Lotto Jackpot Hits £20 Million for Saturday’s Draw
Last Updated: Wednesday 9th December 2015, 08:04
This weekend’s Lotto draw promises to be huge as the jackpot has hit £20 million for the first time since July 2004. Over the past 11 years, the top prize has hit £18 or even £19 million after a few rollovers, but was always snapped up before it could reach a higher sum. Now, the stage is set for this Saturday as players turn out in droves for opportunity to beat the odds and win one of the biggest Lotto jackpots ever recorded.
Five draws have now passed since a single Lotto player won £4.3 million on Saturday 14th November, and the top prize has been steadily growing ever since. Under the old rules for Lotto, the jackpot would have rolled down in last Wednesday’s draw if no one could match the six main numbers drawn, but changes introduced in October 2015 got rid of the rollover limit so that even larger sums could be offered to players.
If you snapped up £20 million on Saturday, you could afford to go crazy with the presents during the festive season. Imagine presenting each of your nearest and dearest with the Decadence Christmas hamper from Harrods. Featuring several world-class wines, a bottle of 30-year-old single malt whisky, luxury tea and coffee, all the fixings for cheese and biscuits, an 8kg leg of Iberico ham and much more, these boxes of delights cost £20,000 each. Even if you ordered ten of them, you’d only be out £200,000 - a drop in the bucket compared to your winnings.
The record for the largest Lotto prize won on a single ticket still stands at £22.5 million, which was won by Mark Gardiner and Paul Maddison from St Leonards-on-Sea in June 1995. However, with the new Lotto changes now in effect, it looks like their record might fall in the near future. The largest Lotto jackpot ever won stood at £42 million and was split by three ticket holders in January 1996.
If you’re ready to break some records and blow your bank manager’s mind come Monday morning, make sure you buy Lotto tickets online or from authorised retailers before sales close at 7.30pm GMT tomorrow night. Good luck and have fun!
This article was updated to show the £20.1 million jackpot won in 2004.