National Lottery ( United Kingdom ) - Wikipedia National Lottery ( United Kingdom ) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2016 ) National Lottery National Lottery logo ( 2015 - Present ) Region United Kingdom Isle of Man First draw 19 November 1994 ( 1994 - 11 - 19 ) Operator Camelot Group Regulated By National Lottery Commission Highest Jackpot £ 161,653,000 Odds of winning jackpot 45,057,474 to 1 ( Lotto ) 8,060,597 to 1 ( Thunderball ) 139,838,160 to 1 ( EuroMillions ) Number of Games 6 Shown on BBC One ( 1994 -- 2016 ) YouTube ( 2013 - ) BBC iPlayer ( 2017 ) Website www.national-lottery.co.uk The National Lottery is the state - franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom. It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the government of John Major in 1994. All prizes are paid as a lump sum and are tax - free. Of all money spent on National Lottery games, 50 % goes to the prize fund, 28 % to `` good causes '' as set out by Parliament ( though some of this is considered by some to be a form of `` stealth tax '' levied to support the Big Lottery Fund, a fund constituted to support public spending ), 12 % to the UK Government as duty, 5 % to retailers as commission, and a total of 5 % to operator Camelot, with 4.5 % to cover operating costs and 0.5 % as profit. Lottery tickets and scratch cards ( introduced in 1995 ) may be bought only by people of at least 16 years of age. Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years 2 Eligibility 3 Games 3.1 Current games 3.1. 1 Lotto 3.1. 1.1 October 2013 changes 3.1. 1.2 October 2015 changes 3.1. 2 Lotto Hotpicks 3.1. 3 Thunderball 3.1. 4 EuroMillions 3.1. 5 Scratchcards 3.1. 6 Online Instant Wins 3.1. 7 UK Millionaire Maker 3.1. 8 Millionaire Raffle 3.2 Discontinued games 3.2. 1 Lotto Extra 3.2. 2 Dream Number 3.2. 3 Daily Play 3.2. 4 Lotto Plus 5 3.2. 5 Vernons Easy Play 3.2. 6 Big Draw 2000 / Big Draw 2003 4 Other ways to play 4.1 Online 4.2 Text 4.3 Sky Active 4.4 Barclays Pingit 5 Olympic Lottery 6 The National Lottery on television 6.1 National Lottery Xtra 7 Good causes 8 Percentage return 9 Unclaimed prizes 10 Regulation 11 Machine appearances 12 Game shows 13 See also 14 References 15 External links History Early years A statute of 1698 provided that in England lotteries were by default illegal unless specifically authorised by statute. Early English state lotteries included the Million Lottery ( 1694 ) and the Malt Lottery ( 1697 ). These Lotteries were part of a series of financial experiments by the English government including recoinage and the foundation of the Bank of England to raise the capital available to the state. A 1934 Act, further liberalised in 1956 and 1976, legalised small lotteries. The UK 's state - franchised lottery was set up under government licence by the government of John Major in 1993. The National Lottery is franchised to a private operator ; the Camelot Group was awarded the franchise on 25 May 1994. The first draw took place on 19 November 1994 with a television programme presented by Noel Edmonds. The first numbers drawn were 30, 3, 5, 44, 14 and 22, the bonus was 10, and seven jackpot winners shared a prize of £ 5,874,778. Tickets became available on the Isle of Man on 2 December 1999 at the request of Tynwald. The National Lottery undertook a major rebranding programme in late 2002 designed to combat falling sales. The main game was renamed Lotto, and the National Lottery Extra became Lotto Extra. The stylized crossed - fingers logo was modified. However, the games as a collective are still known as the National Lottery. It is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the United Kingdom. In November 2009 Camelot replaced its older Lotto draw machines. The new machines are named Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot and Merlin, reusing the names of older machines. At the same time, new machines for the Thunderball game were introduced. The new Lotto machines are the Magnum II model, manufactured by Smartplay International Inc., and the new Thunderball machines are the Smartplay Halogen II model. Eligibility As of December 2016, the eligibility requirements include : Players must be at least 16 years old to buy scratchcards or to play Lotto, Thunderball or Euromillions Tickets may be bought in person at approved premises in the UK, or online over the Internet Online purchase of tickets from the National Lottery website is restricted to people who have a UK bank account ( for debit card or direct debit purposes ), and are resident in the UK or Isle of Man, and are physically present in the UK or Isle of Man when making the ticket purchase. The ticket purchaser for a syndicate, typically its manager, must meet the eligibility criteria for ticket purchase. Syndicate members must be aged 16 or over Lottery tickets are not transferable, so commercial syndicates ( i.e. where extra charges are levied over and above the total face value of the tickets purchased ) are not permitted Games 2 of the old Lottery Ticket stands in a supermarket Several games operate under the National Lottery brand : Current games As of December 2016, the current games include : Lotto Players buy tickets with their choice of six different numbers between 1 and 59 ; there is provision for random numbers to be generated automatically for those who do not wish to choose, known as ' Lucky Dip '. The entry fee to the Lotto draw was set at £ 1 per board from its introduction. The draw is conducted twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays, except that a draw on Christmas Day is moved to Christmas Eve. Saturday draws started on 19 November 1994, under the name ' National Lottery ' ; the first Wednesday draw was on 5 February 1997. All of the draws are shown live on the official website at 20 : 30. Lotto was originally called The National Lottery, but was renamed Lotto in an update in 2002 after ticket sales decreased. Lotto is by far the most popular draw, with around 15 to 45 million tickets sold each draw. The most winners for a single jackpot was 133 in January 1995, each player winning £ 122,510. In the draw, six numbered balls are drawn without replacement from a set of 59 balls numbered from 1 to 59 ( formerly 1 to 49 until October 2015 ). A further Bonus Ball is also drawn, which affects only players who match five numbers. Prizes are awarded to players who match at least three of the six drawn numbers, with prizes increasing for matching more of the drawn numbers. The players who match all six drawn numbers win equal shares of the jackpot ; the chance of doing so is 1 in 45,057,474. Similarly, if four or five balls are matched, the relevant prize is divided equally between all who match that many balls. If no player matches all six numbers, the jackpot is added to that of the next Lotto draw -- a rollover. This accumulation was limited to three consecutive draws until 10 February 2011, when it was increased to four. Rollovers are frequent, with for example 20 Wednesday ( 39 % ) and 13 Saturday rollovers ( 25 % ) in 2011 ( fewer tickets are sold on Wednesdays than Saturdays, increasing the probability of a rollover ). `` Treble rollovers '' -- two consecutive rollovers -- are much less common. The first quadruple rollover draw occurred on Saturday 29 September 2012 with a jackpot of £ 19.5 million. In the event of a quadruple rollover, if no tickets match all six main numbers, the jackpot will be shared between the tickets that match five numbers and the bonus ball. October 2013 changes Camelot announced that the price was to double to £ 2 from 3 October 2013, with prizes restructured. The announcement was followed by news that large bonuses were to be set aside for management pay, which drew criticism. The arrival of the `` New Lotto '' means bigger jackpots with an estimated average of £ 1.1 million extra for Saturday 's draw and £ 400,000 on Wednesday. Players matching three numbers receive an extra £ 15, up from £ 10 before and an extra £ 40 for matching 4 numbers. Those matching five numbers receive £ 500 less, and £ 50,000 less when matching five numbers + the bonus ball, compared to the former system. As part of the refresh, a new Lotto Raffle was introduced, with at least 50 winners of £ 20,000 per draw. The announcement and launch of the refreshed Lotto game caused controversy due to the price increase ( dubbed as a `` tax on the poor '' ) and a drop in some of the prizes. The new game launched with a £ 10,000,000 jackpot and 1,000 Lotto Raffle winners of £ 20,000. October 2015 changes From 10 October 2015, Camelot announced further changes to the Lotto game which increased the pool of numbers from 49 to 59. Rollovers are no longer limited in number, instead the size of the jackpot is capped ; the cap is reached after about 14 rollovers. When the jackpot gets to £ 50 million, if no - one matches all six main numbers the jackpot will rollover to the following draw. In the event nobody matches all six numbers on that draw the jackpot `` rolls down '' and is combined with the prize fund for the next prize category where there is at least one winner. Since August 2016, if nobody wins the jackpot when it is £ 22 million or more, it will roll to the next draw one final time. Then, the jackpot must be won : if no - one matches all six main numbers, the prize will be shared by the players with the most winning numbers. Since the rule changes in October 2015 there is also a `` match 2 '' prize of a free lucky dip ticket for another draw, with odds of doing so at 1 in 10. This created much criticism as the breakdown of prizes announced by Camelot includes the value of these prizes ( £ 2 each winner ) within the draw 's prize fund even though each match 2 prize winner does n't see any monetary value unless their ticket matches three main numbers or more in the following draw. Included with each Lotto ticket is the Millionaire Lotto Raffle where 20 players win £ 20,000 each and one player wins £ 1 million per draw. Division of 17.82 % of the sales = X Matching numbers % of X Odds of winning 4 numbers 12.9 % 2,179 to 1 5 numbers 2.0 % 144,414 to 1 5 numbers and bonus ball 1.9 % 7,509,578 to 1 6 numbers 83.2 % 45,057,474 to 1 The overall odds of winning any prize are 9.3 to 1. From October 2015 the total prize fund is 47.50 % of draw sales in a normal week, including the raffle. The three - ball prize winners, with odds of 96 to 1, receive £ 25 each ; the two - ball prize winners receive a free £ 2 entry. 17.82 % of the sales are divided as shown in the table and split equally with the number of winners for each selection : Lotto Hotpicks Lotto Hotpicks odds and payouts from October 2015 Match Prize Odds of winning 1 number £ 6 1 in 10 2 numbers £ 60 1 in 115 3 numbers £ 800 1 in 1,626 4 numbers £ 13,000 1 in 30,342 5 numbers £ 350,000 1 in 834,398 Lotto Hotpicks uses the main Lotto draw for its numbers but is a different game. The player chooses both the numbers and the number of draw balls they want to try to match, up to a maximum of five. However, if the player does not match all the numbers chosen, they are not a winner. The National Lottery describes Hotpicks as `` five games in one '', because the player has a choice of five ways of playing the game, each offering different odds and payouts. The entry fee to the Lotto Hotpicks draw is £ 1 per board. Thunderball The Thunderball jackpot draw requires players to pick five main numbers from 1 to 39 and one ' Thunderball ' number from 1 to 14 for an entry fee of £ 1 per board. Prizes may be won by matching the main numbers, with matches of the Thunderball number winning higher prizes. The top prize of the game, now £ 500,000, is won by matching all five main numbers as well as the Thunderball. There is also a £ 3 prize for matching the Thunderball alone. Draws take place four times a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and are shown live on the official website at 20 : 00. The first Thunderball draw was held on 12 June 1999 and the draw was originally only held on Saturdays. The rules of Thunderball changed substantially on 9 May 2010. Before this date, Thunderball matches were drawn from numbers 1 to 34 ; there was no prize for matching the Thunderball number alone, and the top prize ( for matching 5 main numbers and the Thunderball ) was half the current jackpot at £ 250,000. After this date, the Friday draw was introduced in addition to the Wednesday and Saturday draws. Following the change of rules, while the chance of winning anything on Thunderball more than doubled, the chance of winning the top prizes more than halved. The Tuesday draw was added on 30 January 2018. The odds and payouts are as follows : Old ( 1999 -- 2010 ) Current ( from May 2010 ) Match Prize Odds of winning Prize Odds of winning Thunderball only - - £ 3 1 in 29 1 + Thunderball £ 5 1 in 33 £ 5 1 in 35 2 + Thunderball £ 10 1 in 107 £ 10 1 in 135 3 numbers £ 10 1 in 74 £ 10 1 in 111 3 + Thunderball £ 20 1 in 960 £ 20 1 in 1,437 4 numbers £ 100 1 in 2,067 £ 100 1 in 3,647 4 + Thunderball £ 250 1 in 26,866 £ 250 1 in 47,415 5 numbers £ 5,000 1 in 299,661 £ 5,000 1 in 620,046 5 + Thunderball £ 250,000 1 in 3,895,584 £ 500,000 1 in 8,060,598 EuroMillions Further information : EuroMillions On Saturday 7 February 2004 the lottery operator Camelot launched a pan-European lottery : EuroMillions. The first draw took place on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris. The UK, France and Spain were involved initially. Lotteries from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland joined the draw on 8 October 2004. The draws are currently made in Paris and shown recorded in the UK on the official website twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, approximately three hours after the draw has taken place. The entry fee to the EuroMillions draw is £ 2.50 per board. The odds of winning the jackpot are 139,838,160 to 1. Scratchcards As well as tickets for the draw games, the National Lottery also sells scratchcards. Introduced in 1995, they are small pieces of card where an area has been covered by a thin layer of opaque latex that can be scratched off. Under this are concealed the items / pictures that must be found in order to win. Scratchcards can be purchased in most newsagents and supermarkets ; they can cost £ 1, £ 2, £ 3, £ 5 or £ 10 and come in many different forms, with a variety of prizes and ways to win. The generic scratchcard requires the player to match three of the same prize amounts. If this is accomplished, they win that amount ; the highest possible currently being £ 4,000,000 on a £ 10 scratchcard. Other scratchcards involve matching symbols, pictures or words. The highest possible prize currently for a £ 1 scratchcard is £ 100,000. Initially, all scratchcards were sold for £ 1. Over the years, scratchcards that range in price from £ 2 to £ 10 have become available. More expensive scratchcards are larger and offer more games with higher - value prizes. Some scratchcards have jackpots other than one - off payments, such as a yearly sum or a car. Odds for winning a top prize on a scratchcard depend greatly on how many have been sold and whether there is any top prize scratchcards in circulation at time of purchase. Generally, the odds of winning a top prize are around 1 in 3,500,000 on most scratchcards. Online Instant wins Instant Win games are online games where the player can win prizes instantly. Some games are similar in format to scratchcards, with others involving more interactive play such as dice - rolling or matching special symbols. It is made clear that the Instant Win games are solely based on luck and that no skill or judgement is involved. Players must be registered in order to buy or try an Instant Win. `` Try '' games are free of charge and no payouts are made in respect of any prizes. As with scratchcards, there are a wide variety of Instant Win games available with different odds of winning prizes. The cost to play varies from 25p to £ 10. The current highest prize is £ 4 million on a £ 10 game. Odds of winning a top prize vary on each Instant Win game, and may be higher or lower than their scratchcard counterpart. UK Millionaire Maker Each EuroMillions ticket purchased in the UK contains a unique `` UK Millionaire Maker '' code, consisting of four letters and five numbers. There are two winners per draw ( with the exception of a special draw ), with each winner receiving a fixed £ 1,000,000. Odds of winning depend on the number of tickets sold for that particular draw in the UK, but are generally 1 in 1,900,000 on Tuesdays and 1 in 2,950,000 on Fridays. Millionaire raffle Following the changes to the Lotto game, Camelot introduced the Millionaire Raffle ( known previously as Lotto Raffle ). A raffle number is included automatically with each line of Lotto numbers bought. Each raffle number consists of a colour and eight numbers ( e.g. AQUA 4579 2965 ). Each winning raffle number wins a fixed amount of £ 20,000. Before Oct 2015, 50 raffle numbers were drawn with each Lotto draw and the number of raffle winners increased by 50 each time the Lotto jackpot rolled over, with as many as 250 raffle winners in the event of a quadruple rollover. From 10 October 2015, the prize structure was changed, with 20 prizes of £ 20,000 and one prize of £ 1,000,000 with each Lotto draw. Discontinued games Lotto extra Lotto Extra odds and payouts Match Prize Odds of winning 6 numbers Jackpot 1 in 13,983,815 The maximum jackpot was £ 50m Lotto Extra was introduced on 13 November 2000 and was originally called The National Lottery Extra but renamed Lotto Extra in 2002. It was an add on from the main draw where a player could select `` Lotto Extra same numbers '' or a lucky dip. Players would pick six numbers from 49 and there were no lower tier prizes so a perfect match was required. The last draw was on 8 July 2006 and it was replaced by Dream Number. Dream number Dream Number Match Prize Odds of winning 1st number only £ 2 1 in 11.2 1st 2 numbers £ 10 1 in 111.2 1st 3 numbers £ 100 1 in 1,111.2 1st 4 numbers £ 500 1 in 11,112 1st 5 numbers £ 5,000 1 in 111,112 1st 6 numbers £ 50,000 1 in 1,111,112 all 7 numbers £ 500,000 1 in 10,000,000 The overall odds of winning any prize were 1 in 10. Source : National Lottery Players Guide Dream Number was launched on 15 July 2006. It involved a random seven digit number generated for entry into the main draw. It was played independently of Lotto, or if played with Lotto one Dream Number was generated per ticket, not per Lotto entry. The cost of entry was £ 1. A dream number was printed on every Lotto ticket bought, whether the player had chosen to enter it into the draw or not. Unlike other Lotto games, it was not possible to choose the number entered, and the order that the numbers were drawn was significant, as the numbers had to be matched in the same order for the player to win. Players had to match with the first number in order to start winning prizes ( ranging from £ 2 to £ 500,000 ), which meant that 90 % of players lost as soon as the first ball was drawn. Draws took place on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but only the Saturday draw was televised. The Wednesday draw took place prior to the live TV show and the winning dream number was announced during the show. All money raised for good causes from Dream Number went towards the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. The National Lottery closed the Dream Number game on Wednesday 9 February 2011, which was also the date of the last Dream Number draw. It was then replaced by Lotto Plus 5. Daily Play Daily Play Match Prize Odds of winning 0 numbers £ 1 Daily Play Lucky Dip Ticket 1 in 11.5 4 numbers £ 5 1 in 22.3 5 numbers £ 30 1 in 222.6 6 numbers £ 300 1 in 6,343.1 7 numbers £ 30,000 1 in 888,030 The overall odds of winning a prize were 1 in 7.4 Source : National Lottery Daily Play Game Rules & Procedures The Daily Play draw started on Monday 22 September 2003 and could be played every day except Sunday and Christmas Day. By selecting seven numbers between 1 and 27, players could win anything from a free lucky dip to £ 30,000. The draw gave its players the chance to win a free daily play lucky - dip for not matching any numbers in the draw. The entry fee to the Daily Play draw was £ 1 per board. Daily Play draws were broadcast via a webcast. In addition, from March 2005 to October 2005, the Daily Play draw was broadcast live on Challenge TV in the Glory Ball show, hosted by Jean Anderson, James McCourt, Jayne Sharp and Nikki Cowan. The National Lottery Daily Play Draw ended on Friday, 6 May 2011. Lotto Plus 5 Lotto Plus 5 Matching Numbers Prize Odds of winning 3 numbers £ 2.50 56.65592 to 1 4 numbers £ 25 1,032.397 to 1 5 numbers £ 250 55,491.33 to 1 5 numbers and bonus ball £ 25,000 2,330,636 to 1 6 numbers £ 250,000 13,983,815 to 1 The overall odds of winning any prize is 52.65514 to 1 per draw. The overall odds of winning any prize is 10.13855 to 1 per Plus 5 draw week. Lotto Plus 5 was introduced in 2011 to plug the gaps between the Wednesday and Saturday Lotto draws, meaning it takes place on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Players can enter by paying an extra £ 1 when buying their Lotto ticket, which enters the same ticket numbers into five separate draws. Each draw offers fixed prizes for matching 3, 4, 5 and 6 numbers, with the jackpot being worth £ 250,000. It has been estimated that the game produces an extra 500,000 Lotto winners every week. Due to the changes to the main Lotto game ( most notably the introduction of the Lotto raffle ), Plus 5 was discontinued ; The last Plus 5 draw was played on 1 October 2013, with the last date to buy a ticket being 23 September 2013. Vernons easy Play The National Lottery teamed up with Vernons to create a football pools type lottery. Players marked a playslip to state how many lines they wanted to play. The lottery terminal allocated 10 football fixtures on the players ticket who then attempted to match these fixtures that resulted in a score draw. ( 1 - 1, 2 - 2, 3 - 3 ) To win players needed to match at least 5 fixtures which resulted in a score draw which always won £ 5. Matching 6 won between £ 6 and £ 530 depending on how many total score draws there were in total over all the fixtures played. Matching 7 score draws won between £ 27 and £ 67,000 depending on total score draws. And matching 8 won from £ 1850 to £ 667,000. Basically, the more score draws there are, the easier it is to win. This resulted in the payouts being fixed entirely on how many score draws there were. This was a really difficult game to understand and at one point Vernons and Camelot were ready to discontinue the game after just 3 months, however the game went on to survive one full football season only in the mid 1990s. Tickets were £ 1 per entry. Big draw 2000 / Big draw 2003 Originally, this special one - off draw was made to commemorate the arrival of the new Millennium, but another attempt was made in 2002 to celebrate the new year of 2003. Players would choose 5 years from 1900 to 1999 ( in the 2003 version this was altered to 1901 to 2000 ) or a lucky dip on their Big Draw ticket for the first game, and if they matched all 5 main years, they win the jackpot ( lower prize tiers were also available for matching 2 to 4 main years or matching 4 main years + bonus year if the player does n't match all 5 main years ). Two years ; one from the old Millennium and one from the new Millennium were also printed at the bottom of the ticket ( old Millennium having anything from 1000 to 1999, and new Millennium having anything from 2000 to 2999 ) for the second game, and if the player matched both years on their Big Draw ticket, they would win the jackpot. Five years and a bonus year would be drawn at random from the machine for the first game, but for the second game, two pairs of machines were used : for the ones for the old Millennium ; the left machine would have the numbers from 10 to 19, and the right machine having the numbers 00 to 99. For the ones for the new Millennium ; the left machine would have the numbers 20 to 29, and the right machine having the numbers from 00 to 99. One number was drawn at random from each of those machines ; each pair creating a year. Other ways to Play As well as by purchasing a ticket at a shop, tickets can be purchased other ways. Online All National Lottery games can be played online after registering. There are two ways of playing the lotto online. Direct Debit. Players can sign up by registering their bank account details and their saved numbers will be automatically entered. The National Lottery notifies winners by email if they have won, although this will not be on the evening of the draw ; notification is usually by 12 noon the following day. This method is only available for the main Lotto and Thunderball games. Loaded Account. Funds are loaded into a player 's account and are played as required. The National Lottery notifies winners by email if they have won on the draw games, or in the case of the lower prize Instant Wins, transfer the winnings to their account. The current minimum loading amount is £ 10. Text The Play By Text service closed on 30 June 2013. Before then, players had been able to play the Lotto, Thunderball, EuroMillions and Lotto HotPicks by text after registering their mobile phone number. The discontinued games Dream Number and Daily Play also allowed text entry. Sky Active Lotto and EuroMillions were once available for play through Sky Active ; however, this service was discontinued in September 2009. Prior to its discontinuation, players could purchase up to eight weeks worth of tickets at a time. Barclays Pingit From July 2015 Barclays included a function in their Pingit app to allow the purchase of tickets for the National Lottery and Euromillions. Only lucky dip lottery tickets can be purchased currently. Small winnings are paid directly into the Pingit account within one day. Olympic Lottery Following the success of London 's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, Olympic Lottery Scratchcards were launched on 27 July 2005 under the brand name `` Go for Gold ''. 28 % of the price of £ 1 went to the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund, and the scratchcards were intended to raise £ 750,000,000 towards the cost of staging the games. The National Lottery on television Main article : The National Lottery Draws The majority of National Lottery draws take place on live television. The first National Lottery show ( entitled The National Lottery Live : The First Draw ) was at 7 pm on Saturday 19 November 1994. Presented by Noel Edmonds, this was an hour long special, in which 49 contestants competed to become the first person to start the draw, the first person being 18 - year - old Deborah Walsh. The first number to be drawn was 30. For its first few years, the TV show took the title The National Lottery Live, and was presented mainly by Anthea Turner or Bob Monkhouse. Other notable presenters during this period included Dale Winton, Carol Smillie, Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson. On 30 November 1996, live on BBC One, the draw machine failed to start. During the 2000 Today broadcast on 31 December 1999, a special Big Draw 2000 drawing was held to ring in the new millennium ( despite its having a few problems ) This special Big Draw returned again on 31 December 2002 as Big Draw 2003 ( with no problems with the draw compared to the last time ). On 20 May 2006, during the draw on The National Lottery Jet Set that took place minutes before the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, several members of the group Fathers 4 Justice protested on the set causing the show to be taken off air for several minutes while the protesters were removed from the studio. On 7 November 2015, live on BBC One, the Lotto draw machine failed to release all the balls, causing the draw to be postponed. The draw later took place off air, and the results were posted on the website. Originally, the draws would take place in the BBC studio during the game show on Saturdays ( and sometimes Wednesdays ). However, in more recent years the channel airing the lottery draw has pre-recorded the non-draw parts of the show and then switched to National Lottery HQ, a designated studio for the live draws. Wednesday draws used to have their own 10 - minute slot on BBC One. These would take place in the same set as the game show in the BBC studio, and presented by the same host presenting the game show. However, in more recent years the lottery was hosted by various presenters in the National Lottery HQ Studio ; presenters included Gethin Jones, Christopher Biggins, John Barrowman, OJ Borg, Matt Johnson and Jenni Falconer. It is Alan Dedicoat who provides the voice - over of announcing the balls drawn, sometimes interacting with the presenter ; he is known as The Voice Of the Balls with Charles Nove as the substitute in case he is not in the broadcast. As of 7 January 2012 there had been a total of 1678 draws which consist of 784 Wednesday draws and 894 Saturday draws. In a plan to spread BBC productions across the United Kingdom, all lottery shows were be relocated to BBC Scotland. UKTV Gold additionally hosted the Euromillions : Boom Bang show, which was broadcast every Friday. From January 2013, the Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday draws are no longer broadcast, and are available to be watched exclusively on the National Lottery 's website. There is still a results update on BBC One at 10 : 35 pm. On 24 November 2016, it was announced that the televised draws would be axed and moved to BBC iPlayer in January 2017. Its last broadcast was on New Year 's Eve 2016 - 17. National Lottery Xtra Between 10 March 2008 and 1 February 2010, the `` National Lottery Xtra '' channel was broadcast on Freeview channel 45 for one hour a day. Programming included content from winners of the jackpot and National Lottery Good Causes projects, as well as behind - the - scenes footage on how the National Lottery was operated. Good causes It was announced during the live Saturday night draw show on 30 March 2007 that The National Lottery has so far raised £ 20 billion ( US $39.2 billion ) for ' good causes ', a programme which distributes money via grants. 28 % of lottery revenue goes towards the fund, along with all unclaimed prizes. Additionally, 12 % goes to the state. The prize fund is 50 % of revenue, with the remaining 10 % going towards running costs and profits for the lottery organisers and ticket sellers. The distribution of money to ' good causes ' is not the responsibility of the operator ( Camelot ). It is the responsibility of the twelve distributors that make up The National Lottery Distribution Fund ( NLDF ), administered by the government Department for Culture, Media and Sport. At present, 40 % is awarded to health, education, environment and charitable causes, 20 % to Sports, 20 % to Arts and 20 % to Heritage. On 19 November 2014, the National Lottery celebrated 20 years of its Good Causes fund, which as of 2014, has raised £ 32 billion for charities and projects in the UK. The National Lottery celebrated the 20th anniversary with the, ' Just Imagine ' campaign which highlighted how the money has filtered through society to improve UK communities. Notable facts included that Good Causes had funded over 1300 elite athletes including Sir Chris Hoy, invested £ 43.5 million into the National Cycle Network and funded 12,700 after school clubs. The Heritage Lottery Fund was set up by the government in 1994 to provide money for `` projects involving the local, regional and national heritage ''. The funds come from the money raised by the National Lottery 's ' Good Causes '. Since 1994, the Heritage Lottery Fund has given grants totalling approximately £ 4 billion to more than 26,000 projects. In 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the National Lottery, the National Lottery Awards were instituted as an annual event to provide recognition of the work of Lottery funded projects around the UK. Certain projects are selected as the best in particular categories. The trophies were designed and produced by Gaudio Awards. Percentage return The National Lottery is a jackpot system with the majority of winnings going to those few players who pick all six numbers. The average percentage return is the share of the ticket sales devoted to prize funds, about 45 % ( i.e., 45 % of the money spent on tickets would be won in prizes ). The spread of returns will be very wide and influenced by several factors that change week - by - week ( e.g. the number of tickets sold, the `` distinctiveness '' and popularity of the winning numbers ). Over an extremely long period ( tens of millions of draws ) the return on investment would approach the average, about 45 % ( a 55 % loss ). Over a shorter period there is a very small chance of a big win, but otherwise an average return of less than 45 % ; a numerical experiment using 10,000 random sets of numbers each week for 3 years found that, had the tickets been bought, the rate of return would have been less than 30 %. In their book `` Scenarios for Risk Management and Global Investment Strategies '', academics Rachel ES Ziemba and William T Ziemba say with regard to 6 / 49 lotteries, `` Random numbers have an expected loss of about 55 %. However, six - tuples of unpopular numbers have an edge with expected returns exceeding their cost by about 65 %. The expected value rises and approaches $2.25 per dollar wagered when there are carryovers ( UK term : rollovers ). Random numbers, such as those from lucky dip and quick pick, and popular numbers are worth more with carryovers but never have an advantage. '' They conclude that, due to the time that would be required to achieve success, `` except for millionaires and pooled syndicates, it is not possible to use the unpopular numbers in a scientific way to beat the lotto and have high confidence of becoming rich ; these aspiring millionaires will also most likely be residing in a cemetery when their distant heirs reach the goal ''. Unclaimed prizes Winning tickets must be claimed within 180 days of the draw taking place. If a prize is unclaimed within that time, it is distributed through the National Lottery Distribution Fund. For all major prizes ( £ 50,000 and over ) approximately two weeks after the draw, if no claim has been received, the area in which the ticket was purchased is released. The highest unclaimed prize distributed this way to date was a winning ticket worth £ 63,837,543.60 which was bought in the Stevenage and Hitchin area for the Euromillions draw of 8 June 2012. This was a world record unclaimed prize. All investment income from unclaimed prizes also goes to good causes via the National Lottery Distribution Fund. Regulation The National Lottery is regulated by the Gambling Commission. Previous regulators were the Office of the National Lottery ( known by the acronym OFLOT ) until 1 April 1999, and the National Lottery Commission -- a non-departmental public body reporting to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport -- until 1 October 2013. The Lottery was set up in 1993 under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 and was reformed under the National Lottery Act 1998 and the National Lottery Act 2006. The National Lottery is a member of the World Lottery Association. Machine appearances The National Lottery have a number of different machines and ball sets which are selected by either a celebrity or a member of the general public. This is used to randomise the process and create an independent selection of machinery to reduce the chance of human override. Below is a table of how many times each machine has appeared in the main National Lottery, or Lotto game. As of Saturday 3 May 2014 Machine Appearances Guinevere 331 Arthur 340 Lancelot 297 Merlin 214 Galahad 52 Vyvyan 48 Amethyst 172 Moonstone 66 Opal 56 Topaz 157 Pearl 32 Garnet 16 Sapphire 135 Note, on the draw on Saturday 17 September 2011, they announced that Arthur with set of balls 3 was chosen, but they were using Guinevere due to technical difficulties. Arthur was n't used again until the draw on Saturday 8 October 2011. Also note, on the draw on Saturday 14 April 2012, they announced that Merlin with set of balls 5 was chosen, but they were using Lancelot due to technical difficulties. Merlin was n't used again until the draw on Saturday 8 December 2012. Also note, on the draw on Saturday 12 May 2012, they announced that Arthur with set of balls 5 was chosen, but they were using Lancelot due to technical difficulties. Arthur was n't used again until the draw on Saturday 5 January 2013. Also note, on the draw on Saturday 31 August 2013, they announced that Arthur with set of balls 3 was chosen, but they were using Merlin due to technical difficulties. Arthur was n't used again until the draw on Wednesday 18 September 2013. Game shows Main article : The National Lottery Draws See also Big Lottery Fund Heritage Lottery Fund Millennium Commission National Health Service Lottery National Lottery ( Ireland ) Health Lottery List of lotteries References Jump up ^ Press Association ( 15 July 2011 ). `` EuroMillions £ 161m win claimed by Scottish couple UK news guardian.co.uk ''. London : Guardian. Jump up ^ Wilson, Jamie ( 30 January 1999 ). `` New lottery fund ' not a stealth tax ' ''. London : Guardian. Retrieved 20 May 2009. Jump up ^ The overwhelming case for paying stealth taxes Samuel Brittan, The Financial Times 25 October 1999 Jump up ^ `` Camelot Group ''. Camelotfoundation.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2009. Jump up ^ `` John Major ''. www.number10.gov.uk. HM Government. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2013. John Major also established the National Lottery as a personal initiative which has provided billions of pounds for good causes. Jump up ^ `` 1994 : Camelot wins UK lottery race BBC On This Day ''. BBC News. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ `` UK National Lottery # 1 ''. Lottery.merseyworld.com. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ 11 April 2002 ( 2002 - 04 - 11 ). `` National Lottery points to Landor News ''. Design Week. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ http://www.smartplay.com/newsletters/2009-11-01-Newsletter.pdf Jump up ^ `` National Lottery Commission - Safeguarding the integrity of Lottery games ''. Natlotcomm.gov.uk. Jump up ^ `` UK News : UK news, latest news UK ''. WalesOnline. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ `` The National Lottery FAQ ''. National-lottery.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014. Jump up ^ `` New Lotto to Launch with Two Unmissable Events ''. Camelotgroup.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014. Jump up ^ Arkell, Harriet ( 2013 - 01 - 21 ). `` Daily Mail online : Jackpot for lottery bosses as £ 5m is set aside for THEIR bonus pot after cost of ticket doubles, 6 June 2013 ''. Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ `` New UK Lotto Lotto Results, Winning Numbers, News & More ''. Lotto-results-online.com. 2014 - 02 - 13. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ `` Lotto What is new Lotto ''. The National Lottery. Archived from the original on 29 June 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014. Jump up ^ `` Lotto ticket price doubles to £ 2 in ' tax on the poor ' : Angry players threaten boycott over increase ''. Daily Mail. London. Jump up ^ Lotto prize breakdown Check results The National Lottery Archived 17 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` 14x Lottery Rollover and what the new rules mean ''. oddsjunkie.com. Retrieved 2016 - 01 - 06. Jump up ^ `` Thunderball Online Game Procedures ''. The National Lottery. Retrieved 2016 - 02 - 22. Jump up ^ `` Scratchcards Help ''. The National Lottery. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Jump up ^ https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/euromillions/results/results.ftl Jump up ^ `` Millionaire Raffle Help ''. The National Lottery. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014. Jump up ^ `` Glory Ball ''. UKGameshows. 2014 - 03 - 01. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ `` Daily Play Lottery Comes to an End ''. National-lottery.com. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ `` Playing Lotto Plus 5 ''. lottery.co.uk. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010. Jump up ^ `` Sky Active service information ''. The National Lottery. 26 September 2009. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Jump up ^ Press Association ( 15 July 2011 ). `` EuroMillions £ 161m win claimed by Scottish couple UK news guardian.co.uk ''. London : Guardian. Jump up ^ `` New Olympic scratch card on sale ''. Manchester Evening News. 28 July 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2012. Jump up ^ `` Video of the Show ''. YouTube.com. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ `` Lottery show delayed by protest ''. BBC News. London. 20 July 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2011. Jump up ^ `` Youtube Video of The Protest ''. YouTube.com. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-11-24/the-national-lottery-live-draw-is-dropped-from-bbc1 Jump up ^ https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/life-changing/where-the-money-goes Jump up ^ `` Thank you National Lottery ''. ^ Jump up to : `` What is the Heritage Lottery Fund ? ''. hlf.org.uk. Archived from the original on 8 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008. Jump up ^ ISBN 978 - 0 - 470 - 31924 - 6 ( HB ) John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2007 Jump up ^ `` EuroMillions lottery jackpot of £ 64m goes unclaimed ''. BBC News. 6 December 2012. Jump up ^ `` Where The Money Goes Good Causes and winners ''. The National Lottery. 2013 - 03 - 31. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ Statutory Instrument 2013 No. 2329 The Public Bodies ( Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission ) Order 2013 Jump up ^ Text of the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 ( c. 39 ) as in force today ( including any amendments ) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk Last accessed : 2011 - 05 - 03 Jump up ^ Text of the National Lottery Act 1998 ( c. 22 ) as in force today ( including any amendments ) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk Jump up ^ Text of the National Lottery Act 2006 ( c. 23 ) as in force today ( including any amendments ) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk Last accessed : 2011 - 05 - 03 Jump up ^ `` World Lottery Association United Kingdom ''. World-lotteries.org. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ `` Draw Machine Frequencies ''. 20 February 2012. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012. External links Official website National Lottery Commission Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Lottery_(United_Kingdom)&oldid=825540512 '' Categories : 1994 establishments in the United Kingdom Lotteries in the United Kingdom Department for Culture, Media and Sport Gambling in the United Kingdom Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Articles needing additional references from November 2016 All articles needing additional references Use British English from September 2013 Use dmy dates from November 2012 Articles containing potentially dated statements from December 2016 All articles containing potentially dated statements Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia Talk Contents About Wikipedia Cymraeg Deutsch Español Français Română Русский Scots 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 14 February 2018, at 00 : 04. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. 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Question: when did the national lottery start in uk
Answer: 1993