THURSDAY's Set For Life draw saw Brits taking a punt on winning a whopping £10,000 a month for the next 30 YEARS.
The twice weekly Lotto draw took place at 8pm, and the winning numbers were 20, 27, 38, 40, and 41, while the Life Ball was 06.
And today, a HUGE £14m jackpot is waiting to be won as the EuroMillions returns for a special New Year's Eve draw.
The draw takes place at around 8.15pm – but make sure you grab your tickets before 7.30pm this evening to be in with a chance of starting 2022 with a life changing sum of money.
Please gamble responsibly. And when the fun stops, stop.
Read our lottery live blog below for the latest numbers and results…
- Milica Cosic
Who are the biggest Euromillions winners in history?
Your chances to win may be remote but if you do you could win big.
However, that shouldn’t stop you playing and possibly even winning some big buck! Remember to always play responsibly though. And when the fun stops, stop.
Here are some of the record prizes one by UK winners in the past:
- Milica Cosic
What draw is on tonight?
Tonight's a very special night, and not only because it marks the end of 2021.
You have the EuroMillions to play for with a whopping £14M to be won.
Alongside that, there will also be 10 guaranteed UK Millionaire Maker winners of £1,000,000.
So what are you waiting for… go get your tickets!
- Milica Cosic
The odds of winning the EuroMillions jackpot
The life-changing jackpot is hard to scoop. With between 80 to 100 million people purchasing a ticket for a EuroMillions draw each week, it proves stiff competition.
In order to win the cash prize, players need to match all five main numbers and both lucky star numbers.
But punters only have a 1 in 139,838, 160 chance of bagging the top prize.
Matching five numbers and one star has odds of 1 in 6,991,908.
There is a 1 in 22 chance of matching two numbers in the draw.
The approximate overall odds of winning a prize in EuroMillions are 1 in 13.
According to the EuroMillions website, the chances of winning the UK Millionaire Maker game can be estimated as 1 in 1,900,000.
But winning in this game depends entirely on the number of the payslips sold, so the odds therefore fluctuate.
- Milica Cosic
Rule shake up means have to be 18 for scratch cards
A major rules shake-up to National Lottery tickets and scratch card will change who is able to buy tickets from October this year.
Those feeling lucky now have to be over 18 to play, as the minimum age goes up from 16 to 18.
That means it is illegal for any retailer to sell these goods to anyone under the age of 18 – and will apply to favourite games like Lotto and the EuroMillions.
The new rules come into effect from today after being announced as part of a major crackdown on gambling laws last year.
Online sales of lottery tickets and scratch cards have already been banned – this came into force in April this year.
- Milica Cosic
Recap: Last night's Set For Life results
Set For Life took place last night as the draw was held at 8:00pm.
The top prize is, of course, £10,000 a month for the next 30 years.
The winning numbers for Thursday’s draw were: 20, 27, 38, 40, 41
The Life Ball was 06.
Check your tickets now!
- Milica Cosic
Explained: How long do winners have to claim their money?
Winners from different countries have different deadlines to claim their prize.
In Austria, winners have a whole three years to claim the prize before it is returned to the lottery and used to fund boosted prizes.
Belgian winners, on the other hand, only have around 140 days before the money is returned to the Belgian National Lottery.
The least amount of time to snap up the jackpot goes to France and Luxembourg.
Winners from Ireland, Portugal and Spain all have around 90 days to tell the world they’ve won.
- Milica Cosic
Your chances of unlikely events
Experts reveal chances of unlikely events – from death by shark to winning lottery.
Number - crunching experts at cardchat.com have worked out the likelihood of some very unlikely events.
- 1000 – 1 = Seeing a shooting star.
- 37,500 in 1 = Being bitten by a snake.
- 3,700,000 in 1 = Being killed by a shark.
- 1,000,000,000,000 in 1 = Meeting your doppelganger.
- 45,000,000 in 1 = Winning the lottery.
- 500-1 = Being born with an extra toe.
Read the article in full here.
Stats from the National Lottery
- Six Millionaires are made every week
- The luckiest postcode is Birmingham with 119 millionaires
- The luckiest profession is building
- There are 6 million winners a week
- £56 billion paid out in prizes
- Over £34 million goes to National Lottery Projects every week
- Most Millionaires celebrate with a cup of tea
French winner bags £66m EuroMillions jackpot
A lucky ticketholder in France took home a £66 million jackpot after matching all seven EuroMillions numbers earlier this week.
The winning numbers were 04, 06, 15, 17, 29 – and the Lucky Star numbers were 09, 12.
Five people in the UK matched the five main EuroMillions numbers and one Lucky Star number, winning £88,104.20.
Nobody matched all five numbers to win the £1 million prize in the EuroMillions HotPicks draw, which uses the same numbers as the EuroMillions main draw.
Four ticketholders did match four numbers to win £30,000 each.
- Milica Cosic
'Nana's watching over me after my Bingo win'
At an attempt to take the family’s mind off the death of her beloved Nan, one woman went to her local bingo and won £50,000.
Shocked at having won such a large sun, the woman from Middlesbrough said that she felt her “nana was watching over her.”
24-year-old Rebecca, who works for the NHS as a Radiographer was just after finishing a night shift when she was informed of her Nana’s passing.
“I received a phone call off my mam that Sunday morning to say that nana had passed away. She had been in hospital for four days as she was poorly for a while and then she got Covid” she said.
Het nana Winnie, was mum to Rebeccas’s father Barry. Barry was called in to see his mother the night before she passed, it was then that he first told her about Rebecca’s recent engagement.
Read the full story.
- Milica Cosic
Whole lotto misery
A LOTTERY winner was killed by her doctor husband who injected her with painkillers after he accused her of squandering the cash.
Joseph Roncaioli, 72, was found guilty of the manslaughter of his wife Ibi who won $10 million she split with her friend.
Prosecutors told his trial he may have been have been upset his wife squandered the couple’s fortune leaving them with little money for retirement, the Toronto Star reported.
Passing sentence, the trial judge said his crime “more resembles a murder than an accidental killing”.
“It was intentional, not spontaneous,” said Justice Jane Ferguson.
Hungarian-born Ibi and her friend won $10 million on the lottery in Canada back in 1991 and the pair split the winnings.
Her husband’s trial heard that she gave away $2 million on a son whose existence was a secret from her other two boys.
- Milica Cosic
Top ten easiest lotteries
- FranceLoto – odds 1:5.99
- Swedish Lottery – odds 1:7
- Oz Lotto – odds 1:8
- Polish Mini Lotto – odds 1:8.5
- UK National Lottery – odds 1:9.3
- Spanish Lotto – odds 1:10
- Austria Lotto – odds 1:12
- Irish Lotto – odds 1:13
- Mega Millions Lottery – odds 1:24
- Powerball Lotto – odds 1:24.87
- Milica Cosic
This number has made 3,071 lotto appearances
Number 27 has made more appearances than any other in 3,071 draws in the past ten years making it the best number to have in your row.
The number came up 399 times in the UK National Lottery, Thunderball, EuroMillions and Irish Lotto.
That is 141 more times than number 57, the unluckiest number, which was drawn just 258 times.
The second luckiest is 54, which appeared 387 times. It was followed by 29, 42, 52 and 58 in joint third on 381 times.
The next luckiest was number 20 with 378. Then came 23, with 372.
- Milica Cosic
Where does National Lottery money go?
Around £30 million is raised every week by National Lottery players for good causes – so even if you don’t win some of the country’s most vulnerable do.
Here are some of the organisations they work with:
- Arts Council England
- Sport England
- BFI
- UK Sport
- Arts Council Of Wales
- Sport Wales
- Arts Council Of Northern Ireland
What happens if no one claims a prize?
If no UK players come forward within 180 days then the prize money, plus all the interest it has generated while it is held in trust, goes to National Lottery-funded projects across the UK.
The National Lottery have said: “Our players change the lives of individuals as well as communities by raising, on average, over £33 million for National Lottery-funded projects every week.”
- Milica Cosic
Set For Life winner becomes full time ghost hunter
A WOMAN who scooped £10,000 a month for 30 years on the National Lottery Set For Life quit her job to become a ghost hunter with her husband.
Part-time paranormal investigator Laura Hoyle, 39, has decided to ditch her day job to pursue her spooky passion with Kirk Stevens, 37, after their big win.
The 39-year-old is used to shocks – after realising she had landed the life-changing amount of money when she initially thought she had only won a fiver.
Laura was able to immediately jack in her job at a logistics firm, after realising the cash could allow her to concentrate on her ghost-hunting hobby full-time.
Read more here.
- Milica Cosic
The first man ever to win twice in the same draw
Derek and Dawn Ladner, from Redruth, Cornwall, were thrilled when the same six numbers they used every week finally came up in the midweek lottery draw.
They initially claimed £479,142 from the £2,395,710 jackpot due to bagging the top prize with five other winners.
However, a week later Derek, then 57, was in for quite the shock when he found a second lottery ticket in his pocket.
It was from that same winning draw and thanks to his forgetfulness – when he bet twice with the same lucky numbers – their winnings increased to £958,284.
- Milica Cosic
Is the Set For Life worth playing?
The game with the best odds, in terms of winning the top prize, is the Thunderball.
According to the National Lottery website, the odds of winning the jackpots are:
- Lotto jackpot: 1 in 45,057,474.
- EuroMillions jackpot: 1 in 139,838,160.
- Set For Life top prize: 1 in 15,339,390.
- Thunderball top prize: 1 in 8,060,598.
The Catering Girls won big
A group of NHS dinner ladies who call themselves the “Catering Girls” ditched their jobs after scooping a £25m lottery jackpot in November 2017.
The lucky six all quit the health service after scooping the EuroMillions prize of £25,476,778.30.
The “Catering Girls” have been playing together for six years at their hospital in Port Talbot, South Wales.
They promised to have “one hell of a Christmas”.
In November 2018 they revealed that despite quitting their jobs, their lives are very much the same despite being millionaires.
Some signs are luckier than others
According to the stars some signs are luckier than others, so read on and see if you should pop out and buy that winning lotto ticket. It could be you!
Leo – Oh, Leo we knew you’d be one of the lucky ones. You always look good, have a string of admirers and just tend to always be prowling on the bright side of the street.
Virgo – It’s no coincidence that planner extraordinaire is one of the luckiest signs of the zodiac. Virgos only become successful because they put in the hours and werk, girl.
Scorpio – Magnanimous Scorpio has definitely got it going on when it comes to luck. They’ll often find themselves in the right place at the right time as if by magic, much to the annoyance of some less fortunate souls
National Lottery: Weekly timetable
Below is a handy timetable for all UK lottery games including Lotto, EuroMillions and Set For Life.
There is a draw 6 nights a week.
- Milica Cosic
‘If you looked at me, you wouldn't think I was a millionaire’
A National Lottery winning dinner lady still lives in her council house, shops in Primark and drives a Kia despite bagging £1.8million.
Trish Emson, 51, explained money or her millionaire status did not change her or her partner Graham Norton, also 51, who still works as a decorator.
The down-to-earth pair have even managed to keep their teenage son Benjamin, 17, in check – and don’t even give him pocket money.
The modest mum, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, said: “Being rich doesn’t make you posh or a better person.
“I don’t like showing off and bragging about money and I can’t be posh anyway.
“To look at me you wouldn’t think I was a millionaire, but if I have to dress up I feel fake, I prefer my jeans,” she told The Mirror.
- Joseph Gamp
Is the Lotto worth playing for?
The game with the best odds, in terms of winning the top prize, is the Thunderball.
According to the National Lottery website, the odds of winning the jackpots are:
- Lotto jackpot: 1 in 45,057,474.
- EuroMillions jackpot: 1 in 139,838,160.
- Set For Life top prize: 1 in 15,339,390.
- Thunderball top prize: 1 in 8,060,598.
Who are the biggest Euromillions winners in history?
Your chances to win may be remote but if you do you could win big.
Here are some of the record prizes one by UK winners in the past:
‘NO guarantee money will buy happiness’
Martyn and Kay Tott got the shock of their lives when they realised they’d won £3million back in 2001 – six months after buying the ticket.
By the time they saw an appeal for the winner to come forward, they couldn’t find the ticket.
After 45 agonising days of deliberating, Camelot told the devastated couple that they weren’t going to receive the cash.
“Having that money taken away was torture,” Martyn told the Mail on Sunday.
“For a long time I lost sight of who I was and what I believed in. But I can honestly say I’m glad I didn’t get the £3million now.
“There is no guarantee it would have brought me happiness.”
Source: Read Full Article
