Two Special Lotto Draws To Go Ahead at Christmas
Last Updated: Wednesday 13th December 2023, 15:57
Lotto players can look forward to a pair of special draws during the festive period. The first will be held on Saturday 23rd December, and the second a week later on Saturday 30th December.
£15 Million Jackpots Must Be Won
Both draws will work in the same way, with the jackpot bumped up to £15 million. Even better, this money must be won so there are guaranteed to be some big giveaways either side of Christmas.
In a Must Be Won draw, there are two possible ways that the jackpot can be paid out. The first is that someone matches all six main numbers to win the lot and land one of the biggest prizes of the year. If multiple tickets get all the numbers correct, the jackpot could be shared between two or three players.
If no tickets match all the numbers, the entire jackpot fund has to ‘roll down’ instead of rolling over to the next draw as usual. The money is therefore split among all the other winners.
This benefits everyone from the ‘Match 2’ prize category to the ‘Match 5 + Bonus Ball’ tier. If you get three numbers, for example, you might receive around £100 instead of the standard £30 prize. Go to the page on Must Be Won draws to find out how much of the jackpot goes to each prize level.
The money for these special Must Be Won draws comes from the Lotto Reserve Fund. It does not matter how much lower the jackpot will be on Wednesday 20th December, for example, or whether the jackpot is won or not in the intervening draw between the special events on Wednesday 27th. The £15 million jackpot is guaranteed both times.
It is anticipated that sales could go up by as much as 85 percent, based on the success of similar draws in previous years.
This time last year, there were also two £15 million Must Be Won draws at the end of 2022. Neither draw saw a Match 6 winner, so rolldowns occurred. Across the two draws, more than 3.6 million prizes were given away in total - all of which were larger than the regular amounts.
EuroMillions Every Tuesday and Friday
As well as the two big Lotto jackpots, EuroMillions will continue to offer a top prize of at least £14 million every Tuesday and Friday night.
The jackpot can go far higher. In fact, a record prize of £206 million went to an Austrian winner just a few days ago on 8th December.
Whether you want to try and win the big Lotto or EuroMillions jackpot this Christmas, or both, you can take part online or by going to an authorised retailer.