National Lottery
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- For the National Lottery of Ireland, see An Post National Lottery Company.
The National Lottery is the United Kingdom's largest lottery. It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the franchise was granted in 1994 and 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 and 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, 12p to the British Government as duty and 5p going to retailers as commission, while Camelot receives 4.5p to cover operating costs and 0.5p profit [1]. Sales of tickets and scratchcards are banned to under-16s.
There are eleven different machines that can be used for the Lotto draw. Which machine is used is selected at random, and is announced just prior to the draw. The machine names are Merlin, Arthur, Galahad, Vyvyan, Lancelot, Garnet, Topaz, Opal, Amethyst, Moonstone and Pearl.
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[edit] Games
Several games operate under the National Lottery brand:
[edit] Lotto
Six numbers are drawn from a range of 1–49, as well as a further bonus ball. Players choose six different numbers. Prizes are awarded for three to six matches of the six, along with five matches and a match for the bonus ball. Anyone matching all six balls wins the jackpot; the chance of doing so is 1 in 13,983,816 (assuming the drawing of the balls is completely random so that all possible combinations have an equal chance of occurring). The price for a ticket is £1.
The draw is conducted on Wednesdays and 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 and split equally with the number of winners for each selection:
| Match | Prize | Odds of winning |
|---|---|---|
| 3 numbers | £10 | 1: 57 |
| 4 numbers | 22% of remaining fund | 1: 1,032 |
| 5 numbers | 10% of remaining fund | 1: 55,491 |
| 5 numbers and bonus ball | 16% of remaining fund | 1: 2,330,636 |
| 6 numbers | 52% of remaining fund | 1: 13,983,816 |
[edit] Lotto Extra
Launched on 13 November 2000, players playing the main Lotto draw had the option to enter the Lotto Extra draw at the same time with the same six numbers. The price for including Lotto Extra on a ticket was an additional £1 per entry — it was not possible to play Lotto Extra separately. Six numbers were drawn from a range of 1–49. If you matched all six balls you win the jackpot; the chance of doing so was 1 in 13,983,816. There were no other prizes. If no one matched all six numbers the jackpot rolled over until it was won or reached £50 million, when, if no one matched all six then the prize would roll down to players matching five, if none then four, if none then three, etc.
The draw was conducted on Wednesdays and Saturdays. All Saturday draws were shown live on BBC One in the UK, immediately after the main Lotto draw, whereas due to lack of time on Wednesday draws, just the pre-selected winning numbers were displayed onscreen after the Lotto draw.
The game was rebranded 'Lotto Extra' from the launch name of 'Lottery Extra' at the same time as the main game. Following poor sales for the 'Lotto Extra', Camelot retired the game on Saturday July 8th 2006.
[edit] Lotto Hot Picks
Lotto Hotpicks uses the main Lotto draw for its numbers, but differs in how the players' numbers are chosen. While in both Lotto and Lotto Extra six numbers are chosen and prizes are available on partial matches, in Hot Picks the player chooses fewer numbers, but must match all of them to win. The odds and 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 |
[edit] Thunderball
Thunderball was launched on June 7, 1999. Players pick five main numbers from 1 to 34 and one 'Thunderball' number from 1 to 14, for an entry fee of £1. Draws currently take place every Saturday and 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 |
[edit] Dream Number
Dream Number was launched on July 15, 2006 to replace the retired Lotto Extra game. 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. 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, and 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 and 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
[edit] Scratchcards
As well as draw tickets, the National Lottery sells (through newsagents, supermarkets, and 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.
[edit] Daily Play
The Daily Play draw can be played every day but Sunday & Christmas Day. By selecting 7 numbers between 1 and 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 however it did have a slot on the television channel Challenge.
| 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
[edit] EuroMillions
- For more details on this topic, see 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 and Spain were involved initially. Lotteries from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland joined the draw on 8 October 2004 and the draws are currently made in Paris, and shown in the UK on the channel Challenge. The odds of winning the Jackpot is 1 in 76,275,360.
[edit] 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". 28p of the price of £1 goes to the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund, and the scratchcards are intended to raise £750 million towards the cost of running the games.
[edit] Good Causes
The National Lottery has so far raised £17 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 and profits for the lottery organisers and 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 and Sport.
[edit] 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, which expired at 17.30 GMT on Monday, 2 January 2006 [2]. This ticket was the 24th prize in excess of one million pounds to be unclaimed.
[edit] Regulation
The National Lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission - a non-departmental public body reporting to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Until April 1st 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 ([3]) and was reformed under the National Lottery Act 1998 ([4]) and the National Lottery Act 2006 ([5])
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- National Lottery website.
- National Lottery Commission.
- Department for Culture / NLDF website.
- Heritage Lottery Fund.
- Refugee Stories - Listen to People's Experiences Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This site is full of oral history in mp3 format. The project won the 2006 Charity Award for arts, culture and heritage in the UK.
[edit] National Lottery in the news
- The lottery's winners and losers — a BBC news article about the National Lottery's first ten years.
- London's Olympic Agenda from BBC News.
- "Ten years of the Lottery", New Statesman special supplement, 8 November 2004.
- The Lottery — it shouldn't be you — The Times, January 27, 2006 — an article scathing of the Lottery.
