Play UK Lottery online

THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

The National Lottery, more commonly known as the UK Lotto, is the state-franchised national lottery which is run in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man. The license to operate the lottery was granted to the Camelot Group in 1994, the same year the first draw was held after then-prime minister John Major established the lottery. The very first jackpot prize ever given away by the UK Lotto was £5,874,778. Since this first draw, the UK Lotto has continued to grow from strength to strength - with draws now taking place bi-weekly.

Participating in the UK Lotto has never been easier. The game follows the popular 6/59 format, meaning that out of possible 59 numbers, the player needs to select 6. There is no additional “bonus ball” set, which means the game process is pretty straightforward. In order to qualify for a win, the 6 chosen numbers which you have selected needs to match up with the 6 numbers that are drawn (at random) from the lottery machine.

A further bonus ball (which you do not select) is also drawn; this is done to create an additional prize tier which rewards players who have managed to match five out of the six numbers, as well as the bonus ball. Draws take place every Wednesday and Saturday night at 21h00 BST and are broadcast live on BBC One. Purchasing UK Lotto tickets has never been easier, with PlayUSAlotteries.com being a preferred online ticket vendor. Should you be lucky enough to be a winner, it is prudent to remember that all prizes are paid out as lump sums and are all tax-free.

The odds of winning the UK Lotto currently stand at 1 in 13,986,816. The highest recorded win for the UK Lotto was a healthy £42 million, following a double-rollover in 1996. Unlike other lotteries with no rollover caps, the UK Lottery is limited to only four rollovers.

Thanks to the relatively decent odds of netting the proceeds of a jackpot win, there have been only a handful of triple rollovers, not to mention quadruple rollovers before jackpot prizes get distributed amongst the lower prize tiers.

This, however, will now change, with the latest UK Lotto changes being implemented, doing away with the rollover cap. UK Lottery players can, therefore, look forward to much higher jackpot amounts and exciting lotto draws.

There is a total of five prize tiers, with all (except the 3 number matchups, who are guaranteed £25) receiving a percentage of the total prize fund. In terms of scalability, higher prize funds with lower amounts of winners will see them walking away with a considerable divvy, while the opposite is also entirely possible. Low prize funds, combined with many prize winners, will see them walking away with minimal amounts.

Prize amounts are all dependant on ticket sale volume and the number of prize winners drawn for any given prize tier.