Lotto
Lotto draws take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays and you must select six main numbers between 1 and 59. In the draw, six balls are randomly selected and then a Bonus Ball is drawn from the remaining 53 numbers. Any player who matches the six main numbers drawn wins the jackpot – or a share of it, should more than one person perfectly match the winning line.
Lotto Prizes
There are six prize tiers available when you play Lotto, with rewards starting from matching just two main numbers. The following table shows the odds of winning in all six prize tiers and the estimated prize value.
| How to Win | Odds | Prize Value |
|---|---|---|
| Match 6 | 1 in 45,057,474 | Jackpot |
| Match 5 + Bonus Ball | 1 in 7,509,579 | £1,000,000 |
| Match 5 | 1 in 144,415 | £1,750 |
| Match 4 | 1 in 2,180 | £140 |
| Match 3 | 1 in 97 | £30 |
| Match 2 | 1 in 10.3 | Free Lotto Lucky Dip |
| The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 9.3. | ||
The Lotto jackpot rolls over every time it is not won, and it can roll over for five consecutive draws before it is guaranteed to be given away in a Must Be Won draw. If you match all six numbers in a Must Be Won draw, you win the jackpot as normal, but if no one matches all six numbers, the jackpot prize will be shared between all other winners in what's known as a rolldown. When a rolldown occurs, the money in the jackpot prize fund will be split according to the percentages in the following table. The money needed to pay out the fixed £5 prize to Match 2 winners is paid out first.
| How to Win | Percentage of Jackpot |
|---|---|
| Match 5 + Bonus Ball | 3% |
| Match 5 | 5% |
| Match 4 | 7% |
| Match 3 | 85% |
| Match 2 | £5 and Free Lotto Lucky Dip |
| The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 9.3. | |
Players who enter online will automatically be notified of any win and smaller amounts will be paid into their account. If you buy a Lotto ticket from an authorised retailer, you will have to keep it safe and then check your numbers. Smaller prizes – those worth £100 or less – can then be collected from retailers. Anyone who is lucky enough to win a prize worth £50,000 or more, or who wins the jackpot, will have to contact the National Lottery directly to organise collection of their prize.
All Lotto prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the date of the draw, otherwise the money will be transferred to the Good Causes Fund, which supports valuable public initiatives across the UK.
Biggest Lotto Win
The largest jackpot ever given away on Lotto was £66 million in January 2016, with two winning tickets earning just over £33 million each. One of the tickets was claimed by David and Carol Martin of the Scottish Borders, while an anonymous winner from Worcester pocketed the other half of the jackpot.
The Lotto jackpot can regularly reach £20 million or more and can roll over until it reaches £55 million, after which it can only roll over one more time. If no player matches all six main numbers in that draw, then in the following draw the top prize must be won; if no one can match the whole winning line, then the jackpot will roll down into the next winning tier.