What is happening to Lotto jackpots?
Last Updated: Sunday 17th July 2011, 19:15
Over the last few draws, no-one could have failed to notice the precision of the UK Lotto jackpots. For the last three draws, Lotto jackpots have been exactly on estimate, to the penny. We know there is less chance of that happening than there is of a Lotto win, so for it to happen for several draws in a row, is very unusual. Estimated Wednesday Lotto jackpots are £2.4 million, on Saturday it’s more like £4.4 million, which is exactly what has been paid out to the jackpot winner of the last few draws.
The first jackpot this happened to was drawn on Saturday 21st May when the Lotto jackpot settled at £4.4 million. It was such an unusual, one-off event that we mentioned it on our lottery news pages. So imagine our surprise when the Wednesday draw paid out £2.4 million, also exactly to the penny.
There was some concern that sales for lottery tickets may fall with the introduction of the Tuesday Euromillions draw, but it would seem that lottery officials are ‘topping up’ jackpots that fall below estimate.
A little known rule in section 4 of the small print of the National Lottery rules states that, “prize pools for any category which have been carried forward from a previous Draw or guaranteed or otherwise added to any prize pool for this Draw shall be divided equally between Prize winners within that category.” This rule could mean that ticket sales from one jackpot, could be used to top up another and this could be the answer to why lottery jackpots are hitting their target, to the penny, right now.