UK National Lottery Overview
The operator of the UK National Lottery is the Camelot Group and its regulator is the National Lottery Commission which was established by the UK government in 1994.
UK National Lottery winnings are fully paid to their winners and no taxes are levied on them. Half of the money players spend on purchasing lottery tickets is poured into the prize fund, 12% is paid as taxes to the government, 4.5% is spent on operating the lottery, 0.5% is retained as profit, and 28% is diverted to the Big Lottery Fund, which has been created to support various charities. Only players who have completed 16 can play the lottery games and scratch cards.
The UK National Lottery generates more than eight million winners during an average week, and this includes six millionaires. So far, it has paid more than £63 billion in prize money and generated over 4,600 multi-millionaires or millionaires ever since its launch.
The local favorite is the Lotto, but the international favorite is the EuroMillions. The UK National Lottery also runs instant win games, and games such as Lotto Hot Picks and Thunderball, which create several happy winners every week.
Buy UK National Lottery Tickets
Players can purchase tickets to UK National Lottery games at any retailer. They can also register accounts at the UK National Lottery website and purchase the tickets online. They can link their bank account numbers and pay directly from their bank account through a method called Direct Debit. They can also load funds into their accounts and purchase tickets using the loaded funds any time they please.
Alternatively, they can purchase their lottery tickets online at independent online ticket purchasing services called TheLotter. We strongly recommend TheLotter because they are licensed, reputed, and do not retain any of players’ winnings as commission.
UK National Lottery Latest Results
| Date | Numbers | Est. Jackpot |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-12-30 | 11 17 21 24 37 49 45 |
£ 5.1 Million |
| 2020-12-26 | 26 43 44 46 52 55 6 |
£ 3.8 Million |
| 2020-12-23 | 20 42 48 51 52 54 21 |
£ 15 Million |
| 2020-12-19 | 4 10 14 21 27 28 23 |
£ 4.1 Million |
History of the UK National Lottery
All varieties of lotteries were illegal in England till the mid-twentieth century because of an old law enacted in 1698. In spite of this law, lotteries such as the Malt Lottery and the Million Lottery were played in England in the late seventeenth century.
An act was passed in 1934 to legalize small lotteries across the country and this act was amended in 1956 and again in 1976. The UK National Lottery was established in 1993 and the license to operate it was granted to the Camelot Group in May 25, 1994. The first draw was held on Nov 19, 1994 and the jackpot was shared among a group of seven winners.
The UK National Lottery was rebranded in 2002 in a bid to boost sales. Its signature game was rebranded as Lotto and the supplementary draw was called Lotto Extra. But all the games organized by the UK National Lottery are still known as the National Lottery.
UK National Lottery Statistics
The UK National Lottery is associated with plenty of interesting statistics. On its website, the UK National Lottery assures players that whenever they play the lottery, they are supporting charitable institutions. Thus, every lottery player in the UK is helping the UK National Lottery to raise more than £30 million for charity every week. Lottery players are also funding more than 510,000 projects.
During the financial year that ended March 31, 2017, the UK National Lottery raised £6,925.3 million in ticket sales and £1,628 million for the various projects it supports. It has paid £3,943.2 million to winners and £831 million as taxes to the government. Retailers earned £299.6 million in commission.
UK National Lottery games have also generated thousands of happy winners, many of who won life-transforming prizes.
- Derek Ladner, who always chose the same numbers for his lottery games, finally won £958,284.
- Susan Crossland played her late father’s lucky lotto numbers and won a £1,218,618 jackpot.
- Martyn White initially felt that an email telling him that he had won a jackpot of $10 million was spam. Later, he realized that he had actually won £10,784,075 in the Lotto.
- Becky Witt and Carly Wiggett purchased a EuroMillions ticket and won a huge jackpot of £168,813.80 each.
Prize Structure
The UK National Lottery is a collection of several lottery games, instant win games, and card games. The prize structures for some of them are as follows:
Lotto: To win the Lotto jackpot, players have to match all six of the numbers drawn with their chosen numbers. They have a one in 45,057,474 chance of doing so. If nobody achieves this feat, the jackpot is rolled over to the next draw.
Lotto Hot Picks: Although it uses the numbers of the main Lotto game, it is a game in its own right. Players have to choose not only the numbers, but also the number of draw balls and win them all. The UK National Lottery says that the Lotto Hot Picks are five games rolled into one, each game offering its own prize structure and odds. If players pick five and match five, they will win £350,000. The odds of doing so are 1 in 834,398.
Thunderball: The Thunderball prize structure was changed in May 2010. If players match five numbers plus the Thunderball, they will win £500,000, but they have a one in 8,060,598 chance of doing so.
EuroMillions: This is a multi-national lottery with Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, UK, Spain, and France taking part. The odds of winning the EuroMillions jackpot are one in 139,838,160.
Charitable Causes and Sponsorships
The UK National Lottery contributes 28% of its revenue plus unclaimed prizes to a “good causes” fund. A consortium of 12 distributors, calling itself the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF), bears the responsibility of ensuring that the most deserving charities receive this money.
Currently, 40% of the fund is used for education, health, charity, and environmental causes, 20% is used for sports, 20% for arts, and 20% for heritage. By Nov 19, 2014, the UK National Lottery had raised £32 billion for various charities and projects.