Everyone wants to win the lottery – and a lot of people do! Millions of pounds are won every year, but which UK lottery has the best odds of winning? Wondering what are the odds of winning the lottery? Here you’ll find a list of the lottery odds of all of your favourite lotteries.
EuroMillions is one of the UK’s favourite lotteries, but what are the actual odds of winning the jackpot? To win the Jackpot, EuroMillions requires you select five numbers from 1-50 and two Lucky Star numbers from 1-12. Because of this, the chances of a single ticket winning the jackpot in a EuroMillions draw is 1 in 139,838,160.
Luckily, EuroMillions gives you 12 additional opportunities to win prizes from matching the five main numbers and one Star Number (1 in 6,991,908 chance of winning) to only matching two numbers (1 in 22 chance of winning).
EuroMillions HotPicks is a relatively new lottery that launched in January 2018. Most people still don’t know how it’s different to regular EuroMillions when in reality, it couldn’t be simpler! When buying a EuroMillions HotPicks ticket, you choose how many numbers you would like to match (as few as one or as many as 5). Then you pick your numbers from 1-50 just like regular EuroMillions. When a EuroMillions draw takes place, the five main numbers draw are also used as the numbers for EuroMillions HotPicks.
Unlike normal EuroMillions, with EuroMillions HotPicks, you must match all the numbers you have chosen (if you opted for a pick 1 you only have to match 1, a pick 2 requires you to match 2 etc.). This means that you have quite good odds of winning a prize if you have opted for a Pick 1 (1 in 10) which will result in a £10 prize and a pick 5 gives you a 1 in 2,118,760 chance at the £1,000,000 prize!
In addition to EuroMillions, the other major lottery we get asked about a lot is Lotto. Drawn every Saturday and Wednesday the UK Lotto requires you to successfully pick six numbers from a pool of fifty-nine. You must match a minimum of two to win a prize and match all six (the five main numbers and the bonus ball) to win the major jackpot.
The odds of picking all six numbers correctly in a National Lottery draw are 1 in 45,057,474. These are better odds than the EuroMillions jackpot, but not as good as the EuroMillions HotPicks main prize. The odds of winning the most basic prize (matching two numbers which gets you a free Lotto Lucky Dip) are 1 in 10.3. When compared to the 1 in 22 chance of winning the bottom prize in EuroMillions, the odds seem quite strong!
Similar to EuroMillions HotPicks, Lotto HotPicks is an extension of the regular National Lottery/UK Lotto game. Just like EuroMillions HotPicks, you first determine how many numbers you would like to pick (between pick 1 and pick 5), then choose your numbers.
To win, all of the numbers you have chosen must be drawn (1 if you chose a Pick 1 ticket, two if you chose a Pick 2 etc.). Because of this, the odds of winning are quite good, with a 1 in 10 chance of winning on a Pick 1 ticket (a £6 prize) and a 1 in 834,398 chance of winning on a Pick 5 ticket (a £350,000 prize).
Thunderball is an increasingly popular lottery with people in the UK. It is similar to the US Powerball; you must match five main numbers plus the Thunderball to win the main prize. Unlike many of the other lotteries on this list, Thunderball does not jackpot. Instead, there is a guaranteed £500,000 prize for people who match all five numbers plus the Thunderball. Drawn five times per week, players must pick five numbers between 1-39 and one Thunderball between 1-14.
Due to the relatively low number of numbers to choose from the odds of winning Thunderball are better than many of the other lotteries. The minimum you must match to win a prize is just the Thunderball with a 1 in 13 chance of that happening. However, the main £500,000 prize has the surprisingly good odds of winning at 1 in 8,060,598.
As is the case with most UK lotteries, as the odds of winning improve, the value of the prize goes down. If you’re chasing record-breaking jackpots, or just want to retire comfortably and treat the family, it can help to know which UK lotteries have the best odds of winning.
So what’s your strategy? Will you go for the big prize in EuroMillions or play it safe with a pick 1 Lotto HotPick? Or maybe somewhere in between?
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