Everything You Need To Know About The £25 Million Must Be Won Lotto Draw

Updated: Friday 15th November 2019

There will be a £25 million Must Be Won Lotto jackpot on Saturday 23rd November as part of the National Lottery’s 25th birthday celebrations. Find out more about this special event, how it is funded and how to win prizes.

Is The £25 Million Jackpot Guaranteed?

Yes. The Lotto jackpot is guaranteed to be increased to £25 million. Even if it has just been won in the preceding draw, the top prize will be boosted to the advertised amount. This will make it the biggest jackpot to have been seen on the game since October 2018.

How Is The Draw Funded?

Prize money in a standard draw is generated by ticket sales, but a small percentage (8.78%) of the prize fund is always held in reserve so that is can be used for promotions. The National Lottery stages big draws or promotions to mark key dates or occasions, such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day, and a host of exciting birthday draws are taking place across various games to mark its latest milestone.

What Is A Must Be Won Draw?

A Must Be Won draw is one in which the jackpot has to be paid out, even if there are no tickets that match all six main numbers. When this happens, the top prize ‘rolls down’ and is shared between everyone else who has matched at least three main numbers.

Must Be Won draws have worked in this way since a number of changes were made to Lotto in November 2018. They usually occur after there have been five consecutive rollovers as the rules now dictate that is when the jackpot must be won.

This rolldown feature means that you are far more likely to land a larger prize in a Must Be Won draw than a regular draw. For example, in a recent draw on Wednesday 16th October when a jackpot of £13 million rolled down, players in the Match 3 category received £117 each instead of the normal fixed prize of £30.

With almost twice as much money in the jackpot for the birthday draw, it is possible that Match 3 winners will each receive around £200. Players in other tiers from Match 4 to Match 5 + Bonus could also be in line to win prizes several times bigger than the standard payout. However, the exact payout always depends on the number of winners as the prize fund is shared out between lucky ticket holders.

How Can You Enter The Birthday Lotto Draw?

You can enter the Lotto draw online or by visiting an authorised retailer. Tickets can be purchased in advance for up to four consecutive weeks, and you just have to select whether to play the Wednesday draw, the Saturday draw or both.

The draw itself will work the same as any other, with six numbers randomly selected from a pool of 59, followed by a Bonus Ball from the remaining 53 numbers. The only difference is that there is a huge £25 million jackpot up for grabs, so it is a draw not to miss if you want to help the birthday celebrations go off in style and perhaps land a sensational prize.

Published: Friday 1st November 2019

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