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[Ninja Dom]

Since October 2015 the rules regarding the National Lottery Lotto competition, which is run twice a week, have changed slightly.

Previously, entrants chose 6 different numbers between 1 and 49. In October they increased the numbers to 59 and the draw has rolled over for the maximum allowed 16 times.

By increasing the numbers to 59 there is now an even higher chance of NOT winning the jackpot. My guess is also that people are sticking with their regular numbers which go up to 49 and haven't adapted their numbers to accommodate for the extra 10 numbers now.

Anyway, if the Lotto jackpot rolls over (stays un-won) for 16 times in a row then the jackpot must be shared out to the next highest place in the next draw. So this Saturday we have a jackpot of £57.8 million, the highest since the competition was introduced just over 21 years ago.

£2 a line to play, Match 3 numbers to win £20, Match 2 numbers to win a free Lucky Dip the next time you play.

Who's playing? Share your Lottery story's here too.

 

[Salvadora]

Why would they decrease the odds?

Aren't the chances in the millions anyway.

 

[Meader]

It was 1 in 14 million before, now its apparently 1 in 42 million.

 

[SlickShoes]

I have been playing the same numbers for years, just one line with set numbers that I started playing and now can't stop due to chronic fear of those numbers winning anything.

So I am one of those people with numbers that don't extend into the new bracket, I won a lucky dip ticket on wednesday so I'll have two entries on saturday, I look forward to not winning as usual!

 

[Broken Joystick]

Don't normally play but might do it for tomorrow.

 

[kmag]

Since October 2015 the rules regarding the National Lottery Lotto competition, which is run twice a week, have changed slightly.

Previously, entrants chose 6 different numbers between 1 and 49. In October they increased the numbers to 59 and the draw has rolled over for the maximum allowed 16 times.

By increasing the numbers to 59 there is now an even higher chance of NOT winning the jackpot. My guess is also that people are sticking with their regular numbers which go up to 49 and haven't adapted their numbers to accommodate for the extra 10 numbers now.

Anyway, if the Lotto jackpot rolls over (stays un-won) for 16 times in a row then the jackpot must be shared out to the next highest place in the next draw. So this Saturday we have a jackpot of £57.8 million, the highest since the competition was introduced just over 21 years ago.

£2 a line to play, Match 3 numbers to win £20, Match 2 numbers to win a free Lucky Dip the next time you play.

Who's playing? Share your Lottery story's here too.

Took the chances of winning the Jackpot from 1 in 14 million to something like 1 in 45 million. 5 numbers and the bonus ball is about the same as the original odds of winning the Jackpot

 

[liquidtmd]

Don't normally play but might do it for tomorrow.

And that's why they system works for them

Spoiler

me too

 

[Ninja Dom]

Why would they decrease the odds?

Aren't the chances in the millions anyway.

It was 1 in 14 million before, now its apparently 1 in 42 million.

Before, the odds of the first ball that was drawn being yours was 6 in 49. Now it's 6 in 59. That's decreased odds of winning.

 

[Dougald]

The odds of winning are now even worse than they were before, you might as well throw your money away, or better yet, donate the whole £2 to charity instead of whatever portion the lottery passes on

If you want a chance at winning in a lottery-type deal, at least buy premium bonds. Not only can you get your deposit back whenever you like, if you have enough invested you'll average slightly worse return than a savings account

 

[Dambrosi]

Eh, I'll probably chance a Lucky Dip or two for that prize pot.

I never usually enter these things, because it's £2 a try down the toilet that could have gone to a Home Bargains sub roll, a flapjack and a drink instead.

Edit: I had no idea they even sold Premium Bonds still. I thought they stopped in the 1990's.

 

[Mindwipe]

Why would they decrease the odds?

Aren't the chances in the millions anyway.

They wanted to address that the jackpot was declining as less people played, and add more prizes at the bottom end of the rewards so people would be excited by winning something more often (two numbers now gives a free lucky dip whereas before you got nothing for example).

But nobody buys a lottery ticket to try and win £25. Nobody cares about the lower prizes, it's just a bit of a refund on your weekly cost tbh. If people cared about the lower prizes they'd gamble in other ways that were more rewarding at a lower level. All anyone cares about is the jackpot and now you're substantially less likely to win it, so they've screwed the pooch.

It was a crazily bad idea to be honest.

 

[jelly]

Euromillions must have even worse odds. That US Powerball, what are the odds on that ?

The crazy thing people do is use the same numbers every week, what if you don't one week and the numbers come up. Ouch. Go random.

 

[Lagamorph]

I gave up when I got 4 numbers and the bonus ball years ago and only won £60.
My mum puts on 7 lines every Saturday though, 4 sets of usual numbers and 3 lucky dips.

Admittedly though, she somewhat regularly manages 3 numbers to win the £25.

 

[danowat]

Surprised this is still a thing for many people, the odds are astronomical, I would have thought most sensible people would have binned it off years ago.

 

[Busty]

Eh. My fantasy would be to win that amount of money and have no one know about it. Winning that amount of money and then announcing it to the world just seems like a sure fire way to irreparably ruin your life regardless of your personal wealth.

I never usually enter these things, because it's £2 a try down the toilet that could have gone to a Home Bargains sub roll, a flapjack and a drink instead.

I have found a kindred spirit.

 

[milanbaros]

Eh, I'll probably chance a Lucky Dip or two for that prize pot.

I never usually enter these things, because it's £2 a try down the toilet that could have gone to a Home Bargains sub roll, a flapjack and a drink instead.

Edit: I had no idea they even sold Premium Bonds still. I thought they stopped in the 1990's.

Premium bonds are a still massive, only really make sense if you are a higher or additional rate tax payer though.

 

[The_Poet]

Might give it a go, I'm not so poor that I need to worry over a few quid lost for a bit of entertainment.

 

[mid83]

Euromillions must have even worse odds. That US Powerball, what are the odds on that ?

The crazy thing people do is use the same numbers every week, what if you don't one week and the numbers come up. Ouch. Go random.

Powerball is like 1 in 278 million

 

[danowat]

Might give it a go, I'm not so poor that I need to worry over a few quid lost for a bit of entertainment.

Chuck me £2 and I'll roll a (normal six sided ) dice, if I roll a 7, I'll give you £1M

 

[True Savior]

Share your Lottery story's here too.

A cop (the ones who kinda go back and forward in daily routes, dont know the term in english) who had a fascination for cars started to buy high expensive cars (porsches, lamborghinis, etc). He lived a very normal life, did his regular 9-17 work, lived in the same place but his colleagues got the information about the cars. This average-joe suddenly started to buy this stuff. They went and snitched him because no way he could afford that, he had no crazy inheritance so he had to be making money with something shoddy. They opened a disciplinary procedure only to discover the guy had one the EuroMillions but kept working and living normally.

I would have loved to see the look he gave when he had to explain the spending.

 

[Daffy Duck]

I suspect you are right OP, people stuck with their original numbers (I know we have) and didn't add the higher numbers (why would you, imagine how gutted you would be if your old numbers came up).

Plus the massively increased odds, and this scenario happens, and will probably continue to happen now.

 

[The_Poet]

Chuck me £2 and I'll roll a (normal six sided ) dice, if I roll a 7, I'll give you £1M

Nah, I don't find entertainment in giving money to pedants.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Eh. My fantasy would be to win that amount of money and have no one know about it. Winning that amount of money and then announcing it to the world just seems like a sure fire way to irreparably ruin your life regardless of your personal wealth.

Oh you're definitely right.

The organisers actually want you to go public with the news as they want to show off that it is possible to win and look at these "ordinary people". This then encourages more sales for future draws.

Also, I was told that the advice from the organisers is to "sit on your jackpot win for a year". Have a holiday and pay off your debts and get your Private Healthcare sorted but generally don't start your spending until Year 2.

A cop (the ones who kinda go back and forward in daily routes, dont know the term in english) who had a fascination for cars started to buy high expensive cars (porsches, lamborghinis, etc). He lived a very normal life, did his regular 9-17 work, lived in the same place but his colleagues got the information about the cars. This average-joe suddenly started to buy this stuff. They went and snitched him because no way he could afford that, he had no crazy inheritance so he had to be making money with something shoddy. They opened a disciplinary procedure only to discover the guy had one the EuroMillions but kept working and living normally.

I would have loved to see the look he gave when he had to explain the spending.

Yeah, the way the cop went about it is actually the best way providing you still enjoy doing your job.

 

[danowat]

Nah, I don't find entertainment in giving money to pedants.

Harsh, my post was (supposed to be) light hearted.

 

[Messypandas]

They decreased the odds and raised the price. I'M IN.

Spoiler

for two rows

 

[frankie_baby]

Most people I know only bother playing the euromillions now so even 60 million on this looks a bit small and not worth bothering with

 

[The_Poet]

Harsh, my post was (supposed to be) light hearted.

Oh, it came across as a judgemental mockery

 

[QuicheFontaine]

I don't usually play but I bought a ticket for Saturday :-D

 

[danowat]

Oh, it came across as a judgemental mockery

Wasn't my intention, should have slathered the post in smilies I guess!

 

[Android18a]

For £2 I'll enter the Euro for the bigger potential jackpot. The changes are so slim either way I'll go for the bigger money.

Regular lottery... I used to do it when it was a quid, but not now. Not even worth it, I'd sooner buy a couple of scratchcards.

 

[Mr-Joker]

I would play but eh paying £2 for a ticket when I could use that money for something more useful.

 

[Matt_]

I bought 4 lucky dips and a draw for the euro millions tonight
silly minimum £10 add on the website

Looking at the previous draws as well it seems theyve reduced the number of raffle winners from 50 to 21 too

 

[jesu]

I have a direct debit set up for the Fri and Sat lotteries.
Have one 3 lucky dip tickets and about £10 total in 3 other prizes so far.

For a split second I thought I had one 7.8 million when I saw this message

 

[JoeM86]

If you don't play, you definitely won't win.



I used to do a lucky dip now and again, but the increase in numbers was ridiculous and the last straw for me.

I only do Euromillions now due to the guaranteed one UK millionaire each draw. That's quite incentive, even if I don't win the jackpot. Still unlikely, but meh. It's only £2

 

[Rich!]

I only ever buy scratchcards for a quid each.

A 1 in 4 chance of at least winning your money back is obviously better. And last week I won £40.

 

[danowat]

I only ever buy scratchcards for a quid each.

A 1 in 4 chance of at least winning your money back is obviously better. And last week I won £40.

Do they list the odds on the card/s?, never brought a scratch card before.

 

[Messypandas]

I played it once in a blue moon a few months ago and won around £150. I think it was 5 numbers? Made my day.

 

[Ryan_MSF]

Thanks for reminding me i need to go and get some lucky dips OP

 

[Messypandas]

Do the tickets have QR codes or anything now I can scan to see if i've won? They need to get on that.

 

[Ninja Dom]

I only ever buy scratchcards for a quid each.

A 1 in 4 chance of at least winning your money back is obviously better. And last week I won £40.

Which one do you buy?

Do the tickets have QR codes or anything now I can scan to see if i've won? They need to get on that.

They got an app where you just type in your numbers and it tells you what you've won. Apart from that it's the barcode at the bottom of the ticket that you get scanned by the retailer.

 

[ChubbleDucks]

Eh. My fantasy would be to win that amount of money and have no one know about it. Winning that amount of money and then announcing it to the world just seems like a sure fire way to irreparably ruin your life regardless of your personal wealth.

You are given 2 options if you win the jackpot.

If you decide to go public then they will provide full assistance with how to handle that amount of money and deal with begging letters etc.

If you keep it secret and then found out afterwards (you are bound to be found out as it would be easy for friends/family to tell others) you are left on your own to deal with any issues.

 

[MrS]

In with the work syndicate but will also drop a tenner on it and a tenner on Euromillions later. Already planning what to spend my millions on

 

[Rich!]

Do they list the odds on the card/s?, never brought a scratch card before.

Yep, here's a photo of the back of one I just bought... Which I won £5 on! Paid for my lunch! I only got it as the store had a £5 minimum card spend.

Which one do you buy?

Just any £1 one. I only get a couple a week, but even then I end up with more success than throwing my money down the drain with the lottery draw.

 

[dose]

It was 1 in 14 million before, now its apparently 1 in 42 million.

Yep, and now that it's £2 a go, it's even worse. They've really screwed up imo. The jackpot increments have not been anything like they used to be either, i imagine because of the price hike.

 

[kiri]

I was unlucky in the fact that I had six numbers come to me in a dream about 6/7 years ago and I've been unable to stop since.

The increased odds decision was a shambles but eventually someone (or the case of this weekend, possibly many people) must win.

Sat/Wed at £2 a pop is £208 a year. I've won £25 a few times and £65 once so in my eyes, it's money I can part with. I don't smoke, do drugs or drink regularly/heavily so my money isn't really going into any other vices.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

I mainly play Euromillions these days though I might have a crack at this.

Once got 5 numbers on the standard lottery years ago on Christmas Eve for about £1700. One more number and it would have been millions. My bonus ball was one off too, which would have netted my about £150,000.

Gutted. Ruined my Christmas lol.

 

[formasymphonic]

They wanted to address that the jackpot was declining as less people played, and add more prizes at the bottom end of the rewards so people would be excited by winning something more often (two numbers now gives a free lucky dip whereas before you got nothing for example).

But nobody buys a lottery ticket to try and win £25. Nobody cares about the lower prizes, it's just a bit of a refund on your weekly cost tbh. If people cared about the lower prizes they'd gamble in other ways that were more rewarding at a lower level. All anyone cares about is the jackpot and now you're substantially less likely to win it, so they've screwed the pooch.

It was a crazily bad idea to be honest.

It was officially this if I recall, but is suspect that unofficially they are well aware that more people who don't normally buy tickets will buy if there are rollovers.

They can induce this artificially by creating a system where rollovers are statistically more likely.

Some more cynical people like myself could also believe that they are fully capable of manipulating the numbers based on the data they gather in advance of the draw.

 

[Messypandas]

Once got 5 numbers on the standard lottery years ago on Christmas Eve for about £1700. One more number and it would have been millions. My bonus ball was one off too, which would have netted my about £150,000.

Gutted. Ruined my Christmas lol.

You won £1700! It made your Christmas!

 

[mangochutney]

For £2 I'll enter the Euro for the bigger potential jackpot. The changes are so slim either way I'll go for the bigger money.

Regular lottery... I used to do it when it was a quid, but not now. Not even worth it, I'd sooner buy a couple of scratchcards.

Yeah they've basically created a domestic EuroMillions.

Trouble is, like you say if I'm spending £2 I'll go for the EuroMillions if that can reach bananas amounts.

Granted you run the chance you have to share it with some chump in France or something.

If it was still £1, or even £1.50, then that gives it a good advantage.

 

[Jezbollah]

I do wonder if a lot of the national lottery players went off and started on other similar "games" (such as the Postcode Lottery) when these new changes were announced..