Friday night's National Lottery Lotto draw offered players across the United Kingdom the chance to win a £5.9m jackpot, with ticket holders asked to check their numbers as the results were confirmed in the evening. The draw, which took place on August 1, was the latest in the National Lottery's Lotto series, and anyone who had bought a ticket and matched all six main numbers stood to collect the top prize.
To play Lotto, participants select six numbers from a range of 1 to 59, with a standard ticket costing £2 per line. Tickets can be bought in shops, online and through the National Lottery app, with sales closing shortly before the draw takes place. The jackpot is won by matching all six main numbers drawn, and a separate Bonus Ball helps determine additional prize tiers, including the prize for matching five main numbers plus the bonus. The odds of winning the top prize are approximately one in 45 million, although smaller cash prizes are available for matching five numbers, five numbers plus the Bonus Ball, four numbers, or three numbers.
Players who believe they are holding a winning ticket are advised to sign the back of it and keep it in a safe place before contacting the National Lottery or checking the entry at an authorised retailer. Tickets can also be checked using the National Lottery app. Any prize must be claimed within 180 days of the draw date, and unclaimed winnings are eventually redirected to projects funded by the National Lottery's Good Causes programme. For larger prizes, winners are asked to provide identification and bank details so that the payment can be verified and processed.
If no ticket had matched all six main numbers on Friday, the £5.9m jackpot would have rolled over to the next draw, increasing the amount available to players. Under National Lottery rules, a jackpot that rolls over repeatedly can eventually be declared a «Must Be Won» draw, at which point the top prize is shared among the players who matched the most numbers.
If several players match all six numbers in the same draw, the jackpot is divided equally among them, whereas the lower prize tiers generally pay fixed amounts regardless of how many winners there are. This means that even a rollover jackpot can be shared, and the amount each winner receives depends on the total number of tickets that matched the six main numbers.
Friday's draw followed the Lotto results announced earlier in the week, with the previous set of winning numbers published on Wednesday, July 29. The National Lottery also runs other games alongside Lotto, including Thunderball, and Thunderball results for Saturday, August 1 were released to players over the weekend.
Money raised from Lotto ticket sales contributes to National Lottery Good Causes, which has channelled billions of pounds into projects across sport, arts, heritage and community initiatives since the National Lottery began in 1994. Players must be aged 18 or over, and anyone concerned about their own gambling, or that of someone they know, can access free and confidential support through the National Gambling Helpline.
