National Lottery Winners
Request
Dividing into the categories:
Winners over £10k but less than £99,999.99
Winners over £100k but less than the jackpot of the draw
Jackpot winners and sharers
How many were lucky dips
How many bought at physical terminals
How many bought through National Lottery online
Please would you also provide answers to the following questions:
When lucky dips are issued by the computer, how does the timing and location determine the number?
Would a lucky dip requested at a specific time in one location be the exact same if it was requested at the exact same time but different location?
Would a lucky dip issued at a specific location be a specific set of numbers regardless of when the terminal button is pressed ie would a terminal's next lucky dip be stored, on hold until issued by a button being pressed?
Please provide the information per year for the period 1st January 2015 to 12th July 2026.
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have requested the following information in relation to the National Lottery per year for the period 01 January 2015 to 12 July 2026:
Part One:
- Winners over £10k but less than £99,999.99
- Winners over £100k but less than the jackpot of the draw
- Jackpot winners and sharers
- How many were lucky dips
- How many bought at physical terminals
- How many bought through National Lottery online
Part Two:
- Please would you also provide answers to the following questions:
- When lucky dips are issued by the computer, how does the timing and location determine the number?
- Would a lucky dip requested at a specific time in one location be the exact same if it was requested at the exact same time but different location?
- Would a lucky dip issued at a specific location be a specific set of numbers regardless of when the terminal button is pressed i.e. would a terminal's next lucky dip be stored, on hold until issued by a button being pressed?'
Firstly, in relation to part one of your request, the Gambling Commission can confirm that we do not hold the relevant information falling within the scope of your request under the Fourth Licence. This means that we do not hold the information dating from 01 February 2024 to present date.
We can confirm that we do hold 9 years of data (2015 to 2024) under the Third Licence, that falls within the scope of your request. However, this information is not stored in an extractable format and would require us to manually review large volumes of information. We therefore estimate that it would take in excess of 18 hours to produce less than a year’s worth of data.
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for public authorities, such as the Commission, is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
We estimate, in order to identify, locate and retrieve the information relating to the above request, it would take in excess of 18 hours to determine appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract any relevant information in reference to your request.
When a public authority applies the Section 12 exemption to a request, the FOIA guidance specifically states that a public authority should avoid providing any information found as a result of a search as it denies the requestor the right to express a preference as to which parts of the request they may wish to receive within the appropriate time limit. Guidance on the application of section 12 can be viewed here:
Requests where the cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit (section 12) (opens in new tab)
If you are able to refine your request, we may be able to narrow the number of records that we need to search.
Until we are able to process the search of the information you have requested, we are unable to ascertain if other exemptions will apply to any material identified which would also prevent disclosure.
Any refined request would be processed as a new request and the 20 working day statutory time limit would apply.
In relation to part two of your request, section 21 of the FOIA provides that information is exempt where it is reasonably accessible elsewhere. Information regarding winners at different prize tiers can be found, for the past 180 days, on the National Lottery website for the individual draw-based games: Draw games results | The National Lottery (opens in new tab)
With regards to the questions on how the Lucky Dips are generated, the Commission does not hold the information requested. However, in order to be of some assistance, please see the following links which contain some relevant information:
• https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/games/in-store/players-guide/glossary • https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/games/in-store/players-guide/handy-info
Review of the decision
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email.
Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.
If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission.
It should be noted that if you wish to raise a complaint with the ICO about the Commission’s handling of your request for information, then you are required to do so within six weeks of receiving your final response or last substantive contact with us.
The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Information Management Team
Gambling Commission