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 National Lottery to raise price of Lotto ticket from £1 to £2 from October

Operator Camelot predicts that this will increase the amount it gives to good causes, though it attracts criticism on its Facebook page.

Ticket prices for the weekly National Lottery draws will increase from £1 to £2 from 3 October, Camelot has announced.

The National Lottery operator said in January that it would double the price of a ticket for Lotto, the main National Lottery game, and predicted that the amount of money that it passes on to good causes would increase as a result.

It said at the time that the changes were being made to "rejuvenate and re-energise" the Lotto game and increase the amount it contributes to good causes.

It is the first price increase since the game started in 1994.

Camelot announced today that tickets for the "new Lotto" would go on sale on 3 October with 1,000 guaranteed £20,000 prizes and a £10m jackpot for the first two Saturday draws, on 5 and 12 October.

The updated game will also include an increase in the prize for matching three numbers from £10 to £25 and an anticipated increase in size of the average jackpot prizes from £3.9m to £5m for the Saturday draw and from £2.1m to £2.5m for the Wednesday draw.

The announcement of the changes quickly attracted more than 500 comments on the National Lottery’s Facebook page, many of which were critical of the price increase.

"The day you raise the ticket price from £1 to £2 will be the day I stop doing both the Wednesday and Saturday draws – both of which I have done since they started!!!" said one.

"Shove the lottery where the sun don’t shine, not paying £2," said another.

"That's the day I’ll stop playing then!!" said another.

Some welcomed the changes. "Love the fact 1,000 people win £20k; that’s an awesome new development," said one.

A Camelot spokeswoman responded to one comment by saying the organisation had spoken to more than 26,000 lottery players before introducing the price increase.

"Players told us they wanted more ways to win more money," she said. "The increase in price was needed to achieve this."

The National Lottery gives 28 pence in every pound to good causes and has raised more than £30bn since 1994.

Dominic Mansour, chief executive of the Health Lottery, which gives 20 pence in every pound to good causes, said the price rise was "very tough on players".

He said: "Given that the purpose of lotteries is to raise money for good causes, this shows the problems that arise for consumers when a monopoly is able to control a market and dictate terms. Health Lottery tickets will be staying at £1, and we think that is the right thing to do in a time of austerity."

Replies sorted oldest to newest

the prizes have consistently reduced due partly to a lack of people playing.  There isn't imo a fair distribution of the prize fund - very little given for 4 numbers or 5.

 

I occasionally do the euro lottery but not very often

FM
Originally Posted by Enthusiastic Contrafibularities:

Has anyone calculated how much they have spent on the Lottery since they started playing?

i just did-i've wasted £3,952

 

i really wish i hadnt calculated now

pirate1111
Originally Posted by Aimee:

My mum got 4 numbers last Saturday and won £67 

I got four numbers a week or so ago and got £27   

 

I don't think they'll make any more money - we're dropping the works' syndicate now because it'll be too much.  I bet we're not the only ones.

Kaffs
Originally Posted by Saint:

Began 1994 - and i have had 4 number ONCE !!!

I've won with 4 numbers twice. However I usually only play the Saturday draw, and usually only £1 per week, so  that's actually above average.


The odds for the various prizes are:

Jackpot - 1 in 13,983,816

5 numbers plus Bonus - 1 in 2,330,636

5 numbers - 1 in 55,491

4 numbers - 1 in 1032.4

3 numbers - 1 in 56.7

Any win - 1 in 53.7

 

So if you play one line a week (e.g. just Saturday like me), you would average just under one win every year (usually a tenner). And if you've been doing that since the start, you would average just under one 4-number win over that entire period.

 

Having said that, probability's a tricky beast. It's perfectly possible that you could win £10 each week for 10 weeks in a row, and then win nothing again for a decade...

Eugene's Lair
Last edited by Eugene's Lair
Originally Posted by Saint:

And now . . . PLUS 5 will be delete very soon

I rarely do the lottery, but all these 'add-ons' confused the hell out of me. So I only every plumped for the standard lottery when I did it.

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities
Originally Posted by Enthusiastic Contrafibularities:
Originally Posted by Saint:

And now . . . PLUS 5 will be delete very soon

I rarely do the lottery, but all these 'add-ons' confused the hell out of me. So I only every plumped for the standard lottery when I did it.

I do it every week (the Lottery I mean)   but I only ever do the standard ones too. Euromill and Lotto 

FM
Originally Posted by Aimee:

Just been reading the leaflet for this and it's now going to be £25 for 3 numbers instead of £10 plus you get a raffle number on your ticket where you could win £20,000

am I dreaming but wasn't it £25 for 3 numbers when it first started and £100 for 4 - I'm sure I won £100 for getting 4 numbers donkey's years ago 

FM
Originally Posted by Pengy:
Originally Posted by Aimee:

Just been reading the leaflet for this and it's now going to be £25 for 3 numbers instead of £10 plus you get a raffle number on your ticket where you could win £20,000

am I dreaming but wasn't it £25 for 3 numbers when it first started and £100 for 4 - I'm sure I won £100 for getting 4 numbers donkey's years ago 

You may well have won £100 for 4 numbers, but it's not a fixed amount. AFAIK, the prize for 3 numbers has always been £10, and the other prizes all varied depending on how many other people won the same prize. So if popular numbers (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4) came up, the prize for 4 numbers could be very low - perhaps under £50. If fewer people won, the prize would go up.

 

Camelot are quoting a £100 prize for 4 numbers on the revamped lotto, but - as is the case now - that's just an estimate: you could end up with a lot less (or possibly even more). The only guaranteed prize is the increased £25 for 3 numbers...

 

Eugene's Lair

I tell you what I've noticed.........the prize money is going down, and I think a lot of people are getting disillusioned (sp) with it and don't gamble as much as they did  

FM

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