THOUSANDS of Brits are currently buying tickets for tonight's Set For Life draw.
A winning ticket could see you win a massive £10,000 every single month for the next 30 years – a life-changing sum indeed.
The draw will take place at 8pm and you'll be able to find the winning numbers here on this page shortly afterwards.
Always remember to play responsibly. And when the fun stops, stop.
Read our lottery live blog below for the latest numbers and results…
- Louis Allwood
Three ways to improve your chances for EuroMillions
1. Don’t favour special dates
It’s pretty common to opt for birthdays and anniversaries when choosing Lotto numbers.
If you’re relying on special dates, you’re never going to pick a number higher than 31 so you’re ruling out 19 possibilities.
Don’t be afraid to explore your options between 32 and 50.
2. Bunch your choices
To stand a better chance of scoring a win, go for numbers closer together.
For example, instead of choosing 3, 7, 14, 19, and 26, you could give 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14 a go.
3. Keep things balanced
As well as keeping your digits closer together, experts suggest keeping them well-balanced.
They recommend adding them up once you’ve made your choices to ensure the total is between 90 and 160.
This is because numbers between these two account for almost three quarters of the five-number successful EuroMillions sets.
- Louis Allwood
Mum-of-two stayed to finish care home shift after winning £1million on scratchcard
A MUM of two stayed to finish her care home shift after finding out she had landed £1million on a lottery scratchcard.
Stunned Sara Thomas, 26, asked colleagues to ring Camelot to check her jackpot was for real.
She broke the news to partner Sean Warner, 28, who urged her to take the rest of the day off but she kept working.
Sara, from Merthy r Tydfil, South Wales, said: “I was gobsmacked when I won.
“When I told Sean, he said I should leave work for the day but we were short-staffed and I didn’t want to let the girls down so I stayed.
“The rest of the day was a bit of a blur.”
- Louis Allwood
Why do Rollovers happen?
Rollovers help increase the size of a jackpot, as ticket sales and funds from the previous draw are added to the value of the top prize.
As the advertised prize rises, more people tend to buy tickets as they hope for a huge win. Playing for the same amount week after week won’t create the same amount of excitement – or ticket sales – as a rapidly-growing jackpot.
Lotto has a rollover limit rather than a jackpot cap, ensuring that the top prize is won on a regular basis. The jackpot is only permitted to roll over five times in a row and it must then be won in the next draw.
- Louis Allwood
Some of the UK’s richest winners
Frances and Patrick Connolly: £114,969,775
The grandparents, from County Armagh in Northern Island, saw in the year 2019 in style after scooping the enormous jackpot on New Year’s Day.
In December 2020, the selfless pair revealed they’d given away half their winnings after making a list of 50 friends and family they wanted to help.
The pair, who won the jackpot after buying a Lucky Dip ticket online, checked their numbers on several websites before it sunk in that they were the winners.
When they realised, they celebrated with a cuppa and a hug.
Sliding back in his chair in disbelief, he then turned to partner of 30 years Frances, and asked her: “Do you want the good news…?”
Speaking at a press conference three days later, Patrick said: “We really didn’t know what to do or how to react and we didn’t sleep a wink that night.
“We rang Camelot at 8am in the morning to verify the win. Then it started to dawn on us that it was true even though it still hasn’t really sunk in.”
- Louis Allwood
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:
- Louis Allwood
An Englishwoman’s home is her castle
A National Lottery winning dinner lady still lives in her council house, shops in Primark and drives a Kia despite bagging £1.8million.
Trish Emson, 51, explained money or her millionaire status did not change her or her partner Graham Norton, also 51, who still works as a decorator.
The down-to-earth pair have even managed to keep their teenage son Benjamin, 17, in check – and don’t even give him pocket money.
The modest mum, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, said: “Being rich doesn’t make you posh or a better person.
“I don’t like showing off and bragging about money and I can’t be posh anyway.
“To look at me you wouldn’t think I was a millionaire, but if I have to dress up I feel fake, I prefer my jeans,” she told The Mirror.
- Louis Allwood
Go enter tonight's draw
Just over 6 hours until entry into tonight's draw closes.
You could get your hands on £10,000 every month for 30 years if you win tonights set for life draw.
It is expected to take place at 8pm.
- Louis Allwood
Does money not claimed get rolled over?
If no UK players come forward within 180 days then the prize money, plus all the interest it has generated while it is held in trust, goes to National Lottery-funded projects across the UK.
The National Lottery have said: “Our players change the lives of individuals as well as communities by raising, on average, over £33 million for National Lottery-funded projects every week.”
- Louis Allwood
Winner, winner
- £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
- Louis Allwood
I won £30k & brand new BMW on Christmas scratchcard
A GRATEFUL gran has kicked off the new year in the best way possible, winning £30,000 and a brand new BMW on a scratch card.
Hanna Valarie Dewar, from Tain, in the Scottish Highlands, won big on the Cars & Cash National Lottery scratchcard, after she nearly threw the winning ticket away.
Mrs “Val” Dewar said she had decided to treat herself to the scratch card after a trip to the dentist, on December 22, and was left in disbelief after she realised she won.
The 79-year-old said that she nearly threw the winning ticket away before she realised she had won the top cash prize and a brand new BMW X2, the Daily Record reported.
She said: “I had been at the dentist that day and decided to buy myself a couple of Scratchcards to cheer myself up. I remember it because I was chatting to the lady behind the counter at Morrisons who, funnily enough, was also called Val.
“Being a few days before Christmas the shop was very busy so I decided to wait until I got home to scratch them.
“I live in a farmhouse with a big open fire and normally when I have scratched the cards, and if I haven’t won anything, I just throw them into the fire.
“Strangely, that day the fire wasn’t lit and boy am I glad about that!”
- Louis Allwood
January Lotto results
Wed 05 Jan 2022 – Jackpot £5,544,411 – Ball numbers 03 – 05 – 21 – 28 – 56 – 57 – Bonus ball 14
Sat 01 Jan 2022 – Jackpot £4,201,355 – Ball numbers 14 – 29 – 31 – 41 – 43 – 56 – Bonus ball 42
- Louis Allwood
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.
- Louis Allwood
Three ways to improve your chances for Friday's EuroMillions
1. Don’t favour special dates
It’s pretty common to opt for birthdays and anniversaries when choosing Lotto numbers.
If you’re relying on special dates, you’re never going to pick a number higher than 31 so you’re ruling out 19 possibilities.
Don’t be afraid to explore your options between 32 and 50.
2. Bunch your choices
To stand a better chance of scoring a win, go for numbers closer together.
For example, instead of choosing 3, 7, 14, 19, and 26, you could give 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14 a go.
3. Keep things balanced
As well as keeping your digits closer together, experts suggest keeping them well-balanced.
They recommend adding them up once you’ve made your choices to ensure the total is between 90 and 160.
This is because numbers between these two account for almost three quarters of the five-number successful EuroMillions sets.
- Louis Allwood
Last night's lotto numbers
Yesterday's Lotto winning numbers are 21, 57, 28, 3, 56, 5 and the bonus ball is 14.
The Thunderball numbers for last night are 34, 30, 5, 21, 16 and the Thunderball is 7.
Good luck to all those that have entered.
- Louis Allwood
“Absolutely heartbroken”
That was the case for one young couple this week who missed out on the £182million Euromillions jackpot – when they realised their winning ticket payment hadn’t gone through.
Rachel Kennedy, 19, and Liam McCrohan, 21, from Hertfordshire were “absolutely heartbroken” when they realised their usual numbers had come up, but they had won nothing.
The couple, both students, had played the winning numbers of 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11 for five weeks in a row before all seven digits appeared in Friday’s draw.
Rachel’s account was set up to automatically buy a Euromillions ticket with her usual numbers but because her account did not have the right funds, the ticket payment did not go through.
“I called the number thinking that I had won £182million and they said ‘yeah you’ve got the right numbers but you didn’t have the funds in your account for the payment of the ticket so it didn’t actually go through’,” Rachel said.
Read the article in full here.
- Milica Cosic
The first man ever to win twice in the same draw
Derek and Dawn Ladner, from Redruth, Cornwall, were thrilled when the same six numbers they used every week finally came up in the midweek lottery draw.
They initially claimed £479,142 from the £2,395,710 jackpot due to bagging the top prize with five other winners.
However, a week later Derek, then 57, was in for quite the shock when he found a second lottery ticket in his pocket.
It was from that same winning draw and thanks to his forgetfulness – when he bet twice with the same lucky numbers – their winnings increased to £958,284.
- Milica Cosic
Number 27 most likely to help punter scoop a jackpot
National Lottery ball number 27 is the most likely to help punters win a jackpot, researchers say.
It has made more appearances than any other in 3,071 draws in the past ten years.
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.
- Milica Cosic
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.
- Milica Cosic
Explained: Which Lottery is worth playing for?
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.
Callie Rogers campaigns
Callie is now campaigning for the government to raise the age limit for the National Lottery.
Gambling is now more popular among children than skateboarding and campaigners believe an age limit of 16 entices young people into a habit of betting.
Callie feels she was too young to cope with the pressure and wants to stop other kids going through the same problems she faced.
She told the Mirror: “You are only a 16, with all that responsibility. At that age, you can get the best advice ever. But you are not in a position to listen. I was too young.
“I suffer from such bad anxiety when I am going to meet new people. It preys on my mind, what a new partner’s family will think of me, or even new friends. I still get abuse just because of who I am.”
Lottery fraud
A RAPIST who scammed millions on the Lotto ten years ago still owns a posh four-bedroom house he allegedly bought with the tainted dosh.
The home in commuter haven Kings Langley, Herts, just minutes from the M25 has fallen into serious disrepair.
Docs show it is still owned by convicted rapist and fraudster Edward Putnam who is currently serving nine years for his despicable part in the biggest scam to ever hit the National Lottery.
He was jailed for seven years in 1993 for raping a terrified pregnant 17-year-old girl.
Putnam, now 56, “scooped” £2.5 million on the National Lottery in 2009 after conspiring with a Camelot employee to craft a fake ticket.
- Milica Cosic
What if…
Euromillions winner Adrian Bayford is “consumed with guilt” as his son fights for life after a horror quad bike smash, friends say.
The lad, 13, was hit by a car driven by his sister, 15, in the sprawling grounds of their Cambridgeshire mansion.
The Sun exclusively revealed details of the horror smash as the boy is fighting for his life in intensive care with his family at his bedside.
His sister raised the alarm after her brother was flung from his machine and through a fence.
It is understood the car and quad bike were gifts bought for the kids by former postie Adrian, 49.
- Milica Cosic
Explainer: Where does the 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
‘Money made my close relatives demanding and greedy’
Euromillions mum Gillian Bayford is locked in a family feud over her share of a £148million jackpot.
Gillian, 44, accused her dad Ian McCulloch, 72, of trying to seize control of the fortune she won with her ex Adrian Bayford, 46.
The Dundee mum of two blasted Ian, mum Brenda and brother Colin, 42, saying: “It made them bitter and greedy.”
And she told how she gave them a £20million slice of her fortune — only for them to come back for more.
Gillian, who runs a property firm in Dundee, said: “It’s upsetting and it’s raw. The money was supposed to make everybody happy.
“But it’s made my close relatives demanding and greedy.”
Scratching for gold
Striking it rich with a scratchcard might seem like a fantasy – with most punters pocketing a couple of quid, if anything.
But some actually put you in pretty good stead of bagging the top prize.
Read more here.
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