The UK National Lotto is the largest lottery game in the United Kingdom and is currently operated by the Camelot Group PLC. Camelot was granted the license to run the UK lotto when it was launched in 1994. The National Lotto is regulated by The National Lottery Commission and their role is to ensure that players are treated fairly; that the UK's interest in the Lotto is taken care of; and that the operator is motivated to maximize the enjoyment and benefits that the Lottery brings to the nation.

In 2002, to stem the tide of diminishing sales, the UK National Lottery had to make some changes. As a result, the main game was re-branded ‘Lotto’.

All the prize money paid out on all the games offered by the UK National Lottery is both lump sum and tax-free. The revenues generated by all of the National Lottery’s games are allocated in the following manner. For every pound (£) spent on the National Lottery games, 50 pence is allocated to the prize pot, 28 pence is given to good causes that the UK Government decides on, 12 pence goes to the British Government as tax and 5 pence is taken by the Lotto retailers as commission. The license holder receives 4.5 pence to cover their operating costs and a further 0.5 pence as profit.

Anyone interested in participating in the UK National Lottery games must be at least 16 years of age and be resident in either the United Kingdom or Isle of Man.

The National Lottery – The Different Game Choices

The UK National Lotto brand comprises numerous games to suit all tastes, each of which is listed here.

Lotto

To participate in the UK National Lotto, each player is required to choose six numbers from 1-49 and a further bonus number. The player can either select their own set of numbers simply by completing the form in the lottery outlet, or they can opt for the lottery retailers system to generate the numbers for them. This is known as the 'lucky dip' option.

Players are required to match at least 3 of their chosen 6 numbers to win a cash prize. A player’s winnings naturally increase as a result of matching more of their selected numbers. A further number is then drawn as the ‘bonus ball’ which is only relevant to players who match 5 of the 6 drawn numbers. Players who match the bonus ball number as well as 5 of the 6 main numbers win a much greater cash prize than those players who simply match 5 numbers without the bonus ball.

Any player lucky enough to match all their chosen numbers wins the jackpot. The chance of this happening is around 1 in 14 million. If no one wins the jackpot in a given week, the prize fund is ‘rolled over’ to the following week, making a much larger jackpot. These rollovers are a fairly common occurrence; with one taking place every few draws or so. The maximum number of rollovers permitted by the lottery operator is three but this has only happened on two occasions since this Lottery was launched in 1994.

The cost of purchasing a single lottery ticket is £1 and players can then watch each draw take place live on the BBC in the UK on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Lotto Extra

The Lotto Extra was launched on November 13th 2000 and offers players who are already participating in the main UK National Lotto draw the option to play Lotto Extra as well. The price for including Lotto Extra on a standard UK Lotto ticket was a further £1 — it was not possible to play Lotto Extra as a stand alone game. Again, six numbers were drawn from a range of 1–49. As with the main Lotto draw, if a player matched all six numbers they would win the jackpot. However, unlike the main draw, there were no further prizes offered for matching 3, 4, and 5 numbers. Instead, the jackpot would be rolled over week after week, until it was won. If the prize fund grew to £50 million and there were still no winners of the jackpot, it would then be issued to the player(s) matching just 5 numbers.

Due to poor sales Lotto Extra was cancelled in July 2006.

Dream Number

On July 15th 2006 Dream Number was launched to replace the cancelled Lotto Extra game. Dream Number offers prizes of up to £500,000 and can be played alongside the UK National Lotto or as a stand alone game. Participants have the option to play the 7-digit Dream Number shown on the Lotto play slip or pick Lucky Dip for a new random number to be generated. Tickets cost £1 each and to win, players must match the digits drawn in the same order as your Dream Number, reading from left to right and starting with the first digit.

All money raised for good causes from Dream Number will go towards the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

Thunderball

On June 7th June 1999 Thunderball was launched. With Thunderball, players choose five main numbers from 1 to 34 and one 'Thunderball' number from 1 to 14. As with all the other main UK National Lotto games, each Thunderball ticket costs £1 and the Draw takes place every Wednesday and Saturday.

Lotto Hot Picks

With Lotto Hot picks the same numbers that a player enters into the main Lotto draw are used. Again, all the numbers must be matched exactly to win the prize pot; in other words, so prizes are issued for partial matches.

Scratch Cards

In addition to providing a variety of lottery ticket options, the UK National Lottery also sells a huge array of scratch cards. These are small pieces of card where an area has been covered by a thin layer of opaque latex that needs to be scratched off. Hidden under this layer are symbols and pictures which the player needs to match in order to win the prize.

The regular scratch card requires the player to match three of these symbols/pictures and if this is achieved the player wins the amount printed on the scratch pad. The standard card costs £1 and offers a maximum prize of £100,000. However, there are also some cards that offer numerous chances of winning and these sell for £2 and in some cases £5, for the higher prize cards.

Daily Play

The Daily Play, as the name suggests can be played everyday, except for Sundays and Christmas Day. Players must choose 7 numbers from 1 to 27 and prizes can be anything from winning a free lucky dip up to £30,000 cash.

The Daily Play draw is not televised but players can keep up to date with the results via the BBC website. The results on Saturdays are recorded and are broadcast during the live draws of the UK National Lotto, Dream Number and Thunderball on the BBC in the UK.