What is a Lotto Lucky Dip?
A Lucky Dip is an entry into a National Lottery draw that consists of randomly selected numbers, rather than numbers that you pick manually. All National Lottery games give you the option to play a Lucky Dip instead of your own numbers.
You no longer win Lucky Dips as part of the Match 2 tier, but remember to visit the Lotto Results page to see how many total prizes were won in each draw. Alternatively, you can enter your numbers into the Lotto Ticket Checker to see whether you have won a prize.
Remember that you can enter multiple lines in one purchase, up to a maximum of 70. These can be a mixture of Lucky Dips and choosing your own numbers for the selected draw.
How to Play Using a Lucky Dip
If you play in-store you can get a Lucky Dip by asking the cashier. Just let them know the game, draw days, and the number of weeks you want to play and they will do the rest. Alternatively, you can fill out a playslip online or in-store:
- Mark one Lucky Dip box for every line of numbers you want to play
- Select which draw days you want your numbers to be entered on
- Mark the number of weeks you want to play for (if more than one week)
- Pay for your ticket
You will only get to see your Lucky Dip numbers after the ticket has been generated.
When you play using a Lucky Dip, you cannot change your numbers once they have been generated; the numbers you’re given are the ones you have to play with. If you don’t like the inflexibility of that, use National-Lottery.com’s Lotto Number Generator to create your own randomly generated line. Unlike a Lucky Dip, you can use the generator as many times as you want, so you’re not stuck with the first set of numbers you’re given.
Is it possible to get the same Lucky Dip numbers more than once?
Lucky Dips are generated entirely at random so there is a chance that some of your numbers are repeated across multiple lines.
However, the chances of purchasing two Lotto Lucky Dips with exactly the same six numbers are the same as winning the jackpot, so while there is a small possibility that the system has generated two identical lines entirely at random, it is more likely that an error has occurred.
For that reason, if you receive multiple Lucky Dips with exactly the same numbers, you should contact the National Lottery Customer Care Team within two hours of buying the ticket or before the close of sales for that draw, whichever is sooner. They will investigate and may offer you a refund.
Is a Lucky Dip better than picking your own numbers?
The odds of winning the lottery are exactly the same whether you pick your own numbers or opt for a Lucky Dip, so in that respect it makes no difference at all to how much or how often you win. Roughly half of all jackpot winners have used Lucky Dips.
Lucky Dips, however, can help to ensure that when you do win you don’t have to share the prize money with other players.
That’s because the numbers in a Lucky Dip are picked completely randomly; the chances that someone else has picked the exact same numbers are slim. When you pick your own numbers, however, there’s a chance that you pick them according to a pattern, whether you mean to or not. If you’ve used a certain pattern, it’s possible that other players have done so too.
For example, the winning numbers in the Lotto draw on 23rd March 2016 were 7, 14, 21, 35, 41, and 42, five of which are multiples of seven. This proved to be a popular pattern with Lotto players and resulted in more than 4,000 players matching five numbers. Some of the winners were understandably displeased to learn that they had only won £15, which was less than the £25 that Match 3 winners received.
Picking a Lucky Dip will help to avoid any potential pitfalls like this and will reduce the likelihood that you’ll suffer a similar surprise when you do win.
If you’ve played other online lotteries you might have been given the option to play a ‘Quick Pick.’ A Lucky Dip is the National Lottery’s version of a Quick Pick - both give you random combinations of numbers to play in upcoming draws.
