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The UK National Lottery Prize Structure
The total prize pool for each draw is 45% of the total cost of the tickets sold
for that draw. This 45% figure is rounded down to the nearest 10p before
further calculations on it are performed (don't ask me why !).
All 3-match prizes are fixed at £10 each (there is one exception to this -
see the Notes section below) and are subtracted from the total prize pool.
The approximate allocation of the remaining money (known as the "Pools Fund")
is as follows:
- 6-match (Jackpot) Prize Pool (Avgs: Sat - £8.9m, Wed - £4.1m)
52% of the Pools Fund plus any rollover from the previous draw's unwon jackpot
prize pool. An occasional Super Draw, funded from 5% of the
ticket sales of previous lotteries, will either top-up by adding a fixed
amount or guarantee a minimum jackpot prize pool. If there is no jackpot
winner, then the entire jackpot prize pool is "rolled over" to the next
draw. This can happen a maximum of 3 times - if there is a 4th consecutive
draw where the jackpot wasn't won, the jackpot prize pool is shared amongst
the 5+bonus winners of the 4th draw or amongst the 5-match winners of the
4th draw if there are no such 5+bonus winners.
- 5+bonus-match Prize Pool (Avgs: Sat - £2.5m, Wed - £1.2m)
16% of the Pools Fund plus the 4th consecutive unwon jackpot prize pool as
detailed above. If there are no 5+bonus winners and it's not the 4th
consecutive unwon jackpot, then the 5+bonus prize pool is added to the jackpot
prize pool for the same draw. This has happened only
once to date.
- 5-match Prize Pool (Avgs: Sat - £1.6m, Wed - £0.8m)
10% of the Pools Fund plus the 4th consecutive unwon jackpot prize pool if
there's no 5+bonus winners as well. If there are no 5-match winners, the
5-match prize pool is added to the 4-match prize pool for the same draw.
- 4-match Prize Pool (Avgs: Sat - £3.5m, Wed - £1.6m)
22% of the Pools Fund plus the 5-match Prize Pool if there are no 5-match
winners. If there are no 4-match winners, then the 4-match Prize Pool is
shared equally amongst the 3-match winners in addition to their standard
£10 prize.
Notes:
- An individual prize in the above categories is simply the division of the
prize pool by the number of winners in that category.
Camelot calculates this using double-precision floating-point
arithmetic throughout and then rounds down to the nearest £ at the
last moment.
- If the total number of winners in all categories * £10 exceeds the
total prize pool (excluding any rollover or Super Draw money),
then every winner (3-match through to the jackpot) gets exactly the same
prize, which is the total prize pool divided by the total number of winners,
rounded down to the nearest pound. This rule came into effect from Sunday 17th
March 1996 onwards. Any rollover/Super Draw money is treated separately
from this rule and divided equally into the appropriate category (usually
the 6-match winners).
- If a single ticket could win more than one individual prize in a draw (e.g.
a jackpot ticket actually has six 5-matches, fifteen 4-matches and twenty
3-matches making a total of 42 prizes),
then only the single highest individual prize is won.
- If no-one claims a prize within 180 days of the draw, it is added to the
National Lottery Distribution Fund.
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