Rollover

Rollovers occur when no lottery player matches all of the numbers that are required to win the jackpot. Because no jackpot winners means no jackpot payout, the jackpot fund is “rolled over” or added to the jackpot for the next draw. It is possible for several lottery draws to result in rollovers, leading to a final jackpot that is many times bigger than one might expect under normal circumstances.

Of course, most lotteries do not allow rollovers to go on forever. Instead, limits are written into the rules of lottery games so that if a maximum number of rollovers is reached, the total jackpot fund must be paid out regardless of whether or not there are jackpot winners. If there are jackpot winners then these will obviously share the expanded jackpot fund, otherwise the fund is “rolled down” to the next highest prize level that does have winners.

Participating in a lottery which has, thanks to rollovers, got a much larger jackpot than usual does not cost any more than normal. This makes a rollover lottery draw better value for money, because although the chances of one winning the jackpot are still as remote as usual, the payout if one does win, will be significantly larger than can normally be expected.