THE Set For Life draw returns tonight and could see you win £10,000 every month for the next 30 years.
Players have to pick five numbers from 1-47 plus one Life Ball number from 1-10 or go with a Lucky Dip to get a randomly generated number.
You can buy Set For Life tickets online every day from 6am until 11pm.
But remember, to play on a draw day, you’ll need to buy your ticket before 7.30pm.
The winning numbers go out at 8pm and can be found on this page.
Read our lottery live blog below for the latest numbers and results…
- Joseph Gamp
‘I sill shop in Primark despite winning £1.8m’
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.
Read the article in full here.
- Joseph Gamp
Winners drank tea all night
While most lottery winners would be tempted to splash out on fancy Champagne, Anne Canavan had very different plans.
The mum, from Northern Ireland, couldn’t believe her luck and felt fate had intervened after her £1million EuroMillions win in 2015.
On the day she picked the winning numbers, Anne joked with a neighbour that it was “about time someone from around here won”.
Normally she “always waited a week” before checking her lottery ticket but that night things were different.
“At 1am, I suddenly had the urge to check the results so I switched my laptop on, when I realised I’d won I woke my daughter up,” she recalled.
“It took half an hour to convince her that I wasn’t joking, and after that we stayed up all night with cups of tea planning what to do with the money.”
Anne went on to spend £50,000 renovating her four-bedroom house and funnelled other funds into inventions – including self-sealing gift pouches.
- Joseph Gamp
Three ways to improve your chances for EuroMillions
1. Don’t favour special dates
It’s pretty common to opt for birthdays and anniversaries when choosing Lotto numbers.
If you’re relying on special dates, you’re never going to pick a number higher than 31 so you’re ruling out 19 possibilities.
Don’t be afraid to explore your options between 32 and 50.
2. Bunch your choices
To stand a better chance of scoring a win, go for numbers closer together.
For example, instead of choosing 3, 7, 14, 19, and 26, you could give 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14 a go.
3. Keep things balanced
As well as keeping your digits closer together, experts suggest keeping them well-balanced.
They recommend adding them up once you’ve made your choices to ensure the total is between 90 and 160.
This is because numbers between these two account for almost three quarters of the five-number successful EuroMillions sets.
- Joseph Gamp
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.
- Joseph Gamp
Bingo win just before Nan death
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.
- Joseph Gamp
When was the first draw
The first National Lottery draw was held on November 19 1994 when seven winners shared a jackpot of £5,874,778.
The largest amount ever to be won by a single ticket holder was £42million, won in 1996.
Gareth Bull, a 49-year-old builder, won £41million in November, 2020 and ended up knocking down his bungalow to make way for a luxury manor house with a pool.
- Joseph Gamp
Hopes become reality
Like many people who play the lottery, Patrick and Frances Connolly “always hoped” they would win but didn’t have high hopes.
But two years ago, on New Year’s Day, they scooped £114,969,775 on the EuroMillions after playing every week for years.
When the couple, from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, found out about the “life-changing” sum, they modestly celebrated with “a cup of tea and a hug”.
They told ITV: “I always hoped we would win the lottery one day, but when we did, it would be just our luck that lots of others would win on the same day with the same numbers too.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever win almost £115 million.”
- Joseph Gamp
‘Money made my close relatives demanding and greedy’
Euromillions mum Gillian Bayford is locked in a family feud over her share of a £148million jackpot.
Gillian, 44, accused her dad Ian McCulloch, 72, of trying to seize control of the fortune she won with her ex Adrian Bayford, 46.
The Dundee mum of two blasted Ian, mum Brenda and brother Colin, 42, saying: “It made them bitter and greedy.”
And she told how she gave them a £20million slice of her fortune — only for them to come back for more.
Gillian, who runs a property firm in Dundee, said: “It’s upsetting and it’s raw. The money was supposed to make everybody happy.
“But it’s made my close relatives demanding and greedy.”
- Joseph Gamp
Can lottery winners remain anonymous in the UK?
Absolutely! Lottery winners can keep their anonymity in the UK.
There is also a common myth or misconception that remaining anonymous affects the amount of money you win.
However, this is absolutely false and your decision about whether or not to go public has no bearing on your jackpot.
- Joseph Gamp
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.
Odds for easiest lotteries to win around the world
- 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
Youngest EuroMillions winner was just 17
Jane Park was just 17 when she bagged £1million in prize money after buying her first ever ticket, making her Britain’s youngest EuroMillions winner.
At the time of her win, she was an admin temp earning £8-an-hour, and was living in a two-bedroom Edinburgh council flat she shared with her mum Linda.
Jane is an avid football fan and supports Scottish Premier League side Hibernian.
She has previously remarked that being a millionaire is stressful.
Speaking to the Sunday People, she said: “I have material things but apart from that my life is empty. What is my purpose in life?”
“I thought it would make [my life] ten times better but it’s made it ten times worse.
“I wish I had no money most days.
“I say to myself, ‘My life would be so much easier if I hadn’t won.’”
Post-shielding Grandmother won half a million
A gran bought a lottery ticket to celebrate ending five months of shielding — and won £500,000.
Asthmatic Sue Davies, 64, was on just her second supermarket trip since March when she got the Thunderball jackpot-winner.
Her line of numbers made up of her grandkids’ birthdays scooped the August 15 prize.
Sue said: “I couldn’t believe it. I can’t repeat what I actually said! I rang our three daughters to tell them.
“We’ve won the odd fiver here and there but half a million is amazing!
“I’ve surprised myself with how calm I’ve remained. After a tough few months, this really is great news.”
Is tonight's 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.
Won twice in same draw after ‘forgetting’ ticket
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.
- Joseph Gamp
Into the golden pond
Well, it’s good news if you’re born in February or March.
According to research from Lott and MailOnline, dreamy Pisces is the luckiest sign of the zodiac when it comes to winning the lottery.
The data, which was based on those winning the top lottery jackpot, found that 11.6% of the winners were Pisces – meaning, on average, they were more likely to pick the golden ticket.
Go-with the-flow Pisces will stumble upon extraordinarily lucky breaks and often find themselves effortlessly attracting most things on their wish list.
So, Pisces, if you’re reading this maybe you should get down to the shops and buy a lottery ticket.
- Joseph Gamp
The man who won the lottery seven times
American man, Richard Lustig, is the only person in the world who has won the lottery seven times.
In an interview with ABC News, Lustig explained that his method wass to re-invest all of his winnings back into the lottery, and also recommended using hand-picked sequential numbers, as well as using the same numbers repeatedly.
Lustig’s total wins amount to a value of $1,052,205.58, which is about £766,736.95.
- Win 1: January 1993 (scratch-off ticket) – $10,000
- Win 2: August 1997 (Florida Fantasy 5) – $13,696.03
- Win 3: June 2000 (“scratch-off ticket “2nd chance drawing”) – $3,594.66
- Win 4: October 2001 (“scratch-off ticket “2nd chance drawing”) – valued at $4,966
- Win 5: January 2002 (Florida Mega Money) – $842,152.91
- Win 6: November 25, 2008 (Florida Fantasy 5) $73,658.06
- Win 7: August 9, 2010 (Florida Fantasy 5) – $98,992.92
Lottery with the best odds UK
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.
Unluckiest winner of all time
That was the case for one young couple this week who missed out on the £182million Euromillions jackpot – when they realised their winning ticket payment hadn’t gone through.
Rachel Kennedy, 19, and Liam McCrohan, 21, from Hertfordshire were “absolutely heartbroken” when they realised their usual numbers had come up, but they had won nothing.
The couple, both students, had played the winning numbers of 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11 for five weeks in a row before all seven digits appeared in Friday’s draw.
Rachel’s account was set up to automatically buy a Euromillions ticket with her usual numbers but because her account did not have the right funds, the ticket payment did not go through.
“I called the number thinking that I had won £182million and they said ‘yeah you’ve got the right numbers but you didn’t have the funds in your account for the payment of the ticket so it didn’t actually go through’,” Rachel said.
Read the article in full here.
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.
Tonight will see the return of the Lotto and the Thunderball.
The draws will be at 8pm and 8.15pm.
I told my wife we’d won £1 million while we watched PANTO
A DAD thought he’d won just £30 on Lotto but ended up scooping £1million – and calmly revealed the news to his wife as they watched their daughter in a Christmas pantomime.
Paul McDonald, 48, was scouring his emails when he noticed one congratulating him on a win.
Assuming it to be a Lucky Dip or £30, he wasn’t prepared to see the huge sum of £1,063,516.
“I’d like to pretend I leapt about celebrating but instead I logged out, shut down the computer, made myself a cup of tea and watched the football for five minutes,” he said.
“I think it was my way of dealing with the surprise but a slurp of tea and a bit of football kickstarted me again.”
He logged in and out about 30 times before becoming assured that the win was real.
- Joseph Gamp
Post-shielding Grandmother won half a million
A gran bought a lottery ticket to celebrate ending five months of shielding — and won £500,000.
Asthmatic Sue Davies, 64, was on just her second supermarket trip since March when she got the Thunderball jackpot-winner.
Her line of numbers made up of her grandkids’ birthdays scooped the August 15 prize.
Sue said: “I couldn’t believe it. I can’t repeat what I actually said! I rang our three daughters to tell them.
“We’ve won the odd fiver here and there but half a million is amazing!
“I’ve surprised myself with how calm I’ve remained. After a tough few months, this really is great news.”
- Joseph Gamp
Beginners luck
A woman won £184million on her first ever EuroMillion lottery ticket after buying it “on a hunch”.
The young woman – who wanted to remain anonymous – was presented with the prize at her home in Tahiti after it went unclaimed since October 15.
According to the EuroMillions website, her ticket was the only entry that matched all seven numbers after the jackpot had hit its cap of €220m (£184m).
The mystery woman said she had never entered the EuroMillions draw in her life but had grown up watching her grandfather play.
“I was waiting for the right moment to play, and that day I had a hunch,” she said.
“Everything is possible, you just have to believe in it. Before checking my ticket, I felt a shiver in my back.
- Joseph Gamp
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.
- Joseph Gamp
Big winner
The biggest EuroMillions jackpot win so far this year in the UK was in April when nine rollovers took the jackpot from its starting value of £14m to over £122m before it was won by one anonymous ticket holder
In June, £111,540,000 was won when the jackpot was bumped up for this Superdraw.
Source: Read Full Article
