THE NATIONAL LOTTERY

 

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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 UK.

 

All prizes are paid as a lump sum and are tax-free. Of every pound spend on Lottery games, Camelot receives 4.5 pence to cover operating costs and 0.5p profit, 50p goes to the prize fund, 28p to good causes, 12p to Government and 5p to retailers as commission.

 

 

Games

 

Several games operate under the National Lottery brand:

 

 

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.

 

Camelot state that 3 ball prize winners are calculated first, this is normally £10, 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

2% of remaining fund

1: 1,033

5 numbers

10% of remaining fund

1: 55,492

5 numbers and bonus ball

16% of remaining fund

1: 2,330,636

6 numbers

52% of remaining fund

1: 13,983,816

 

 

Lotto Extra

 

Launched on 13 November 2000, players playing the main Lotto draw have 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 is an additional £1/entry — it is not possible to play Lotto Extra separately. Six numbers are drawn from a range of 1–49. If you match all six balls you win the jackpot; the chance of doing so is 1 in 13,983,816. There are no other prizes. If no one matches all six numbers the jackpot rolls over until it is won or reaches £50 million, when, if no one matches all six then the prize will roll down to players matching five, if none then four, if none then three, etc.

 

The draw is conducted on Wednesdays and Saturdays. All Saturday draws are shown live on BBC 1 in the UK, immediately after the main Lotto draw, whereas due to lack of time on Wednesday draws, just the pre-selected winning numbers are 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.

 

 

 

"Play here!" sign outside a newsagent, incorporating the National Lottery's stylised hand with crossed fingers logo

 

 

 

Lotto Hot Picks

 

Lotto Hotpicks also 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

 

 

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 £1.00. 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

£5000

1: 299,661

5 + Thunderball

£250,000

1: 3,895,584

 

 

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 thin layer of opaque (and usually designed according to the particular card) latex, but 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, i.e. £250,000, cost £2.

 

 

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 Switzerland.

 

 

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.

 

 

Good Causes

 

The National Lottery has so far raised £17 billion pounds 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 45% of revenue, with the remaining 15% 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.

 

 

WHERE THE MONEY GOES

 

 

 

Total National Lottery revenue is broken down as follows. This breakdown is based on sales outlined in Camelot's bid for the second licence:

 

 

Camelot is not responsible for the allocation or distribution of Lottery funds

Out of every £1 spent on the National Lottery, around 28p goes to Good Causes. In the last year this was distributed as follows:

Health, Education, Environment, Community & Charity 50%
Sports 16.67%
Arts 16.67%
Heritage 16.67%


Over £18 billion has been raised for Good Causes to date. Read the latest Good Causes stories to find out about recent beneficiaries of Lottery funding and the difference it has made. Please note, although Interactive channels, such as the website and Digital TV, do not incur retailer commission, they do incur increased operating costs e.g. bank transactions, registration fees and technology. For further information on Good Causes, please visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk.

 

 

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. This 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 [1]. This ticket was the 24th prize in excess of one million pounds to be unclaimed.

 

 

 


 

 

 

CONTACTS:

 

 

The National Lottery
PO Box 1010
Liverpool
L70 1NL

 

www.national-lottery.co.uk
National Lottery Line: 0845 910 0000; 0845 910 0045 (Minicom facility)
National Lottery Subscriptions: 0845 912 5000
Interactive player enquiries: 0845 278 8000
 
Retailer enquiries
Retailer Hotline: 0800 0649 649
Telesales (Scratchcards Ordering Line): 0845 9666768
 
Media enquiries
Camelot Press Office: 020 7632 5711 (24 hour press office)
 
Company addresses
Watford, Head Office and Regional Centre Camelot Group plc,
Tolpits Lane, Watford, Herts,
WD18 9RN
Tel: 01923 425000
 
Other Regional Centres:
Belfast
Lombard House, 10-20 Lombard Street,
Belfast, BT1 1RD Tel: 02890 239063
 
Cardiff
Willow Court, The Orchards,
Ty-Glas Avenue, Llanishen,
Cardiff, CF14 5DZ
Tel: 02920 689625
 
Glasgow
Locard House, Linnit Way,
Strathclyde Business Park, Bellshill,
North Lanarkshire, ML4 3RA
Tel: 01698 845666
 
Liverpool
3b Olympic Way, Sefton Business Park,
Aintree, Liverpool , L30 1RD
Tel: 0151 236 1796
 
Good Cause information:
National Lottery Promotions Unit
www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
Tel: 020 7211 3991

 

General enquiries and assistance:   help@national-lottery.co.uk

 

Unhappy about our service?  complaints@national-lottery.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

CHERRY MORTGAGES LIMITED

  

 

Tel: 01323 831727

Mobile: 07905 147709

 

 

For personal and independent advice on your mortgage or re-mortgage, equity release, or other secured loans contact Cherry Mortgages, Sussex, England. (sorry not outside the UK)

 

E-mail: Cherry Mortgages

 

 

 

 

MONEY FINDER

 

 

 

ABBEY NATIONAL

ALLIANCE & LEICESTER

ALLIED IRISH

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

ANGELS

ANZ BANK AUSTRALIA

BANK OF AMERICA

BANK OF TOKYO JAPAN

BANK ONE USA

BANKS

BARCLAYS - UK

BAYERISCHE LANDESBANK - Germany

BNP PARIBAS GROUP - France

BILLIONAIRES

BRISTOL & WEST

BRITISH NATIONAL BUSINESS ANGELS

BRITISH VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS

BUILDING SOCIETIES A - Z

BUSINESS PLAN

CAHOOT

CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK - Canada

CHASE MANHATTAN - US

CITIBANK - US

COMEICA BANK - US

CREDIT CARDS

CREDIT LYONNIAS - France

DEUTSCHE BANK - Germany

DOW JONES

DRAGONS DEN

DRESDNER BANK - Germany

ECONOMICS

ELECTRONIC MONEY TRANSFERS

ENTREPRENEUR

EQUITY HOUSES

FINANCIER

FIRST DIRECT

FLEET - US 

FORBES 100 RICHEST

FORBES 500

FOREX INVESTMENTS

FORTUNE 500

FOUNDATIONS - GATES

FTSE

FUJI BANK - JAPAN

HALIFAX

HOLDING COMPANY

HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGE

HSBC

HSBC BANK USA - UK

HSBC - HK

IMPERIAL BANK - US

INSURANCE

 

 

INVESTORS INDEX

IMF

J PIERPOINT MORGAN

JOHANNESBURG STOCK EXCHANGE

LA SALLE BANK - US

LOANS

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE - MARKET

LLOYDS

MADRID STOCK EXCHANGE

MARKET CAPITALISATION

MAYBANK - Malaysia

MONEY

MONEY LAUNDERING

MORTGAGES

NASDAQ

NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK GROUP

NATIONAL LOTTERY

NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK

NATIONAL BUSINESS ANGEL NETWORK

NATIONAL CITY BANK - US

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE

OFFSHORE BANKING

PENSIONS

PLCs

RBS ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND

SANWA BANK - Japan

SAVINGS

SHAREHOLDERS

SHARES, STOCKS, DIVIDENDS

SHELL COMPANIES

SIAM COMMERCIAL BANK - Thailand

SOCIETE GENERALE - France

SOUTHERN BANK BERHAD - Malyasia

STANDARD CHARTERED BANK - UK

STATE STREET BANK - US

STOCKS AND SHARES

SUMITOMO MITSUI BANK - Japan

SWISS BANK ACCOUNTS

TAX HAVENS

THAI FARMERS BANK - Thailand

THE AMERICAN DOLLAR

THE POUND STERLING

TORONTO DOMINION BANK - Canada

TRUSTS

UBS AG - Switzerland

UNION BANK OF CALIFORNIA

VENTURE CAPITAL

WALL STREET

WELLS FARGO - US

WEST DEUTSCHE LANDESBANK - Germany

WORLD BANK

WOOLWICH

 

 

 

 

LINKS:

 

 

National Lottery in the news

 

 



 

 

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