Lotto Jackpot ‘Must Be Won’ on Wednesday 26th June

Updated: Friday 15th November 2019

The Lotto jackpot must be won on Wednesday night after rolling over again on Saturday. The £12.4 million top prize is the largest amount to have been seen on the game since March, and there is a chance that thousands of players could share the wealth. Here’s how ‘Must Be Won’ draws help to create bigger prizes in several categories.

When Do Must Be Won Draws Take Place?

Lotto changed its rules in November 2018 to ensure that the top prize would be given away more regularly, holding Must Be Won draws after five rollovers rather than when the jackpot reached a specified cap. Wednesday’s draw will be the seventh Must Be Won draw since the start of this year.

The advantage of these special draws is that you know as a player that all the money has to be given away. EuroMillions, for example, can offer far larger jackpots, but all those millions roll over if there is no winner. There has not yet been a Must Be Won draw under the current EuroMillions rules.

If you enter a Lotto draw when the jackpot must be won, there is a chance you could land a share of the top prize even if you don’t match all of the numbers.

Bigger Prizes For Matching Fewer Numbers

If you match all the numbers, you win the jackpot the same as you would in a regular draw, while the prize is shared if there are multiple winners. However, if there are no Match 6 winners, the jackpot must still be won and that is when a ‘rolldown’ feature takes effect.

When the jackpot rolls down, it means the funds are split between everyone else who has matched at least three main numbers, significantly boosting all the cash prizes. Previously, the jackpot would just have been given to the next tier in which there were winners, but this was usually a very small number of players.

The National Lottery decided that it wanted to reward a larger number of ticket holders, and as such a percentage of the jackpot is allocated to each of the four categories beneath the jackpot. This portion of the jackpot is split between all the winners in that tier, and added on to the fixed prize that they are already entitled to receive.

If you match three main numbers, for example, you win £30 in a standard draw but could receive a payout of more than £100 if the jackpot has to be shared out. The Match 4 prize can increase from the fixed £140 to around £500, while matching five numbers can land you well over £10,000 instead of £1,750. The reward for players in the Match 5 + Bonus tier can go up from £1 million to more than £1.2 million.

The exact payout in a Must Be Won draw depends on the size of the jackpot and the number of winners in each tier. There is no guarantee that the jackpot will have to roll down and the odds of winning in each category remain the same as always, but there is a much better chance that you will win a larger prize than normal if you do match at least three numbers. Five of the last six Must Be Won draws have rolled down.

To play Wednesday’s draw, you must select six numbers between 1 and 59 as usual. You can take part online or by visiting any authorised retailer, and then check the Lotto Results straight afterwards to see if you are a winner. Good luck!

Published: Monday 24th June 2019

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