WHEN it comes to the lottery, they say you need to be in it to win it – but which top prize are YOU most likely to win?
From the National Lottery with mega £1million jackpots to the £100k lotto with the best odds, top experts reveal the best games to enter and those you need to avoid.
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The National Lottery sells tickets for big games like Lotto and the Euromillions, but there are other lotteries too, like free postcode lotteries, charity lotteries, and bank prize draws.
Some 36% of adults bought a lottery ticket over the past month according to a Gambling Commission survey published in July last year.
Of those players, 31% bought a National Lottery ticket, making these games by far the most popular.
But which ones are worth it? We reveal the odds of winning, T&Cs to watch out for, and rank them in terms of whether they’re worth playing or not.
In some cases, you have a higher chance of being struck by lightning and killed – which is one in 33million – than winning.
We’ve given our marks out of 10 for each game based on if it’s worth playing, and our verdict too.
Premium Bonds
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A bit different from a lottery, Premium Bonds are a type of savings account, but instead of earning interest, every £1 you save gets you an entry into a monthly draw with prizes of up to £1 million.
It’s run by National Savings & Investment, a bank backed by the British government, and you’ll need a minimum of £25 to open an account.
You don’t have to pay to enter either.
Premium Bonds have a “prize fund rate” which is an estimate of how much you should win based on the amount you have saved, and this is currently 3.6%.
But there are no guarantees, and you might never win anything.
However, even if this is the case, you’ll still get your original money back, unlike other lotteries.
Also unlike other lotteries, you can hold Premium Bonds from age 16, and parents can also hold them on behalf of their children.
Prizes range from £25 and £50, up to two monthly jackpots of £1 million. The chances of winning any prize is 22,000 to one, and the chance of winning the jackpot is about 60 billion to one.
The fact you don’t lose any money is appealing, according to MrBetting.co.uk: “Premium Bonds are always worth a look. You’re not risking your money, and while the odds of a big win are slim, there’s a steady flow of smaller prizes and no real downside.”
- ODDS: 22,000 to 1 for every £1 bond
- TOP PRIZE: £1million
- WORTH PLAYING? 9/10
OUR VERDICT: Plenty of prizes and you won’t lose any money – though you might never win anything
Bank prize draws
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September marks the final Halifax Savers Prize draw. The monthly competition, which has been running since 2011, gave customers the chance to grab up to £100,000.
Other banks still offer chances to pocket some free cash though.
Kent Reliance customers who are over 18 and have savings of at least £100 or a mortgage of more than £1,000 with the bank are entered into a monthly draw to win £1,000.
The app-based bank Chip offers a digital prize savings account, which pays no interest but enters you into a monthly draw.
The number of entries you get depends on your average account balance – £10 gets you one entry.
The amount up for grabs varies, but in July the top prize was £50,000 and there were 500 prizes of £10 plus 4,000 prizes of £5.
Don’t just pick a bank account based on the potential prize winnings.
Consider customer service, how good its app is, and whether you could earn more with a top-paying savings account instead.
“Bank-run draws, like the one Halifax offered, are surprisingly decent because not everyone knew about them and fewer participants usually means better odds,” says MrBetting.co.uk
- ODDS: In most cases, odds change each month depending on who enters
- TOP PRIZE: £50k
- WORTH PLAYING? 8/10
OUR VERDICT: Fewer participants might mean better odds of winning – but remember that you could earn more through a savings account with the same bank.
People’s Postcode Lottery
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To win this one you’ll need your postcode to be drawn – if yours is chosen, every person in your postcode who is signed up shares the winnings.
To play, you’ll need a subscription, which costs £12.25 a month and gets you entry into every draw, so this is not a good option for anyone watching the pennies.
There are 20 draws each month, with prizes including vouchers, gift cards and small cash sums, but the big one is the Millionaire Street Prize on a Saturday, where players in the winning postcode get a share of at least £1 million.
The maximum an individual can win is £500,000.
It says the odds of winning depends on the number of postcodes and entries into each draw, but in June 20.51% of playing postcodes won a prize.
At least 30% of the ticket price goes to charities such as the Trussell Trust and Royal British Legion.
“The postcode lottery adverts make it look simple, but did you realise there are about 1.8 million different postcodes in the UK? It’s not just the first two letters that need to be picked out, it’s the full postcode,” says Hagger.
- ODDS: Depends, but 20.51% won a prize in June
- TOP PRIZE: £500k
- WORTH PLAYING? 7/10
OUR VERDICT: With so many draws, the chances of winning something feel achievable but the high monthly subscription cost may be off-putting
The Health Lottery
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This one aims to raise money for health-related good causes across the UK, with about 20p of £1 going towards community projects, charities and more.
There are seven Big Win draws each week. Five of them have a top prize of £25,000 – it costs £1 to enter each of these, and this automatically gets you entry into the two weekly superdraws with top prizes of £100,000.
The Health Lottery claims to offer the best odds of winning out of any UK lottery, but the chances of getting the top prize are still quite slim at one in 2.1 million.
- ODDS: 1 in 2.1million
- TOP PRIZE: £100,000
- WORTH PLAYING? 6/10
OUR VERDICT: It claims to have the best jackpot odds of any lottery – it could be worth a shot.
Pick my Postcode
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Formerly known as the Free Postcode Lottery, the main appeal of this one is that it is free to enter.
Pick my Postcode is funded by advertising so you don’t have to part with any cash for the prospect of winning, you just need a registered UK postcode and an email address – but it does require a bit of effort.
There are various draws each day – the ‘main’, ‘survey’, ‘video’ and ‘bonus’ draws – with prizes starting from £5, and a midday draw offering £200.
You win if your postcode is drawn – but you’ll need to check online everyday to see if you’ve been lucky, as you have to claim your prize by midday the next day or the money is rolled over.
It’s therefore a lot of effort to play – and there is a chance that you win, but forget to claim your prize if you don’t log on.
If multiple winners with the same postcode claim the prize, the pot is split.
While the prizes are smaller than other lotteries, if they aren’t claimed, they can soon rack up.
The firm says it has more than 3 million members and has so far given away over £3million to 37,000 winners.
The odds of winning are about 1 in 27,000 – which is similar odds to getting between three and four numbers on the Euromillions.
- ODDS: 1 in 27,000
- TOP PRIZE: Largest prize won was £8,660
- WORTH PLAYING? 6/10
OUR VERDICT: It’s free to enter, but actually winning requires a fair amount of effort and the jackpot isn’t life changing.
Should you buy more tickets?
YOU’VE got to be in it to win it.
Most lotteries work by selling tickets.
Every time you buy a ticket the odds of winning increase.
But WARNING – only spend what you can afford. At the end of the day, it’s down to luck.
This is why some people prefer to be part of a syndicate, where multiple tickets are bought.
While this means you’ll have to share the pot, the odds become more favourable each ticket you buy.
While lotteries are easy and fun to play, and offer the chance to win life-changing sums, it is important to gamble responsibly.
“If you are going to play a lottery look at the provider website and terms and conditions first. Get an idea of the number of prizes on offer and your chance of winning – don’t simply fritter your cash away based on the TV hype,” says Hagger.
For those concerned about gambling, there is support available from organisations such as GamCare, Gamble Aware and StepChange.
Lotto (National Lottery)
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The original lottery, now known as Lotto, was launched in 1994 as a way to make members of the general public overnight millionaires while raising money for good causes.
A chunk of the ticket sales goes to funding sports, arts, health, education and more.
Entry costs £2 and there are draws on Wednesday and Saturday.
Simply pick six numbers from 1-59, which are drawn at random, and hope for a match.
Prizes range from a free lucky dip for matching two numbers or £30 for three numbers, up to £1 million for matching five numbers and the bonus ball, or the jackpot for matching all six.
This month, the jackpot was £8.7 million but the biggest ever was £66 million, won in January 2016.
But while the prizes are big, the chances of winning are not – the odds of getting the jackpot are just one in 45 million.
The chance of matching two numbers is one in 10.3.
Andrew Hagger, founder of Moneycomms, a financial advice website, says: “Buying national lottery tickets or scratchcards might seem harmless, but they are a form of gambling and for some people it could eventually lead them to playing online bingo, slots and casino games where the losses can stack up very quickly.”
- ODDS: 1 in 45million for winning jackpot
- TOP PRIZE: Biggest prize was £66 million
- WORTH PLAYING? 6/10
OUR VERDICT: The odds of hitting the big time are minuscule.
Other National Lottery games
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The popularity of the Lotto has seen the National Lottery launch other draws.
The Thunderball costs £1 to enter, with a top prize of £500,000. There is a one in 8 million chance of winning the jackpot, according to lottery.co.uk, and a one in 29 chance of winning the lowest prize of £3 for matching the Thunderball number.
Meanwhile, Set for Life costs £1.50 and promises the winner £10,000 a month for 30 years.
The chance of scooping the jackpot is one in 15.3 million, while the odds of getting the second prize (£10,000 a month for a year) is one in 1.7 million.
In the Euromillions, there are serious sums of money up for grabs. The biggest prize which has ever been up for grabs was worth £208million, and was won by a lucky Irish ticket holder.
But the game is played across nine countries, including the UK, Switzerland and Spain, so the odds are even slimmer – the chance of winning the jackpot is almost one in 140 million.
A spokesperson for MrBetting.co.uk, a gambling advice site, says: “When it comes to prize draws and lotteries, a lot of people get swept up in the dream and forget to ask the basic question: is this actually worth entering?
“Look at how many prizes are actually on offer: if there’s one shiny jackpot and that’s it, chances are your odds aren’t brilliant. I’d rather a draw that offers a good spread—hundreds or thousands of chances to win—even if the top prize isn’t as flashy.”
- ODDS: Best odds are 1 in 8 for Thunderball; worst odds are 1 in 140million for EuroMillions
- TOP PRIZE: Biggest prize was £208million for Euromillions last month
- WORTH PLAYING? 5/10
OUR VERDICT: Lottery games have expanded into something for everyone – the odds are incredibly slim but we love the idea of winning the Set for Life.
Charity Lotteries
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Plenty of charities run lotteries, and you don’t need to be a member to sign up.
For example, the RSPB lottery costs £1 to enter and is drawn every Friday, with 35 cash prizes ranging from £10 to £1,000.
It says 60% of the money raised goes towards supporting wildlife and nature reserves.
The chance of winning any prize is about one in 240. It also holds a summer raffle with a top prize of £10,000.
Another example is the British Heart Foundation Weekly Flutter Lottery.
There are 200 prizes in each draw, ranging from £5 to the top prize of £1,000.
Some 20% of the ticket sales go towards funding the charity’s research. It says the chance of winning a prize is one in 447.
Other charities that run lotteries include Oxfam, the NSPCC, MS Society, MacMillan and Age UK. Hagger says: “Charity run lotteries tend to have smaller prize pots but if funds raised help a charity that’s dear to your heart, then maybe you’re less concerned if you don’t win.”
- ODDS: Depends on the game – best odds are 1 in 240 for RSPB
- TOP PRIZE: £10,000
- WORTH PLAYING? 5/10
OUR VERDICT: A good way to support your favourite charity with the chance of a cash prize – but the jackpots are lower than other lotteries.
Omaze
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A monthly raffle to win a fully-furnished dream home in an iconic UK location, plus £250,000 cash.
Omaze has given away properties in London, the Lake District and Bath to name just a few.
Winners can live in the house, rent it out or sell up and pocket the cash. The odds of winning vary as it depends on how many entries are received.
From August, Omaze subscribers will also be entered into a Omaze Monthly Millionaire draw, with a £1 million prize.
Those with a £15 subscription get 100 entries, while a £50 subscription gets you 640 entries.
“The entry cost versus the payout is important to consider. Some draws ask for £10, £20, or more per entry, and if there’s only a handful of winners, it’s probably not great value,” says MrBetting.co.uk.
“Omaze looks slick, and the prizes are eye-catching, but the odds are truly wild. It’s fun to dream, but I wouldn’t treat it like a serious shot at winning.”
- ODDS: Unclear
- TOP PRIZE: £1million plus a house
- WORTH PLAYING? 3/10
OUR VERDICT: With just one prize in each draw, the odds are slim and the entry cost is comparatively high – but the prospect of winning a dream home might be worth it for some
Other house raffles
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Winning a home is a dream prize for many people who are struggling to save a deposit but it is important to check the terms and conditions.
Hidden in the small print of some of these draws is the fact that the advertised home might not actually be given away unless a minimum number of tickets are sold.
In these cases, you might end up with a cash prize instead. Be sure to check the ticket price too as these can vary significantly, and be particularly cautious of house draws run by individuals rather than a proper company.
Be wary of any prize draws that aren’t clear about the rules or odds, says MrBetting.co.uk.
“Any draw that’s vague on the number of entries, or relies on hitting a certain number of ticket sales to go ahead, should be taken with a pinch of salt. Lack of transparency is a red flag.”
- ODDS: Unclear
- TOP PRIZE: A house
- WORTH PLAYING? 2/10
OUR VERDICT: Be wary of the terms and conditions – the house may never be given away.
‘I won £5.3k on free online postcode lottery – it takes two minutes to check’
MICHAEL Ellis waited almost a decade to win big on the Pick My Postcode lottery – but it was worth it after he pocketed £5,331.
Michael, 61, who lives in Kent, first signed up to the free online postcode lottery in 2016 and has checked the website almost every day since to see if his postcode had been drawn.
“I never actually expected to win big. There was lots of whooping and punching the air. My wife was wondering what on Earth had happened,” he says.
PickMyPostcode is a free online lottery, funded by adverts rather than ticket sales – which makes it a good option for anyone who doesn’t want to pay to enter a draw.
Those over 18, living in the UK – or islands with a British postcode system – can join by registering their email and postcode.
There are four draws each day: main, survey, video and bonus. The main jackpot, worth £200, is picked at midday – but you’ll need to check the site within 24 hours to claim your prize though, or the money is rolled over to the next day.
Users can grow the prize pot by visiting the website daily, completing surveys and taking up extra offers.
Michael, who plans to spend some of his winnings taking his wife Michelle to Italy, says: “It’s completely free, all it takes is a few minutes of your time to check the various draws on the site each day. I always hoped to win, but never expected to.”