The total prize pool in last night’s draw was £6,557,069 plus a further £1,000,000 for Lotto Raffle winners. As it turns out, this was considerably higher than the £4,085,544 (plus £1,000,000 in raffle prizes) given out in last Wednesday’s draw. While social media is buzzing with comments about the prize breakdown, there is a completely benign reason for last night’s reduced prizes. In an unusual turn of events, all of the main balls drawn last night were below 31, with three of them below 12.
The significance of this may not be immediately obvious until you consider than a great many players use birthdays and special dates when choosing their numbers. Consequently, the number of winners in last night’s Lotto draw was 236,339 (excluding Lotto Raffle winners) compared to just 119,633 last Wednesday. While this may be little consolation for last night’s winners, it is a timely reminder of the wisdom of including at least one number above 31 so that if your numbers do come up, the prize fund will be shared between fewer winners and result in bigger prizes.
Following on from the jackpot winners were seven ticket holders who each matched five main numbers plus the Bonus Ball to win £8,211 each and 464 players who matched five main numbers to win £105 each.
A further 16,593 players matched four main numbers to win a controversial and unusually small prize of just of £15 each while the final tier saw 219,273 players match just three main numbers to win the set prize of £25 each. With the prize for matching three main numbers set at a guaranteed £25, a bizarre consequence was that players matching four main numbers won less than players matching three main numbers!
The winning numbers on the night were 5, 9, 11, 20, 23, and 30 with Bonus Ball 45.
The next UK Lotto draw is scheduled to take place on Saturday and will offer players a brand new top prize estimated at £4 million plus a further 50 raffle prizes worth £20,000 each. However, if you can’t wait that long or if you’d like to play for something a little larger, the next EuroMillions draw takes place tomorrow and boasts a top prize of approximately £37 million (€47 million). Tickets for both games are on sale now.
