumulated into the next Lotto draw, a so–called Rollover. This accumulation is limited to three consecutive draws. Rollover is a common occurrence, happening once every few draws, though a three week roll-over is a rather less common occurrence having happened only twice to date.

The price of entry to Lotto is £1 per set of six chosen numbers.

The draw is conducted on Wednesdays & Saturdays. Saturday draws started on November 19, 1994, under the name 'National Lottery'. The first Wednesday draw was on February 5, 1997. All draws are shown live on BBC One in the UK, with the Saturday draw shown as a segment in a range of different Lottery branded gameshows throughout the year.

The game was rebranded 'Lotto' in 2002.

The Lotto prize fund is 45 percent of draw sales. Camelot state that the 3 ball prize winners are calculated first, these receive £10 each; the remaining prize fund is then divided as shown in the table below & split equally with the number of winners for each selection:

Match Prize Approximate odds
3 numbers £10 56:1 (i.e. 1 in 57)
4 numbers 22% of remaining fund 1,031:1
5 numbers 10% of remaining fund 55,490:1
5 numbers & bonus ball 16% of remaining fund 2,330,635:1
6 numbers 52% of remaining fund 13,983,815:1 (i.e. 1 in 13,983,816)

The 6/49 mentioned above also had an optional add-on game known as Lotto Extra which could be played for an additional £1 . However, its only prize was for matching all six regular numbers drawn for the 6/49 jackpot (there were no lower-tier prizes; you lost even if you matched five). It was discontinued in 2006.

Lotto Hotpicks
Lotto Hotpicks uses the main Lotto draw for its numbers, but differs in how the players' numbers are chosen. While in Lotto six regular numbers are chosen & prizes are available on partial matches, in Hot Picks the player chooses fewer numbers, but must match all of them to win. The odds & payouts are as follows

Match Prize Odds of winning
1 number £5 1: 9
2 numbers £40 1: 79
3 numbers £450 1: 922
4 numbers £7 000 1: 14,126
5 numbers £130 000 1: 317,814

Thunderball
Thunderball was launched on June 7, 1999. Players pick five main numbers from 1 to 34 & one 'Thunderball' number from 1 to 14, for an entry fee of £1. Draws currently take place every Saturday & Wednesday. The first mid-week Thunderball was on October 17, 2002.

Match Prize Odds of winning
1 + Thunderball £5 1: 33
2 + Thunderball £10 1: 107
3 numbers £10 1: 74
3 + Thunderball £20 1: 960
4 numbers £100 1: 2,067
4 + Thunderball £250 1: 26,866
5 numbers £5 000 1: 299,661
5 + Thunderball £250 000 1: 3,895,584

Dream Number
Dream Number was launched on July 15, 2006. Dream Number involves generating a random seven digit number for entry into the draw. It can be played independently of Lotto, or if played with Lotto one Dream Number is generated per ticket, not per lotto entry. The cost of entry is £1. A dream number is automatically printed on every lotto ticket bought, whether the player has chosen to enter it into the draw or not. Unlike other Lotto games, it is not possible to choose the number entered, & the order that the numbers are drawn is important, since the numbers must be matched in order for the player to win. All money raised for good causes from Dream Number will go towards the 2012 Summer Olympics & 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

Match Prize Odds of winning
1st number only £2 1: 11.12
1st 2 numbers £10 1: 111.12
1st 3 numbers £100 1: 1,111.2
1st 4 numbers £500 1: 11,112
1st 5 numbers £5 000 1: 111,112
1st 6 numbers £50 000 1: 1,111,112
all 7 numbers £500 000 1: 10,000,000

The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 10.

Source: National Lottery Players Guide

Scratchcards
As well as draw tickets, the National Lottery sells (through newsagents, supermarkets, & so on) scratchcards.

These are small pieces of card where an area has been covered by a thin layer of opaque (and usually designed according to the particular card) latex that can be scratched off. Under this area are concealed the items/pictures that must be found in order to win.

The generic scratchcard requires the player to match three of the same prize amounts. If this is accomplished, they win that amount, the highest possible being £100,000. Other scratchcards involve matching symbols, pictures or words.

The majority of National Lottery scratchcards are sold for £1. Larger scratchcards with two or more chances to win or a larger than usual maximum cash prize, for example £250,000, cost £2. There are also scratchcards available for £5.

Daily Play
The Daily Play draw can be played every day but Sunday & Christmas Day. By selecting 7 numbers between 1 & 27, players can win anything from a free lucky-dip to £30,000. The draw is known well for giving its players the chance to win a free daily play lucky-dip for not matching any numbers in the draw.

The draw currently has no live broadcast. The results on Saturdays are recorded & announced during the live broadcast of the Lotto, Dream Number & Thunderball draws on BBC One. The Daily Play draw can, however, be watched every day online via the BBC's website.

Match Prize Odds of winning
0 numbers £1 Daily Play
Lucky Dip Ticket 1: 11.5
4 numbers £5 1: 22.3
5 numbers £30 1: 222.6
6 numbers £300 1: 6,343.1
7 numbers £30 000 1: 888,030

The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 7.4

Source: National Lottery Daily Play Game Rules & Procedures

EuroMillions
On Saturday 7 February 2004 the lottery organisation Camelot launched a pan-European lottery: EuroMillions. The first draw took place on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris. The UK, France & Spain were involved initially. Lotteries from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal & Switzerland joined the draw on 8 October 2004 & the draws are currently made in Paris, & shown in the UK on UKTV Gold. The odds of winning the Jackpot is 1 in 76,275,360.

Olympic Lottery
Following the success of London's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, Olympic Lottery Scratchcards were launched on 27 July 2005 under the brand name "Go for Gold". 28% of the price of £1 goes to the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund, & the scratchcards are intended to raise £750,000,000 ($1,456,836,819) towards the cost of running the games.

The National Lottery on television
The National Lottery is well represented on several TV game shows, including Jet Set with Eammon Holmes, & 1 vs 100 with Dermot O'Leary, all on BBC 1. These game shows take a break at various points for The National Lottery draws. The Draws have their own five minute slot on BBC1 on Wednesdays, which is presented by BBC Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills.

Good Causes
It was announced during the live Saturday night draw show on 30 March 2007 that The National Lottery has so far raised £20 billion ($39.2 billion) for good causes, a programme which distributes money via grants. 28% of lottery revenue goes towards the fund, along with all unclaimed prizes. Additionally, 12% goes to the state. The prize fund is 50% of revenue, with the remaining 10% going towards running costs & profits for the lottery organisers & ticket sellers.

The distribution of money to good causes is not the responsibility of the operator (Camelot). It is the responsibility of The National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF), administered by the government Department for Culture, Media & Sport.

Unclaimed prizes
Winning tickets must be claimed within 180 days of the draw taking place. If a prize is unclaimed within that time, it is distributed through the Lotto's Good Causes fund. The highest unclaimed prize distributed this way to date was a winning ticket worth £9,476,995 ($18,283,497) which expired at 17.30 GMT on Monday, 2 January 2006. This ticket was the 24th prize in excess of one million pounds to be unclaimed.

Regulation
The National Lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission - a non-departmental public body reporting to the Department of Culture, Media & Sport. Until 1 April 1999 the National Lottery was regulated by the Office of the National Lottery (known by the acronym OFLOT).

The Lottery was set up in 1993 under the National Lottery etc Act 1993 & was reformed under the National Lottery Act 1998 & the National Lottery Act 2006

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