UK National Lottery

Playing Lotto is as easy as selecting six numbers from 1 to 59 and buying a ticket, whilst deciding whether you wish to enter the Wednesday game, the Saturday game or both. Each night, there are two draws: Round 1 and Round 2 – your numbers are automatically entered into both of them, giving you two chances to win prizes.

To win the Lotto jackpot, players must match all six numbers for one of the two Rounds of draws. The top prize can grow beyond £55 million, and a record jackpot of £66 million was shared between two ticket holders in January 2016.

There are five other ways to win in addition to the jackpot, with prizes available for matching as few as two main numbers. A Bonus Ball is also drawn in each Round from the remaining 53 balls once all the main numbers have been announced, giving players who had matched five main numbers the chance to increase the value of their prize.

The following table shows the odds of winning in each of the six prize tiers per round. Since each draw features two rounds, the odds of winning per ticket are improved by 2X.

Overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 9.3

Claiming UK Lotto Prizes

All UK National Lottery tickets are valid for up to 180 days from the date the draw took place. Any claim made more than 180 days after the draw will be declared void, so it is important that a claim is registered for any win as soon as possible. If you buy your tickets online with the World Lottery organisation concierge service, you will automatically be notified of any win and your claim processed quickly, so there is no chance of you missing the 180-day deadline and losing out.