The UK National Lottery was originally started by the Camelot Group in 2004. It is the biggest lottery in the UK. Millions of people play every week, and it is now more popular than at any time and it is not hard to see why.
So how does the UK Lotto work?
There are 49 balls in a draw machine and six main balls are selected by that machine. Then a final ball is drawn called the ‘bonus ball’. This counts towards a prize only if you match five numbers. Prizes start at 3 winning balls and the full prize money is awarded to anybody who matches all 6 balls. Generally if you do match 3 balls then the prize will be 10 UK pounds. If you match all six balls then depending upon how many other people also got six balls, the prize is usually millions of pounds.
In order to take part, you fill in a slip marking the numbers that you want to choose. You could also choose a ‘lucky dip’ where a machine picks six random numbers for you. The total prize money for the lottery is made up of 45 percent of the ticket sales.
The UK Lotto is drawn two times per week and it is shown live on BBC One. There are twelve different machines that can be used for the draw which are selected randomly to make the results fair. Whilst it started off as ‘The National Lottery’ in 2002 it was renamed ‘Lotto’ and that is what many people now refer to it as.
As well as the Lotto game, there are also other games that you can take part in including Dream Number, Dream Number and Daily Play.
Chances of winning?
The chances of you winning the lottery jackpot are slim. However, everybody has the same chance and there is usually at least one winner every week. It is much more likely that you will win smaller amounts, but as everybody has the same chance of winning there is no harm in buying a ticket because the next lucky person could be you. Alternatively you could join a UK lottery syndicate for a better chance of winning.
The UK Lotto is still an extremely popular game over ten years after it started. Winners have come from many different backgrounds, and all ages from the elderly to 16 year olds. Anybody can win just as long as they have a ticket. You can check the UK lotto results here.

