Triple rollover lottery draws are those in which the jackpot has not been won on three consecutive occasions. As with most other lotteries, a UK Lotto jackpot fund that has no winner is rolled over to the following draw, and this can generate substantial sums of money for those that do eventually win.

Whilst there can be four, five, six or even more rollovers in games such as EuroMillions, there can be no more than three rollovers in the UK Lotto game. If the triple rollover jackpot is not won then the entire top prize fund is “rolled down” and paid out to the next highest level that does have winners. In almost all cases, this will be the second prize tier which pays out to those players who succeed in matching five main numbers plus the bonus ball. The odds of doing this are 1 in 2,330,636, which is much easier than the 1 in 13,983,816 chance players have of matching all six main numbers for the jackpot.

The first triple rollover in the history of the Lotto was on 29 May, 2004, almost a decade after the lottery was launched in November 1994. On that occasion the jackpot stood at £22,158,516, and was shared by six players. On 14 October 2006 the second triple rollover worth £18,711,206 was shared by two players. The third triple rollover, worth almost £18 million, was won by two tickets on 3 November, 2007.

All rollovers attract a high level of interest from both regular and casual lottery players, but triple rollover draws in which the jackpot is guaranteed to be paid out are extremely popular. More individuals play, more tickets are sold per player than in regular draws and even lottery-avoiders are more likely to buy a ticket when there have been three previous rollovers.

With your chances of winning a triple rollover being exactly the same as your chances of winning a normal Lotto game, it makes a lot of sense to get involved the next time one comes along.