Christmas Day Lotto Jackpot of £15 Million Must Be Won

Updated: Tuesday 22nd March 2022

A special Lotto draw on Christmas Day is guaranteed to bring festive cheer to players, with a £15 million jackpot that must be won on the night.

The top prize will be boosted to £15 million regardless of whether or not it has just been won, with the National Lottery tapping into the Reserve Fund to create a larger jackpot than normal.

It has also been announced that the jackpot must be won, setting up the possibility that millions of ticket holders could benefit from a rolldown.

In a Must Be Won draw, there are two potential outcomes. If anyone matches all six numbers, they receive all the jackpot money as usual. With a £15 million prize up for grabs, this could lead to one of the biggest Lotto payouts of recent years.

The other scenario is that no tickets match all six numbers. As the jackpot still has to be won, it is instead shared out between all the other players who have matched at least two numbers. If this happens, you still get the same fixed prize as you would receive in a standard draw, plus a slice of the jackpot.

The value of rolldown prizes cannot be known in advance, as the number of winners in each category has to be factored in, but it could be that a Match 3 award is worth more than £100 rather than the usual £30.

Previous Christmas Lotto Draws

Must Be Won draws only usually happen after the Lotto jackpot has rolled over five consecutive draws, but they are also scheduled from time to time throughout the year or to celebrate key dates such as Christmas.

A £15 million jackpot on 23rd December 2020 rolled down to more than 1 million ticket holders, while a Christmas Day Lotto draw in 2019 also boosted lower prize payouts after nobody matched all six numbers. In December 2018, the jackpot was split between two players, who each received £7.5 million.

Prior to 2018, Must Be Won draws were only held after the jackpot reached a certain value. To celebrate occasions such as Christmas, the National Lottery instead offered more prizes in the Lotto Raffle.

To give yourself a chance of winning the upcoming jackpot on Christmas Day, you will need to purchase an entry before the draw takes place. Choose your numbers online or visit an authorised retailer.

There will also be a special EuroMIllions draw on New Year’s Eve, with 10 winning Millionaire Maker codes rather than the usual one. This makes your chances of landing £1 million around 10 times better than usual, while you could also win a prize in the main draw on the same night!

Published: Wednesday 15th December 2021

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