Don’t be afraid to bunch up your number choices. While you may be tempted to choose your. In Lotto HotPicks you choose three numbers and those exact three numbers must appear in the winning line for you to win – the odds of that happening are 1 in 1,626. In Lotto, however, you choose six numbers and you can match any three of those to win the Match 3 prize – those odds are 1 in 97, meaning it’s significantly easier to win. Multiplying all of these numbers together gives us: 49/6 x 48/5 x 47/4 x 46/3 x 45/2 x 44/1 = 13,983,816 (approximately 14 million) So the chance of winning the UK National Lottery (Lotto) Jackpot is approximately 1 in 14 million. What Are The Odds Of Winning A Specific Prize?
Ever wondered what the odds are of winning a prize in the UK National Lottery? Or how likely you are to win the jackpot? Well wonder no more – this article both answers these questions, and shows you how to do the calculations yourself.
Please note: This article relates to the old format of the UK National Lottery which involved picking six numbers from 1 to 49. This has since change to 1 to 59. We’ve left this here for posterity but will be writing an update version shortly.
What Are The Odds Of Winning The Jackpot?
To win the jackpot in the National Lottery (Lotto) you must match all six winning numbers to the numbers on your ticket. We can work out the chance of this happening as follows.
For the first winning number there are 49 balls that can be drawn, and each has an equal chance of being selected. On your lottery ticket you have selected 6 numbers – the first ball drawn just has to match any of your chosen numbers as the order does not matter. The chance of the first ball drawn matching any number on your ticket is therefore 49 divided by 6.
For the second winning number, there are now 48 balls to draw from and you have 5 remaining unmatched numbers on your ticket. The chance of the second ball to be drawn matching your ticket is therefore 48/5. For the third winning number you have 47 balls and 4 selections, and so on up to the sixth winning number when there are 44 remaining balls and only one unmatched spot on your ticket.
Multiplying all of these numbers together gives us:
49/6 x 48/5 x 47/4 x 46/3 x 45/2 x 44/1 = 13,983,816 (approximately 14 million)
So the chance of winning the UK National Lottery (Lotto) Jackpot is approximately 1 in 14 million.
What Are The Odds Of Winning A Specific Prize?
You do not have to win the jackpot to receive a prize – matching 3 numbers or more would result in a win. The following are the odds of winning a specific prize in the UK National Lottery:
Three Numbers:
This is the chance of matching exactly 3 numbers, as matching more would result in a higher prize. To calculate the odds we first work out the following:
- The chance of matching the first number drawn: 49/6 (49 possibilities, divided by 6 chances)
- The chance of matching the second number drawn: 48/5 (48 possibilities, divided by 5 chances)
- The chance of matching the third number drawn: 47/4 (47 possibilities, divided by 4 chances)
- The chance of not matching the fourth number drawn: 46/43 (46 possibilities, divided by the remaining 43 balls that do not match your selection)
- The chance of not matching the fifth number drawn: 45/42 (45 possibilities, divided by the remaining 42 balls that do not match your selection)
- The chance of not matching the sixth number drawn: 44/41 (44 possibilities, divided by the remaining 41 balls that do not match your selection)
If we multiply these together we get:
49/6 x 48/5 x 47/4 x 46/43 x 45/42 x 44/41 = 1133.119
There are actually 20 ways of matching exactly 3 balls as you could match the first second and third balls as in the example above, or you could match the fourth fifth and sixth balls, or any combination in between.
So the odds of matching exactly three numbers are:
1133.119/20 (chance of matching three balls divided by the number of possible combinations) = 56.65593
Therefore your odds of winning a prize for matching three numbers is approximately 1 in 56.7.
Four Numbers:
Calculating the odds of matching 4 numbers is similar to the way in which we calculated the odds of matching 3 numbers, except that this time we first take the odds of matching the first 4 numbers and the odds of not matching the remaining two numbers:
49/6 x 48/5 x 47/4 x 46/3 x 45/43 x 44/42 = 15,485.95
We now divide this by the number of possible combinations (15) to get:
15,485.95/15 = 1032.397
Making your odds of winning a prize for matching four numbers approximately 1 in 1032
Five Numbers:
The chances of matching exactly five numbers is slightly different, because at this point you need to take into account the bonus – if you were to match the bonus ball you would win a bigger win. To do this we simply multiply the chance of matching five numbers by the chance of not matching the final number or the bonus ball (43/42 – 43 remaining balls divided by the remaining 42 balls that do not match your selection):
49/6 x 48/5 x 47/4 x 46/3 x 45/2 x 44/43 x 43/42 = 332948
Divided by the number of possible combinations (6):
332948/6 = 55491.33
Making your odds of winning a prize for matching 5 numbers approximately 1 in 55,491.
Five Numbers + Bonus Ball:
To calculate the chance of matching five numbers plus the bonus ball, we can use the calculation for matching five numbers and change the bonus ball part. Now we are looking at the chance of matching five numbers multiplied by the chance of not matching the final number multiplied by the chance of matching the bonus ball (43/1 – 43 remaining balls and one remaining chance):
49/6 x 48/5 x 47/4 x 46/3 x 45/2 x 44/43 x 43/1 = 13,983,816
Divided by the number of possible combinations (6):
13,983,816/6 = 2,330,636
Making your odds of winning a prize for matching 5 numbers plus the bonus ball 1 in 2,330,636.
The Jackpot – 6 Numbers:
As shown above, this is 1 in 13,983,816
So What Are The Odds Of Winning Any Prize?
With these numbers we can also calculate the chances of winning any prize in the National Lottery – approximately 1 in 53.7.
© PAWinning the lottery can be a huge, life-changing event. Imagine you'd just won millions of pounds - what would you do with the cash?
All lottery winners are lucky, but some are luckier than others - such as this EuroMillions winner who bagged an incredible £93 million jackpot.
While most of us won't win the main prize, there's still a chance you could bag a hefty windfall if a few of your numbers come up. And while we can't guarantee a lottery win, there are some things you can do to boost your chances. We can also show you how to increase your chances of winning big if your numbers do come through.
Feeling lucky? Here are 8 tips that may just help boost your chances of winning, courtesy of lottoland.co.uk.
Related: 21 lottery winners who blew it all
1. Stick to your guns
© PAKnow your lucky numbers, and stick to them. If you have lucky numbers that mean something to you (perhaps the special birthdays of your loved ones or memorable dates) that you want to use on a weekly basis, by all means do.
Obviously playing regularly will boost your chances (there is no worse feeling than seeing your winning numbers on the week you forgot to buy your ticket!) The other strategy is to play less often, but when you do play, buy more tickets - which will increase your chances for that particular draw. Some people use this method and only play when the jackpot is particularly large.
Related: These are the UK lotteries that give you the best chance of winning
2. Play numbers over 31 or using Quick Picks
© PAPlay numbers over 31 or using Quick Picks. This is a trick employed by most veteran lottery players. It won't improve your chances of winning the lottery but, if you DO win, it is likely to increase how much you win. Why? Studies show that most people play numbers based on special days of the month such as birthdays and anniversaries. Therefore, by picking numbers over 31 or using random Quick Picks, you'll decrease your chances of splitting a big prize.
Related: Unclaimed lottery winnings - how to make sure you never lose out on a jackpot
3. Consider setting up a lottery syndicate
© PAConsider setting up a lottery syndicate with a group of friends or colleagues. By each of you contributing a small amount each week, you can multiply your chances of grabbing a jackpot and perhaps grow closer to your mates in the process. It should come as no surprise that most of the largest lottery jackpots of all time have been won by syndicates buying group tickets in bulk, in fact it is estimated that at least 1 out of every 7 £1 million lotto prizes have been won by a syndicate.
Related: Incredible lottery stories from around the world
4. Certain numbers DO come up more often than others
© PALottery Results Uk
Although it has no mathematical significance, certain numbers DO come up more often than others in lottery draws.
The top seven numbers to pop up since the National Lottery launched in 1994 have been 23, 40, 44, 38, 30 and 33.
Interestingly, the notoriously unlucky number 13 has been drawn much less than other numbers in several major international lotteries.
Related: 21 lottery winners who blew it all
5. Time the purchase of your ticket
© PASome believe that the time at which you purchase your lottery ticket is key to whether or not you win your desired jackpot. Mathematically it shouldn't make a difference - but statistics do show that jackpot winners tend to purchase their tickets on Friday evenings.
So it might be an idea to pick up your ticket the next time you're heading out to the pub after work!
How To Win National Lottery Uk
Related: These are the UK lotteries that give you the best chance of winning
6. Move to Romford, Dumfries or Birmingham
© PAYes, Romford, Dumfries or Birmingham is where it's at for lottery winnings.
Romford in Essex boasts the most 'significant' lottery winners per 1,000 people in the UK (that is, people who have won prizes of £50,000 or more).
Dumfries in Scotland has the most lottery millionaires per 1,000 people of anywhere in Britain.
Birmingham has the greatest overall number of lottery millionaires for any post code in the country.
Related: Incredible lottery stories from around the world
7. Play the National Lottery from October onwards
© PAIn October, the National Lottery added 10 more balls to its lottery machines (going up from 49 to 59).
Although this means that the odds of winning the main jackpot lengthen, the introduction of a new 'Millionaire's Raffle' will create at least two new millionaires each week (one on Wednesday, one on Saturday). This ensures that your chance of winning a million pounds increases from 14 million-to-one to 10 million-to-one.
Your chance of winning a smaller sum of money will also increase - from a one in 54 chance, to one in 9.3.
Related: Unclaimed lottery winnings - how to make sure you never lose out on a jackpot
8. Have a budget and stick to it
Best Chances Of Winning Lottery
© PAChance Of Winning Lottery Percentage
People are all too often inclined to forget that participating in lotteries is a form of gambling. It can be addictive, and if played too often it could cost you a substantial amount of money.
Take into account your disposable income and other outgoings and set yourself a weekly or monthly budget for how much you want to spend on scratch cards, lottery tickets and online lotto games. Not only will this help you sensibly balance your finances, it could also mean that any small wins you make on scratch cards are spent on something other than just more scratch cards!
Related: 21 lottery winners who blew it all
