THE ESSENTIALS
The Health Lottery explained: how it works, prizes and odds
The Health Lottery isn’t part of The National Lottery. Here’s how The Big Win works, what you can win, the odds and where your £1 goes.
What is The Health Lottery?
The Health Lottery is the £1 lottery you see advertised on TV and sold in newsagents next to Lotto and EuroMillions. Lots of people assume it’s part of The National Lottery. It isn’t. It’s a completely separate lottery with its own games, its own draws and its own results.
It started in 2011 and raises money for health causes across Great Britain. Here’s how it works, what you can win and how it compares with the games you already know.
Is The Health Lottery part of The National Lottery?
No. The Health Lottery is independent and has nothing to do with The National Lottery, Lotto, EuroMillions or Thunderball. A National Lottery ticket won’t enter you into a Health Lottery draw, and promo codes don’t work across the two.
It’s what’s known as a society lottery. That’s the same kind of lottery as the People’s Postcode Lottery. It runs on behalf of The Health Lottery Foundation and is licensed by the Gambling Commission.
Being a society lottery comes with rules set by law. At least 20% of the money from every ticket has to go to good causes, and there’s a cap on how big a single prize can be. That cap is why you’ll never see a Health Lottery jackpot in the millions.
The Big Win: the main draw
The Big Win is the Health Lottery game most people mean when they talk about it. It’s the one you can buy in shops.
- It costs £1 a line.
- You pick 5 numbers from 1 to 50, or use Quick Pick.
- A bonus ball is drawn too, and it counts for some of the smaller prizes.
- There’s a draw every night of the week.
- You can buy for tonight’s draw or up to five weeks ahead.
It’s sold online, on the Health Lottery app and in more than 20,000 shops.
What you can win on The Big Win
| Match | Prize |
|---|---|
| 5 numbers | £25,000 (shared if there’s more than one winner) |
| 4 + bonus ball | £10,000 |
| 4 numbers | £300 |
| 3 + bonus ball | £50 |
| 3 numbers | £10 |
| 2 + bonus ball | £5 |
| 2 numbers | Free ticket |
| 1 + bonus ball | Free ticket |
The odds of winning the £25,000 top prize are 1 in 2.1 million. The odds of winning any prize, free tickets included, are 1 in 9.7.
The free £100,000 draws
Every £1 Big Win line for a Wednesday or Saturday draw also gets you a free go in a second draw with a £100,000 prize. You don’t have to do anything. It’s added automatically.
After the 7.45pm Big Win draw on those nights, a second set of 5 numbers from 1 to 50 is picked at random. Match all 5 and you win £100,000, shared if more than one person matches. There are no smaller prizes in this draw. The odds are the same as the main draw, 1 in 2.1 million.
The other Health Lottery games
These are online only.
- All or Nothing. £1 a line. You pick 12 numbers from 1 to 24 and the draws are on Tuesday and Friday evenings. The twist is that matching none of your numbers wins the same top prize as matching all 12, which is £25,000. Matching 5, 6 or 7 wins nothing. The odds of winning a cash prize are 1 in 4.5.
- QuickWin. £1 a go, with a computer draw every three minutes, all day, every day. You pick 5 numbers from 1 to 50 and the top prize is £25,000.
- Instant Win. Online scratchcard-style games from 10p to £5 a play, each with its own prizes and odds.
QuickWin and Instant Win are fast games. If you play them, set yourself a limit first.
How the odds compare with The National Lottery
The Health Lottery’s top prizes are far smaller, but they’re also far easier to win.
| Game | Cost | Top prize | Odds of the top prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Lottery Big Win | £1 | £25,000 | 1 in 2.1 million |
| Thunderball | £1 | £500,000 | 1 in 8,060,598 |
| Lotto | £2 | Jackpot, often millions | 1 in 45,057,474 |
So a £1 Big Win line is about four times more likely to win its top prize than a Thunderball line, but the prize is a twentieth of the size. Our lottery odds guide has the full odds for every National Lottery game, and how to play Thunderball explains the closest National Lottery match.
Where does the money go?
For every £1 spent, the Health Lottery says:
- 20p goes to good causes
- 34p goes on prizes
- the rest covers costs, including the shops that sell tickets and running the draws
The good causes money goes to The Health Lottery Foundation, which hands out grants to local health charities and community groups across England, Scotland and Wales. It says it’s raised more than £138 million since it started.
20% is the legal minimum for a society lottery, and the Health Lottery has been criticised for not giving more. It’s worth knowing if the good causes side is the reason you play.
How to check Health Lottery results
- On the official Health Lottery website, which has the latest Big Win and All or Nothing numbers.
- In the Daily Express, Daily Star, The Sun and The Mirror.
- In any shop that sells tickets. They can scan your ticket and tell you if you’ve won.
- If you play online, you’ll get an email if you win and the money goes into your account.
The results for the free £100,000 draws are published alongside the Big Win numbers.
How to claim a Health Lottery prize
- Shop tickets up to £50: claim in any shop that sells Health Lottery tickets.
- Shop tickets over £50: call the Health Lottery helpline on 0330 3902289.
- Online prizes under £2,000: paid into your online account, and you can withdraw it to your bank.
- Online prizes of £2,000 or more: call the helpline.
If you bought your ticket in a shop, you’ve got 180 days to claim, the same as National Lottery draw games. Our guide on how long you have to claim a lottery prize covers the National Lottery rules. Keep your ticket somewhere safe, because you’ll need it to claim.
You have to be 18 or over to play or claim.
Questions people ask
Is The Health Lottery part of The National Lottery?
No. It’s a separate, independent lottery run on behalf of The Health Lottery Foundation and licensed by the Gambling Commission. National Lottery tickets don’t enter Health Lottery draws.
How much is a Health Lottery ticket?
A line on The Big Win costs £1. All or Nothing and QuickWin are also £1. Instant Win games cost from 10p to £5.
What days is The Health Lottery drawn?
The Big Win is drawn every night. The free £100,000 draws are on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and All or Nothing is drawn on Tuesdays and Fridays.
What’s the biggest prize on The Health Lottery?
£100,000 in the free Wednesday and Saturday draws. The Big Win top prize is £25,000. Prizes on society lotteries are capped by law, so there are no million-pound jackpots.
What are the odds of winning The Health Lottery?
1 in 2.1 million for the £25,000 Big Win top prize, and 1 in 9.7 for any prize, free tickets included.
How much of a Health Lottery ticket goes to charity?
20p in every £1, which is 20%. That’s the legal minimum for a society lottery.