TONIGHT the Set For Life draw is back, with a chance of winning £10,000 a month for the next 30 years.
The draw, which was held at 8:00pm, saw Brits play for the lifetime jackpot of £3.6m.
Thursday’s winning numbers were: 05, 16, 17, 21 and 43, while the Life Ball is 03.
Meanwhile, the National Lottery Lotto too place last night (Wednesday, January 12) and the Quadruple rollover is worth an estimated £9.2m.
Sadly no- one bagged the top prize – but it DOES means the prize rollovers for a FIFTH time.
Saturday’s “must-be-won” lottery jackpot is worth a life-changing £12 million after no-one won the top prize in Wednesday’s draw.
Read our Lottery live blog below for the latest results and updates…
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Set For Life numbers REVEALED
Tonight’s Set For Life draw has taken place.
Thursday’s winning numbers were: 05, 16, 17, 21 and 43, while the Life Ball is 03.
Are you a winner?
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Set For Life returns in 15 minutes
Set For Life returns at 8pm.
You could win £10k a month for the next 30 years.
The winning numbers will be published here in real time.
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The biggest lottery prizes in history
- £1.308 billion (Powerball) on January 13 2016 in the US, for which three winning tickets were sold, remains history’s biggest lottery prize
- £1.267 billion (Mega Million) a winner from South Carolina took their time to come forward to claim their prize in March 2019 not long before the April deadline
- £633.76 million (Powerball draw) from a winner from Wisconsin
- £625.76 million (Powerball) Mavis L. Wanczyk of Chicopee, Massachusetts claimed the jackpot in August 2017
- £575.53 million (Powerball) A lucky pair of winners scooped the jackpot in Iowa and New York in October 2018
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The dinner lady who vowed to keep working
Karen Dakin, 53, won in the draw hours before Mother’s Day, with numbers based on the birth of her son Callum, 14.
She said: “My son has, in some strange way, helped give me the most amazing Mother’s Day gift of all time!”
She added: “I’ve always picked numbers special to me, including my son Callum’s date of birth – the year and the time – so I instantly recognised the winning numbers.
“What an amazing turn of events.”
Read more here.
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Explained: How long do winners have to claim their money?
Winners from different countries have different deadlines to claim their prize.
In Austria, winners have a whole three years to claim the prize before it is returned to the lottery and used to fund boosted prizes.
Belgian winners, on the other hand, only have around 140 days before the money is returned to the Belgian National Lottery.
The least amount of time to snap up the jackpot goes to France and Luxembourg.
Winners from Ireland, Portugal and Spain all have around 90 days to tell the world they’ve won.
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Post-shielding Grandmother won half a million
A gran bought a lottery ticket to celebrate ending five months of shielding — and won £500,000.
Asthmatic Sue Davies, 64, was on just her second supermarket trip since March when she got the Thunderball jackpot-winner.
Her line of numbers made up of her grandkids’ birthdays scooped the August 15 prize.
Sue said: “I couldn’t believe it. I can’t repeat what I actually said! I rang our three daughters to tell them.
“We’ve won the odd fiver here and there but half a million is amazing!
“I’ve surprised myself with how calm I’ve remained. After a tough few months, this really is great news.”
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‘We won, then gave our winnings away’
A £115million jackpot is probably enough to not just change your life, but the lives of everyone you’ve ever cared about too.
Which is probably why Frances and Patrick Connolly decided to give over half of their winnings to 175 people.
“We won £114,969,775.70 and we have given away more than half,” Frances said last year.
“That’s £60million-worth of love. And the thing that makes me even happier is that every single person we gave money to has passed some of it on to other people. I can’t think of a day since winning the Lottery that I haven’t smiled.”
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Woman wins on first time ‘hunch’
A woman won £184million on her first ever EuroMillion lottery ticket after buying it “on a hunch”.
The young woman – who wanted to remain anonymous – was presented with the prize at her home in Tahiti after it went unclaimed since October 15.
According to the EuroMillions website, her ticket was the only entry that matched all seven numbers after the jackpot had hit its cap of €220m (£184m).
The mystery woman said she had never entered the EuroMillions draw in her life but had grown up watching her grandfather play.
“I was waiting for the right moment to play, and that day I had a hunch,” she said.
“Everything is possible, you just have to believe in it. Before checking my ticket, I felt a shiver in my back.
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Top scratchcard to get
According to Oddschecker, the best scratchcard to snap up is £500 Loaded with odds of just 1 in 3.15.
For just a fiver you could be in the running for £500.
In second place, with the same odds, is Full of £500s which also has a top prize of £500.
Cashword Multiplier follows close behind, which sees punters scratch off letters to reveal symbols to create full words.
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Helpful tips to help you win
- Avoid computer picks. It lowers your odds of winning.
- On scratchcards try buying 10 of one ticket instead of several different tickets.
- Mix it up – Never play all one-number groups.
- Don’t pick all odd or all even numbers.
- Don’t play patterns.
- Avoid anniversaries, birthday’s and dates.
- Don’t Copycat – Avoid playing winning numbers that have been drawn before, because every combination has a chance of coming up once every half a million drawings.
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The man who won 7 times
American man, Richard Lustig, is the only person in the world who has won the lottery seven times.
In an interview with ABC News, Lustig explained that his method wass to re-invest all of his winnings back into the lottery, and also recommended using hand-picked sequential numbers, as well as using the same numbers repeatedly.
Lustig’s total wins amount to a value of $1,052,205.58, which is about £766,736.95.
- Win 1: January 1993 (scratch-off ticket) – $10,000
- Win 2: August 1997 (Florida Fantasy 5) – $13,696.03
- Win 3: June 2000 (“scratch-off ticket “2nd chance drawing”) – $3,594.66
- Win 4: October 2001 (“scratch-off ticket “2nd chance drawing”) – valued at $4,966
- Win 5: January 2002 (Florida Mega Money) – $842,152.91
- Win 6: November 25, 2008 (Florida Fantasy 5) $73,658.06
- Win 7: August 9, 2010 (Florida Fantasy 5) – $98,992.92
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Who are the biggest Euromillions winners in history?
Your chances to win may be remote but if you do you could win big.
Here are some of the record prizes one by UK winners in the past:
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Lotto winner dubbed ‘Mr Sensible’
Millonaire Lotto builder Steve Thomson has been dubbed “Mr Sensible” by pals after investing a chunk of his £105million win with the Queen’s bank – and looks set for another mega payout.
The former white van man and wife Lenka put “tens of millions” into a trust with Her Majesty’s favoured firm Coutts & Co following his 2019 EuroMillions win.
A £30million investment could see the Thomsons bag a staggering £90million over the next 20 years – almost as much as their original win.
The millions of pounds invested in the couple’s two separate trusts are invested in stocks, shares and property.
Friends have dubbed Steve, originally from Selsey, West Sussex, “Mr Sensible” for not squandering his lottery cash unlike some infamous winners.
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How long to wait for the next draw?
The next game to play in will be the Set For Life draw THIS evening.
Taking place at 8pm, it will see Brits play for the chance to win £10k a month for the next 30 years.
Results of the draw will be posted on our blog.
Good luck!
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Lucky Leo’s
Well, according to the stars, it seems that some of us are much more likely to get it than others.
Before we get to the big reveal of which sign is most likely to pick the right balls and become a millionaire, let’s take a look at some of the other lucky stars in the zodiac.
- Leo
- Virgo
- Scorpio
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When hopes become reality
Like many people who play the lottery, Patrick and Frances Connolly “always hoped” they would win but didn’t have high hopes.
But two years ago, on New Year’s Day, they scooped £114,969,775 on the EuroMillions after playing every week for years.
When the couple, from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, found out about the “life-changing” sum, they modestly celebrated with “a cup of tea and a hug”.
They told ITV: “I always hoped we would win the lottery one day, but when we did, it would be just our luck that lots of others would win on the same day with the same numbers too.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever win almost £115 million.”
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Top tips for playing the lottery
Have you ever wondered the secrets to winning big in the lottery? Is it pure luck or is there a system to it…?
- Avoid computer picks. It lowers your odds of winning.
- On scratchcards, try buying 10 of one ticket instead of several different tickets.
- Mix up your numbers.
- Even it out – Don’t pick all odd or all even numbers.
- Split from the crowd, so don’t play patterns.
- Apparently, you should avoid anniversaries, birthday’s and dates.
- Avoid playing winning numbers that have been drawn before, because every combination has a chance of coming up once every half a million drawings.
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Selfless couple give away winnings
A £115million jackpot is probably enough to not just change your life, but the lives of everyone you’ve ever cared about too.
Which is probably why Frances and Patrick Connolly decided to give over half of their winnings to 175 people.
“We won £114,969,775.70 and we have given away more than half,” Frances said last year.
“That’s £60million-worth of love. And the thing that makes me even happier is that every single person we gave money to has passed some of it on to other people. I can’t think of a day since winning the Lottery that I haven’t smiled.”
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‘NO guarantee money will buy happiness’
Martyn and Kay Tott got the shock of their lives when they realised they’d won £3million back in 2001 – six months after buying the ticket.
By the time they saw an appeal for the winner to come forward, they couldn’t find the ticket.
After 45 agonising days of deliberating, Camelot told the devastated couple that they weren’t going to receive the cash.
“Having that money taken away was torture,” Martyn told the Mail on Sunday.
“For a long time I lost sight of who I was and what I believed in. But I can honestly say I’m glad I didn’t get the £3million now.
“There is no guarantee it would have brought me happiness.”
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Recap: Tonight’s draw
Tonight is the Set For Life draw, meaning one lucky Brit will be in with the chance of winning £10,000 a month for the next 30 years.
The draw will be held at 8:00pm, and the winning numbers will follow on our blog shortly after.
You can buy Set For Life tickets online every day from 6am until 11pm.
But remember, to play on a draw day, you’ll need to buy your ticket before 7.30pm.
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This number has made 3,071 lotto appearances
Number 27 has made more appearances than any other in 3,071 draws in the past ten years making it the best number to have in your row.
The number came up 399 times in the UK National Lottery, Thunderball, EuroMillions and Irish Lotto.
That is 141 more times than number 57, the unluckiest number, which was drawn just 258 times.
The second luckiest is 54, which appeared 387 times. It was followed by 29, 42, 52 and 58 in joint third on 381 times.
The next luckiest was number 20 with 378. Then came 23, with 372.
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Top ten easiest lotteries
- FranceLoto – odds 1:5.99
- Swedish Lottery – odds 1:7
- Oz Lotto – odds 1:8
- Polish Mini Lotto – odds 1:8.5
- UK National Lottery – odds 1:9.3
- Spanish Lotto – odds 1:10
- Austria Lotto – odds 1:12
- Irish Lotto – odds 1:13
- Mega Millions Lottery – odds 1:24
- Powerball Lotto – odds 1:24.87
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Where does National Lottery money go?
Around £30 million is raised every week by National Lottery players for good causes – so even if you don’t win some of the country’s most vulnerable do.
Here are some of the organisations they work with:
- Arts Council England
- Sport England
- BFI
- UK Sport
- Arts Council Of Wales
- Sport Wales
- Arts Council Of Northern Ireland
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Set For Life winner becomes full time ghost hunter
A WOMAN who scooped £10,000 a month for 30 years on the National Lottery Set For Life quit her job to become a ghost hunter with her husband.
Part-time paranormal investigator Laura Hoyle, 39, has decided to ditch her day job to pursue her spooky passion with Kirk Stevens, 37, after their big win.
The 39-year-old is used to shocks – after realising she had landed the life-changing amount of money when she initially thought she had only won a fiver.
Laura was able to immediately jack in her job at a logistics firm, after realising the cash could allow her to concentrate on her ghost-hunting hobby full-time.
Read more here.
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Is the Set For Life worth playing?
The game with the best odds, in terms of winning the top prize, is the Thunderball.
According to the National Lottery website, the odds of winning the jackpots are:
- Lotto jackpot: 1 in 45,057,474.
- EuroMillions jackpot: 1 in 139,838,160.
- Set For Life top prize: 1 in 15,339,390.
- Thunderball top prize: 1 in 8,060,598.
