Huge change to National Lottery rules that will see winners get money quicker
A HUGE change to National Lottery rules could see winners get money quicker.
Players can now have prizes between £500 and £50,000 paid directly into their bank accounts instead of by cheque for the first time.
Any payments will be made within 24 hours of winners entering their bank account details online.
The new payment method only applies to tickets bought in shops.
Jenny Blogg, operations director for Allwyn, which runs the National Lottery, said: "We’re delighted to introduce this completely new payment solution, which will see, for the first time, people who play The National Lottery in shops be able to have their prizes paid directly into their bank accounts.
“Not only will this see these prizes paid faster than ever before, but it also drastically cuts down on administration and postage costs."
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The announcement from Allwyn comes after the Post Office said it would no longer pay National Lottery retail prizes between £500 and £50,000, also known as "mid-tier" prizes.
Allwyn said the new payment method will see more money go to National Lottery-funded Good Causes as it will reduce administration and postage costs.
With the new payment system, winners need to go to claims.national-lottery.co.uk, enter their email address and fill in a claim form.
Players have to input their personal details and upload an image of their winning ticket.
Once this has been done, the player will receive an email with a unique, secure link for them to submit their bank account number and sort code.
The system will check the name of the account matches the claim form and if it does, the payment will be issued within 24 hours.
Winners can also choose to have their money paid by cheque.
Bear in mind, if the claim form is filled on a weekend date, any payments made take two to three days to clear.
The National Lottery launched in 1994, and has so far awarded £95billion in prizes.
How to boost your chances of winning the lottery
The anonymous expert and blogger "Lottery Guy" previously revealed you could boost your chances of winning if you go for a smaller jackpot.
He said: "Games with small jackpots tend to have better odds.
"So EuroMillions is 3.1 times harder to win than UK Lotto.
“That's before you factor in the higher ticket price too.
"And most people would be perfectly happy with the pretty huge jackpot that the Lotto provides."
Meanwhile, Danny Waites, data analyst at Embryo Digital shared his theory that some balls are statistically likely to appear more often than others which can make them a better bet.
For example, going for balls numbered 38 and 23 could boost your chances of winning.
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Other experts believe targeting the balls that least commonly appear is another way to increase your chances of winning.
This is based on the theory that they will eventually be drawn as many times as the most common one.
What are my chances of winning the lottery?
EVERYONE wants to know how to beat the odds and win the lottery.
But unfortunately, the lottery is a game of luck and there are no tips or tricks that can guarantee you'll take home a top prize.
The odds show how likely you are to win any particular prize - the lower the number, the better the odds.
For example, odds of 1 in 10 are better than odds of 1 in 100 or 1 in 1,000.
There are several major lottery games in the UK including Lotto by the National Lottery, Camelot's EuroMillions and Thunderball.
Chances of winning the Lotto
Lotto by the National Lottery is a game where you pick six numbers from 1 to 59. You can play up to seven lines of numbers on each slip.
The game costs £2 to play per slip.
The odds of winning any prize on the Lotto are 1 in 9.3.
But to win the jackpot on the Lotto, the odds are considerably slimmer.
To bag the top prize, you need to have six matching balls. The odds of doing this and scooping the jackpot are currently 1 in 45,057,474.
The next highest prize of £1,000,000 is for getting five main matching balls plus the bonus ball.
The odds of taking home the million pound prize are 1 in 7,509,579 - far higher than the jackpot, but still unlikely.
The odds of taking home £1,750 for getting five main numbers without the bonus ball are 1 in 2,180, while you have a 1 in 97 chance of bagging £140 for getting four main numbers.
Your chances of taking home £30 for getting 3 main numbers are much better at 1 in 97.
And you have a roughly 1 in 10 chance of getting a free lucky dip for 2 matching numbers.
Chances of winning the EuroMillions
The EuroMillions costs £2.50 to play and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays.
To play, you must pick five numbers from 1-50 and two "Lucky Stars" from 1-12. Players with the most matching numbers win the top prizes.
Your chance of bagging the EuroMillions jackpot is even slimmer than winning the top Lotto prize.
This is because it generally has higher jackpots on offer, meaning it attracts more attention.
Currently, the odds of matching five numbers and two lucky stars - the top win - stand at 1 in 139,838,160.
The average jackpot prize is £57,923,499, according to EuroMillions.
The odds of winning the second top prize for matching 5 balls and a lucky star, which is typically around £262,346, are 1 in 6,991,908.
The chances of taking home the third prize for five matching balls, with an average payout of £26,277, are 1 in 3,107,515.
For four matching balls with two lucky stars, it's 1 in 621,503, and for four balls with one lucky star, it's 1 in 31,076. These come with an average prize of £1,489 and £95, respectively.
Chances of winning the Thunderball
Thunderball is another game run by National Lottery where you pick five numbers and one "Thunderball". It costs just £1 to play and you can enter up to four times a week.
The jackpot of £500,000 for matching five balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 8,060,598.
Your odds of bagging the next highest prize of £5,000 for matching five balls is currently 1 in 620,046, while the chances of winning £250 for four balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 47,416.
You have the best chance of winning £3 for matching the Thunderball, with odds of 1 in 29.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.