A record National Lottery jackpot of £50.4m is expected to prompt a surge in ticket sales, Camelot has said.
The previous largest jackpot was £42m, which was shared between three separate ticket holders in January 1996.
If no-one wins the jackpot it will roll over and either be won or shared on Saturday, Camelot said.
Wednesday's jackpot is the result of 13 consecutive rollovers and follows the number of balls in the draw increasing from 49 to 59 in October.
This reduced the odds of a player getting six numbers from about one in 14 million to one in 45 million, mathematicians say, but Camelot argues its rule changes have increased the chances of becoming a millionaire.
If no-one gets six lottery numbers on Wednesday or Saturday, new Camelot rules mean the jackpot prize is shared out in the first draw after the prize reaches £50m.
This means if no player matches all six numbers on Saturday the prize will be shared between winners in the next tier where there is at least one winner - most likely those who have five main numbers and the bonus ball.
Camelot said this would make it "some of the best odds players have ever had to win a multi-million pound life-changing jackpot".
Dr Rob Mastrodomenico, a statistician and founder of the consultancy Global Sports Statistics, said the record prize was the result of the increased number of balls, which had reduced the odds of people selecting winning numbers.
A National Lottery spokeswoman said Wednesday's jackpot had the potential to make one of its biggest winners in the lottery's history.
No comments:
Post a Comment