The National Lottery launched in the UK in 1994. It has been operated ever since by the Camelot group after they successfully bid for the license in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. In 2002 the game started to falter in popularity so was given a makeover and re-launched as lotto. Along side the main game the National Lottery is now made up of several draws and a wide range of scratch cards sold from outlets all over the country.

The first Lottery draw was hosted by Noel Edmonds on November 19th 1994 and thanks to the draw there are now over 2300 extra millionaires in the UK alone. The National Lottery does amazing work for good causes and in the past fifteen years and over £24 billion has gone to charities which equates to over £25 million ever single week since launch. The National Lottery does not discriminate on its causes either with money going to many diverse areas, in 2012 the distribution was:

• 50% to Health, Education, Environment, and charitable causes
• 16.67% to Sports
• 16.67% to Arts
• 16.67%.to Heritage

Of course the UK lotto has changed the lives of many people literally over night with millions of pounds worth of prizes won every week. The actual odds of matching all six Lotto numbers is 13,983,816 to one so this regularly results in even bigger rollover jackpots. Luckily the odds of winning small prizes are a lot better and in fact one in every thirteen people taking part actually win a prize of one value or another so everyone has a great chance of winning. On February 12th 2012 a Gloucestershire couple became the biggest ever National Lottery winners when they matched all six numbers and won a 50% share of the Euromillions draw.

The Irish Lottery which runs twice a week offers improved odds. The draws take place on Wednesday and Saturday with the jackpot being won by matching six numbers plus a bonus number from a range of 1 to 45. In this lottery can win £1,152 for a £2 play by matching just three numbers.

When looking at forming a lottery syndicate it is always a good idea to follow the official guidelines,  a syndicate guide is available from the National Lottery sites and this takes you through the process step by step and this can avoid any problems and even potential legal problems in the future.

These days there are plenty of different lotteries to take part in, there is the Lotto, the Irish Lottery, Euromillions, the  Spanish Superenalotto and then over in the USA there is the Powerball Lottery and Megamillions draws. Thanks to the internet all of these games are now accessible giving everyone the chance to win truly huge jackpots in excess of $400 million. With so many lotteries to choose from it’s a good idea to do your research so make sure you are kept informed by checking the stats on the better Lottery web sites out there.