Entertainment
It’s much less likely to be you: Changes make it three times harder to win lottery
Put the champagne back in the fridge… the chances of you winning the lottery tonight have taken a nosedive. Controversial changes to the prize draw mean there will now be 59 balls in the mix instead of 49. It means the odds of matching all six balls have risen by a third, from one in 14 million to an even more remote one in 45 million. Even the chances of getting three balls will almost halve, from one in 57 to one in 97. Some players have decided it is making the game too hard. Jackie Dixon wrote on the National Lottery’s official Facebook page: “Well that’s me finished with the national lottery… biggest con ever!!!”
Players will have less than one-third of the chance of winning the jackpot than previously
Mathematician Dr Simon Goodwin, University of Birmingham
Lotto operator Camelot has been battling falling ticket sales and put the price up to £2 a ticket to try to improve revenue. It insists other “enhancements” will, in fact, give players a better overall chance of winning under the latest shake-up. A new Millionaire Raffle will guarantee at least one millionaire, while the average winning jackpot is expected to be triple the current level because of more rollovers. Camelot says the chances of winning at least £1million will be better than the chances of winning the jackpot on the current game, with odds at one in just under 10 million compared with one in 14 million. Matching two numbers now also means players get a Lucky Dip ticket for another draw.
By giving our players more chances than ever to become a millionaire and with bigger rolling jackpots to play for, we’re making Lotto even more exciting.
Camelot boss Andy Duncan
