uk lottery draw

Logo Of The British National Lottery

Kevin Halstead from Lancashire won £2.3 million on the UK lottery draw recently but has decided to stay driving the same bus he has been for the last seventeen years. He said, “I don’t want to pack my job in. I asked my boss for time off, a month maybe two, but I don’t want to cut myself off from my friends and I really enjoy my job.” Kevin will also buy a pony for his daughter and may move back into the village of Eccleston where he was born but is happy with his Renault Laguna car he recently bought.

Most of us dream of winning the British National Lottery but what are the odds of winning a jackpot like Kevin Halstead?

The chances of winning the top prize has been estimated as 1 in 13 983 816, which are about the same odds as an individual becoming an astronaut. You are more likely to be struck by lightning (I in 2.32 million). In 1999, mathematician Bill Hartson calculated that a smart consortium could buy £100 000 of tickets each time the jackpot rolled, would have a 1 in 14 chance of winning the jackpot and end up in profit.

The jackpot is only one of the prizes, of course. It has been calculated that an average on one million players win some prize in each weeks draw. To win the jackpot you have to match all six numbers drawn from the range 1 and 49 but you can win lower amounts with five, four or even three numbers matched. Typical values won in these lower levels tend to range from £100 000 to £10 and the chances of winning drop from around 1 in 2.3 million to 1 in 56.7. Indeed, the probability of winning any prize is approximately 1 in 54.

A more efficient way to play would be through a lottery syndicate. In such a syndicate, the money won by any member is distributed amongst the group. This of course improves the chances of any one player receiving some return on his stake.  It is estimated that syndicates win one in four of the jackpots.

There are several schemes available to improve your chances of winning something, but perhaps the most attractive is the Elottery programme. The reasons for this are largely mathematical but for five pounds a week you are given forty-four entries into both the weekly draws (on Wednesday and Saturday) as part of a syndicate of forty-nine players, although any empty places are covered by Virtual World Direct, the parent company, to ensure no member loses out. The syndicate actually only selects five main numbers and then enters these numbers forty-four times into the British National Lottery. The sixth number is selected from the remaining forty-four numbers in order and is added to the five already chosen. The odds of winning a prize thus drops to 1 in 13 (an increase of 702%).

The UK lottery draw is just that: a lottery. There are ways to improve your chances of winning a prize however and joining a syndicate certainly seems to do just that. In truth there are now smarter ways to play the British National Lottery.

Perhaps You Dream Of A Specific Car

On 14 August 2010, Wilton House near Salisbury will reverberate to the sound of a range of the world’s most exotic automobiles. Jay Broom (known as Jakaybi) and the Earl of Pembroke are organising the second Supercar Day in aid of charity. In excess of one hundred invited supercars will line up on the lawns of the house.

Many of the members of the public who will come to look at and listen to these beautiful pieces of engineering will undoubtedly dream of owning such vehicles themselves. Many will rely on winning a lottery to do so.

Of course how you react to winning a lottery depends on your background. Recently Anthony Castro won $250 000 in the Idaho state lottery. At the age of 19 he was shot in the head in New York, moved to Idaho after the September 11 attacks and lived from a homeless shelter for a time. He then got married, had children and then divorced. He said, “After so much turmoil in my life, and loss of my mother a year ago, this is truly a blessing for me. My dreams, everyone’s dreams, are coming true.” Perhaps it’s not surprising therefore that he has donated some of the jackpot to his church, set up a trust fund for his daughter and invested the rest.

On the other hand, recent record European lottery winners, Nigel Page and Justine Laycock knew what to do with their substantial winnings. They have bought a four million pound mansion in the country and have gifted their four bedroomed house and a new car to Denise Kelso, the cleaner who kept their house spotless for years. Denise now cleans Nigel and Justines new house.

Then again you have Jennifer Southall of Newport in Gwent. A cinema supervisor, Jennifer won £8 million in the British National Lottery and is determined to enjoy the experience. She has already given up her job, will give up her council house in favour of a big house with a swimming pool, driving lessons, a “pretty red car,” and a few luxury holiday for her and her family (once they have applied for passports).

The impact on her life was immediate. Ms Southall said, “When I went to have my ticket checked, Camelot gave me a bottle of champagne to help me celebrate, but I just went home and ordered a pizza.” The next day she and her mother went shopping and spent £1500. But do not think the money has entirely changed her thinking: “I still haven’t opened the champagne – I have never tasted real champagne in my life,” Ms Southall noted.

Most winners of the UK lottery draw take advice and are fairly conservative with their money but many still have at least one extravagance they want to satisfy. One of the advantages of playing the British National Lottery is it gives you the opportunity to dream, to think about what you want out of life. Perhaps if you are lucky enough to be at Wilton House on 14 August you might allow yourself a little fantasy. Who knows if it might not come true?

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On Friday 6 November 2009, Les Scadding and his wife Samantha won £45 million on the lottery: half of the £90 million jackpot (the other winner also resides in the UK). They were just the latest winners of the European lottery named Euro millions.

A European lottery was considered back in the 1990s but disagreements means it did not appear until 7 February 2004. However, it has since been a success with weekly ticket sales approaching 100 million euros. Total sales now total many billions of euros.

That first draw was operated by Francaise des Jeux in France, the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado in Spain and in the United Kingdom, Camelot run it alongside the UK lottery draw. In October 2004, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland joined to make it a truly European lottery.

The draw regularly ‘rolls over’ (the jackpot is not won so is added to that of the next week) and creates more excitement as the jackpot increases. The rules of the draw state that Euro millions cannot roll over more than eleven times so the twelfth week must produce a winner. Normally the winners of the European lottery need to match five balls and two lucky stars but with the rollover rule it is possible to win the jackpot on the twelfth week with five balls and one lucky star.

The euro lottery results show the largest payout was in July 2005 to a lady in Ireland who received 115 million euros after the jackpot rolled over nine times. The second highest was scooped by a gentleman in Belgium who took home 100 million euros in February 2007.

The draws are held on Friday night in Paris and tickets cost two euros or two GB pounds (Ireland and Portugal also play a ‘plus’ option that costs three euros).

As from 7 November 2009, the UK lottery draw authorities introduced the Millionaire Raffle Game to run alongside the European lottery, which produces an extra millionaire every week.

All jackpots vary according to the contribution of the country concerned and are tax-free (except in Switzerland).

Euro millions, then, is very much a European lottery.

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