The Lottery Jackpot

Jackpot is the term given to the highest prize available in any given lottery game. In draw-based games such as Lotto, Euromillions or Powerball, the jackpot is won by players who match all of their selected lottery numbers. In most draw-based games the size of the jackpot is determined by the number of tickets that have been purchased on a pari-mutual basis.

If several players match all of their numbers in a draw-based game, the jackpot fund is divided equally between them. If no players qualify to win the jackpot by matching all of their numbers, the jackpot fund is often rolled over to the following draw. Back to back rollovers can therefore generate some huge jackpots running into the hundreds of millions.

Some lottery games offer occasional “guaranteed jackpots”. These are jackpots that must be paid out even if no player succeeds in matching all of their selected numbers. This is achieved by “rolling down” the jackpot fund to the next-highest prize level that does have winners. For example, if no player matches six main numbers in a guaranteed Lotto draw, the jackpot would be shared between those players who matched five main numbers and the bonus ball.

The top prizes in scratchcard and pull-tab lottery games are also referred to as jackpots. In these games, the size of the jackpot is fixed and predetermined. scratchcard tickets are offered at various prices and, generally speaking, the most expensive the ticket is to buy, the higher the jackpot prize will be.

You can see the last and next predicted jackpot for the Lotto and Euromillions games on the Lottery.co.uk homepage.