The National Lottery

The National Lottery is the largest lottery in the United Kingdom. It is operated by the Camelot Group whose head office is based in Watford, Hertfordshire.

Camelot were granted the licence to run the lottery in 1994 when the National Lottery was first launched. They retained the licence in 2001 when they beat off a strong challenge from Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Camelot were again awarded the licence in 2009. This third license is for a ten year period with the option to extend by a further five years. The lottery is regulated by The National Lottery Commission.

The National Lottery was given a new look in 2002 in an attempt to reverse the fall in sales. This resulted in the Lottery game being renamed Lotto and new games including Thunderball and Lotto Plus 5 being introduced. However, the games are still collectively known as The National Lottery.

In 2004 the EuroMillions Lottery was launched. This is also operated by Camelot in the UK.

The UK Lotto is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the United Kingdom. The minimum jackpot is £2 million GBP and the biggest jackpot to-date was £42 million. All prizes are paid as one lump sum, not spread over many years as with some lotteries. All prizes are tax-free.

Out of every pound spent on Lottery games, 50p goes to the prize fund, 28p to ‘good causes’, 12p to the British Government as duty and 5p to retailers as commission (6% for lottery scratch card sales), while the operator receives 4.5p to cover their running costs and a further 0.5p profit. The National Lottery returns a higher percentage of revenue back to society than any other Lottery.

Players must be at least 16 years of age to take part, either in the drawn lottery games or by the purchase of lottery scratch cards. To purchase lottery tickets online you must also be a resident of the United Kingdom.

FreeNationalLotteryTickets, the only site in world that gives you free tickets* to the Lotto and EuroMillions draw, is not affiliated to, associated, endorsed or connected in any way to Camelot.

Millionaire Raffle – and how to win it.

The Millionaire Raffle was introduced in 2010 as an addition to the hugely successful EuroMillions lottery. Whilst the EuroMillions lottery is open to countries across Europe, the Millionaire Raffle guarantees a UK winner of a £1 million prize with every Friday and Tuesday draw.

When a player buys a EuroMillions ticket in the UK, along with their entry into the main EuroMillions draw, they are automatically given one entry into a separate UK-only draw which guarantees one winner of £1 million.

Every line purchased on a EuroMillions ticket is allocated a series of three letters and six numbers, for example FNL123456. The combinations are selected in such a way that no two players can have the same number.

With every Friday and Tuesday draw, the Millionaires Raffle draw is also made. As a raffle as opposed to alottery, the winning combination is selected from the Millionaire Raffle combinations that were distributed for that particular draw, thereby guaranteeing a winner every time. There are no other prizes in the Millionaires Raffle apart from the £1 million.

The cost of entering the Millionaire Raffle is zero. The £2 fee for a line in EuroMillions covers the cost of the Millionaire Raffle.

You can’t opt out of receiving a Millionaires Raffle entry as they are automatically given with each individual line for EuroMillions and included in the price.

The Millionaire Raffle draw is televised live on Friday evenings as part of the coverage of the main EuroMillions draw. You can see the Tuesday Millionaires Raffle draw online only.

The odds of winning the Millionaire Raffle vary depending on the number of EuroMillions tickets sold for each draw.

The approximate odds of winning the Millionaire Raffle on a Tuesday draw based on an average of the number of EuroMillions lines purchased in the UK since the introduction of the Millionaire Raffle is 1:3,500,000. For a Friday draw the odds are an approximate 1:9,200,000

These approximations are likely to vary significantly depending on the volume of EuroMillions tickets purchased in the UK. This can fluctuate greatly when there are rollovers.

How to win a EuroMillions Jackpot!

EuroMillions is a Europe wide lottery jointly launched in February 2004 by France, Spain and the United Kingdom. France’s lottery operator is Francaise des Jeux, which translates as the French Games. The company is owned and operated by the French Government. Spains lottery is operated by Loterías y Apuestas del Estado and the UK’s lottery is operated by Camelot. It wasn’t until October 2004 that Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland joined EuroMillions. Initially the draw took place once a week on Friday’s. In May 2011 a Tuesday night draw was added. Both draws take place at 19.45 GMT in Paris. In the UK the cost of a EuroMillions ticket is £2 All prizes, including the jackpot, are tax-free (except in Switzerland) and are paid in lump sum.

How To Play EuroMillions

To play EuroMillions in the UK you must be 16 or over.

Players select five main numbers between 1 and 50, then a further two Lucky Star numbers between 1 and 11.

• EuroMillions Prizes

Main numbers	Lucky stars	Probability of winning		% of prize fund	Expected winnings (€/euro)	Expected winnings (£/Sterling)
		Fraction	Decimal
2	0	1 in 23	0.0438	18.0%	€ 4	£2.70
2	1	1 in 46	0.0219	17.6%	€ 8	£5.40
1	2	1 in 156	0.0064	6.5%	€ 10	£6.90
3	0	1 in 327	0.0031	3.7%	€ 12	£8.20
3	1	1 in 654	0.0015	2.2%	€ 14	£9.80
2	2	1 in 821	0.0012	2.3%	€ 19	£12.80
3	2	1 in 11,771	0.000085	0.5%	€ 59	£40.10
4	0	1 in 14,387	0.000070	0.7%	€ 101	£68.60
4	1	1 in 28,773	0.000035	0.7%	€ 201	£137.20
4	2	1 in 517,919	0.0000019	0.8%	€ 4,143	£2,824.30
5	0	1 in 3,236,994	0.00000031	1.6%	€ 51,792	£35,303.90
5	1	1 in 6,473,989	0.00000015	4.8%	€ 310,751	£211,823.60
5	2	1 in 116,531,800	0.0000000086	32.0%	Jackpot	Jackpot
Booster fund				8.6%

• The booster fund is available to contribute to the jackpot

The booster fund is available to contribute to the jackpot, for example to boost the initial jackpot in a sequence of growing jackpots. The amount utilised each week is determined in advance by the participating lotteries.

The odds of winning any prize at all are 1 in 13

The odds of getting none of the 50 main balls but getting both lucky stars are approximately 1 in 95. This means that it is less likely than getting 2 main balls and one lucky star (1 in 46). However, there is no prize for only getting 2 lucky stars.

As of 10th May 2011, 8.6% of the prize fund is allocated to a “Booster Fund” which can be used to boost the jackpot prize.

The figures for the estimated prize are just a guide, and the actual amount varies according to the total in the prize fund and the number of winners for each prize. (Estimated prizes as per reverse of UK playslip)

If the jackpot is not won, it rolls over to the following week.

Effective 7th November 2009 new rules were put in place regarding rollovers. See: http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/help/abouteuromillions/gameprocedures.ftl Prior to this date the jackpot could rollover up to 11 times. If there were no jackpot winner(s) in this rollover, then the jackpot would be distributed to the next prize level with winners.

The new rules introduced the jackpot Pool Cap. When the jackpot reaches or exceeds €185,000,000, the jackpot will remain at €185,000,000 and any additional prize money rolled over will be added to the jackpot pool for the next lower prize level (5 main numbers + 1 Lucky Star). If the €185,000,000 jackpot is not won, the jackpot will be increased by €5,000,000 each week until it is won, and again any additional prize money will be added to the jackpot pool for the next lower prize level.

Those rules were updated in January 2012. Read our jackpot update to get up-to-date with the new rules.

Super Draws & Event draws

Super Draws and Event draws are special drawings when the jackpot is set to a guaranteed amount (often €100 million or €130 million at times), regardless of the expected jackpot. The difference being that a Super Draw jackpot will roll over to the next drawing if not won, but an Event Draw jackpot will be distributed amongst the winners in the next lower tier (i.e. match 5 + 1). The first Super draw of 2011 took place on Tuesday 10 May to mark the introduction of the second weekly EuroMillions draw and changes to the game format (11 lucky stars instead of 9 and a new “match 2 main numbers and no lucky stars” prize tier).

Play Instant Win Games

The National Lottery have over 20 instant win games, some of which have instant prizes of £100,000

Originally, instant win or scratchcard games were small pieces of card where an area has been covered by a thin layer of opaque (designed in accordance with the particular card) latex that can be scratched off with a fingernail or coin. Beneath the concealed area are pictures, symbols, words or sums of money that need to be matched in order to win.

Most scratchcard games require you to match three items in order to win. Some scratchcards have top prizes of up to £250,000. Scratchcards are available from most newsagents, garages and supermarkets. As with Lotto tickets, scratchcards originally cost £1 to play. Since those early days new scratchcard games have been introduced costing £2, £3 and £5 each. The higher cost of the card is normally matched by a higher value top prize.

The types of prizes offered have also changed. Originally, only one-off cash prizes were offered, now you can win a yearly cash sum for life, cars and even houses on a scratchcard. It is now possible to play instant winand scratchcard games online as well.

Try some of these free-to-play online instant win games:

The Health Lottery and how it works

The Health Lottery is not part of the National Lottery. It is 51 local society lotteries each of which represents one or more local authority areas across the length and breadth of Great Britain. Each individual society lottery is licensed by the Gambling Commission raises money for health related good causes within their respective areas. The local society lotteries take it in turns to participate in the draw so that all the areas across England, Scotland and Wales get an appropriate share of the monies raised. Details of when each society lottery is running can be found here along with a map of each of all of the society lotteries.

Good Causes

Your money does make a difference. Of every £1 played on The Health Lottery 20p goes directly to local health-related good causes across Great Britain. This compares with the 28p in every £1 that goes to good causes from the National Lottery.

The money raised from the Health Lottery will not go towards services that are already covered by existing NHS funds. Instead, through the local society lotteries’ partner charity, the Peoples Health Trust, the monies raised will be distributed across all areas of Great Britain to health related good causes that are the most important to local communities within each of those areas. This enables every single part of Great Britain gets a share of the pot.

The Health Lottery is run by the Northern & Shell media company which owns Express newspapers, Channel 5 and OK! magazine. Northern & Shell was founded back in 1974 and over the next 25 years developed a broad portfolio of magazines and broadcast interests. They became better known after their take over of Express Newspapers in November 2000 and again 10 years later when they acquired Channel 5.

How to Play the Health Lottery

You can take part in The Health Lottery as long as you are aged 16 or over and a resident of Great Britain. Tickets can be purchased from both offline retailers or online, with the latter option being the safest as by playing online, there is no risk that you will lose a ticket or forget to claim your winnings. To play you will need to select 5 main numbers from the range 1 to 50, or use Quick Pick option (their version of lucky-dip) which will generate a random selection of numbers for you. You can also select to enter the same numbers for up to eight consecutive draws in advance if you wish to do so.

In order to win a prize, you will need to match three or more of your numbers. All the prize levels have fixed values, as follows:

Match 3 numbers to win £50

Match 4 numbers to win £500

Match 5 numbers to win £100,000

The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 : 214

Unlike the National Lottery, with the Health Lottery you know exactly the amount you could win each draw never changes. the downside is that there are no rollovers. The upside is that the top prize is never shared, even if more than one person wins it. Match all five of your selections and no matter how many other players do the same, you are guaranteed to win £100,000.

Claiming A Health Lottery Prize

If you play the Health Lottery offline and win a prize of £50, you can claim your prize directly from a Health Lottery retailer, but if you are lucky enough to win a £500 or £100,000 prize, you will have to call the Health Lottery helpline number. You will find the number printed on the reverse of your ticket. For those playing online and win £50 or £500 will have their prize credited to their account automatically, leaving you to only have to make a formal claim for the top prize of £100,000.

Lotto – How to play, where to play and how best to win

The UK Lotto is the most popular lottery game in the United Kingdom and is run by the National Lottery. To play, you select 6 numbers from a possible 49. Match them all and you win the jackpot, or a share of it if others also have the same numbers. As well as the six main numbers, a ‘bonus ball’ number is drawn. The bonus number only comes into effect for those players who only match 5 of the 6 main numbers. A player who can match 5 of the 6 main numbers and whose sixth number is the same as the bonus ball wins the second largest prize. Prizes are also paid out to anyone matching just 3, 4 or 5 of the main numbers. Overall, the odds of winning one of the prizes are 1 in 54. The odds of winning the jackpot however are almost 1 in 14 million.

Playing Lotto Offline

To play Lotto offline you need to visit a participating retailer and select your 6 numbers using a Lotto payslip. You are then given a Lotto ticket showing your selected numbers and the draw date selected. You can also select to have random ‘lucky dip’ numbers. Retailers can also provide you with a Fast Pay Card. This is a quick and easy way to buy your lottery tickets providing you want the same numbers each week. Fast Pay Cards store up to 7 Lotto lines. Purchasing Lotto tickets this way require you to check the results against your numbers and make a claim. Not checking or losing your ticket will result in you missing out on any possible winnings. The only way to avoid such a scenario is to purchase your tickets online.

Playing Lotto Online

You can do this through the National Lottery. Buying your Lotto tickets online means you’ll never lose a ticket and you will always be advised should you have a winning ticket and therefore don’t have to check the results each week.

Free Results Service

Buying tickets online may not suit everyone as many players like to buy their tickets offline. The main advantage to buying your tickets online is that you’ll never lose one. Also, you’ll never have to check the results, as The National Lottery will email you to tell you if you’ve won.

If you do buy your tickets online then you should sign up to our free results email service at the bottom of this page. Make sure you don’t become a statistical one in 250 people who win a lottery prize and don’t claim it.

Of course, if you register with FreeNationalLotteryTickets you will not only be able to get free tickets* for all 4 Lotto and EuroMillions draws each week, but you will never miss out if your numbers came up as we will let you know.

Don't Forget The Dress: Tips On Buying A Wedding Dress

Are you holding your wedding in July or January? What kind of flowers will adorn the tables and what kind of tables will they actually be adorning? There are a huge number of decisions to be made when you are planning a wedding. Whether you are the one getting married, or just someone helping to plan a wedding, the tips in this article are sure to help you create a beautiful event.

Dress children in comfortable clothes if they are in your ceremony. Choose fabrics that are soft and have just the right amount of looseness so they don't cause discomfort. If the children are going to be wearing new shoes, make sure they are comfortable, and let them walk around in them a bit so that they can get broken in. Instead of messing around with their clothes, this will help kids focus on their jobs at the wedding.

When you are planning on who will be giving the speeches at the wedding, have them rehearse the material before you so that you can make sure everything is appropriate. There will be a lot of different generations at your wedding, and a joke that young people can relate to might not be good for elders to hear.

Maximize your spending by using a reward program credit card for your major expenses. Since weddings can be very expensive, having a credit card that gives you miles or other great deals is essential. You'll be swimming in rewards in no time if the card is the main source of payment.

Don't be fearful about letting other people help out with segments of planning your wedding. It's hard to give up any control over planning your wedding because the event is so important to you. If you try to do everything, however, you'll stress yourself out. You'll need to rely on people with professional expertise to help you plan parts of your wedding.

Silk flowers offer great alternative for many of the flowers that you would include in your wedding anyways. You can get these way in advance because they aren't fresh and then have them on hand and reduce one thing to do right before the big day.

When you are looking for a wedding dress, think about what styles will suit you. Avoid getting hung up on a particular style before you know how well that style fits your body. If you are of shorter stature, check out the petite selection before you opt for a dress that needs to be altered. You will be much happier with your choice.

Large centerpieces are unnecessary on your tables as they not only eat away at your budget, but serve as an unneeded distraction. Instead of buying a centerpiece that is so big it covers the whole table, use something simple. People will find it easier to converse across the table without a huge centerpiece getting in their way.

One consideration in wedding planning is alcohol service. You'll want to determine the way that meets you needs, including the cost and the way to serve the kinds of alcohol that you prefer. If you have an open bar that is available for long intervals of time, the bill can run up really hard really fast. The venue representative will be able to advise you of the various alcohol service options available.

To save money, you may want to print your wedding invitations yourself. You can find invitation kits for pennies on the dollars that finalized invitations would cost you, and these kits let you customize everything from font to text to ink color.

If you plan to give a speech at a wedding, write out and practice what you will say beforehand. If you fail to plan your wedding speech, you may lose your guest's attention, flub your words, or forget what you have to say.

Many people opt for silk flowers instead of live flowers for their wedding. Because they don't have to be bought fresh, you can get them far in advance of your wedding, making one less thing you have to worry about on your wedding day.

This article has provided you with advice to become successful at wedding planning. Apply the tips you have just learned to help you plan a successful wedding.

lotto, lottery tickets