How many people win the Lotto jackpot each year? We counted every draw

The short answer

These days, about 20 people a year win the Lotto jackpot. Between 2016 and 2025 the yearly total ranged from 11 to 32.

It used to be very different. From the first draw in November 1994 to October 2015, an average of 225 people won the jackpot every year. Across all 3,168 draws up to 2 May 2026 there were 4,916 jackpot winners in total.

We counted every draw ourselves from the full Lotto draw history. These figures cover the old one-round game, which ran until May 2026. The new two-round Lotto started in June 2026, and we’ll add it once there’s a full year to count.

Jackpot winners year by year

Winners counts every ticket that matched all six numbers. Draws won counts the draws where at least one ticket did. Wednesday draws started in February 1997, which is why the number of draws doubles that year.

Why the number fell so sharply

On 10 October 2015 Lotto went from 49 balls to 59. That one change made the jackpot more than three times harder to win. With 49 balls the odds of matching all six were 1 in 13,983,816. With 59 balls they became 1 in 45,057,474.

You can see it straight away in the table. In 2014 there were 128 jackpot winners. In 2016, the first full year of the new game, there were 23. The jackpot was won in 77% of draws before the change and only about 16% of draws after it.

The upside was bigger, rarer jackpots. The four biggest single Lotto prizes in our data all came in 2016, led by one ticket that won £35,133,888 on 6 April 2016. Our lottery odds guide shows how Lotto compares with the other games now.

The records

• Most winners in one year: 372 in 1997, the first year with two draws a week.
• Fewest in a full year: 11 in 2019.
• Most winners in one draw: 133 on 14 January 1995, when 7, 17, 23, 32, 38 and 42 came up. Each ticket won £122,510.
• Longest wait for a winner: 31 draws in a row with no jackpot winner, from late November 2021 until 9 March 2022.
• Draws with a single winner taking the lot: 697.

That 1995 draw is a good warning about popular numbers. When lots of people play the same line, a big jackpot gets split into small pieces. Picking numbers at random with our Lotto number generator makes a shared jackpot less likely.

Does someone win the Lotto jackpot every week?

No. Since October 2015 the jackpot has been won in roughly 1 draw in 6. Most weeks it rolls over to the next draw. The rules now stop it rolling forever. After five rollovers comes a Must Be Won draw, and if nobody matches all six, the money rolls down to the smaller prizes. Our guide to how to play Lotto explains how that works.

What it means if you play

A Lotto jackpot is a rare event, so treat each ticket as a bit of fun rather than a plan. Smaller prizes come up far more often, and the new format gives every line two chances each draw.

Curious whether your own numbers ever came up in all those draws? Have my numbers won? checks them against every Lotto draw since 1994. And if you do join the lucky few, read what happens when you win.

Questions people ask