Everything You Need to Know About the Postcode Lottery

The People’s Postcode Lottery has attracted a lot of attention recently so we decided to take an in-depth look and answer some burning questions related to this topic. What, in fact, is the People’s Postcode Lottery, how does the Postcode Lottery work, and how much do you stand to win; to get the answers to these questions, and much more, keep on reading.

What Is the Postcode Lottery?

The People’s Postcode Lottery is a subscription lottery that raises money for charities in the UK, as well as good causes around the world.

Founded in 2005, the Postcode Lottery is currently one of the most popular lotteries in the UK; 33% of the ticket price goes to charities, i.e. the money goes to one of the 20 Postcode Trusts that collaborate with the lottery. Then, the selected Postcode Trust chooses a beneficiary that meets the requirements and awards them the proceeds from the lottery. The remainder of the money entered in the draw is split between the operating costs (27%) and prizes (40%).

Now that you know what is Postcode Lottery, we’re going to take a look into how it works and tell you how you can join in on the fun! And rest assured, it’s completely legit; licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, the lottery strictly adheres to fair play.

How Does the Postcode Lottery Work?

From what you’ve heard so far, you’ve probably taken an interest in the Postcode Lottery and you want to know more about what you need to do to participate. So, let’s take a detailed look and once you’ve finished reading, you’ll know all there is to know.

How Does It Work?

The Postcode Lottery tickets are based on UK postcodes; all the playing postcodes are entered in the lottery draws, and one postcode is selected during each draw. The winning postcode is selected by a Random Number Generator and every player from this code is awarded a prize. We’ve already mentioned that this is a subscription lottery, so how does this Postcode Lottery work with a subscription?

Well, a monthly subscription costs £10, and the best thing about it is — you don’t have to buy tickets every week. You register once, pay in advance every month, and you’ll be automatically entered in all the draws. If you win, you don’t even have to claim a prize; the winnings will be deposited in your account in the following 28 days.

How to Play

In order to register for the Postcode Lottery, you need to be at least 18 years old; you can either register online at the official People’s Postcode Lottery website or over the phone by calling the freephone number 0808 109 8765. Once you’ve registered, you’re thinking about how to play Postcode Lottery; well, it’s really simple.

Enter your postcode and buy a subscription for £10 per month; if you want to increase your chances of winning, you can buy multiple subscriptions. You’ll need to decide on a payment method (PayPal, debit or credit card), but if you change your mind, you can always cancel your subscription by calling the Customer Experience team at the freephone number.

How to Win

To win the Postcode Lottery, your postcode needs to be an exact match with the postcode drawn in the lottery (except for the Postcode Millions). If no one from a certain postcode has subscribed, that postcode isn’t part of the draws and it isn’t eligible to win the lottery.

So, how does People’s Postcode Lottery work when it comes to choosing a winner? Each month, 20 draws are conducted in the presence of an independent adjudicator and all the winners are announced in accordance with the Prize Draw Calendar.

How Much Do You Stand to Win?

Before you take that final step and buy a lottery ticket, you want to know what you’re eligible to win. You may be surprised to learn that there are three prize tiers in the Postcode Lottery:

• Daily Prizes — £1,000 awarded from Monday through Sunday
• Street Prizes — £30,000 awarded on Saturday and Sunday
• Postcode Millions — Prize money is distributed equally among players in the winning postcode on a monthly basis

Knowing how much is the Postcode Lottery, it’s even better to learn that the prizes from the Daily and Street draw aren’t shared — if your postcode is chosen, you get the full prize amount. And if you have more than one ticket, you get paid for each winning ticket — two Street Prize tickets amount to a £60,000 payout!

The Postcode Millions prize is distributed differently; even those postcodes with a partial match receive a payout, and the total prize amount (£3 million or more) is split between the full winning postcode and the surrounding codes. The maximum ticket prize in the Postcode Millions is £500,000 per ticket.

Key Takeaways

When Is the Postcode Lottery Drawn?

We’ve previously mentioned that 20 Postcode Lottery draws are executed with independent auditing; this takes place every month, usually on the first Wednesday of the month. Then, all the prizes are announced according to the Prize Draw Calendar.

The Daily Prize is announced every day from Monday to Sunday; the Street Prize is announced twice a week, on Saturday and Sunday, while the numerous winners of the Postcode Millions prizes are announced once a month — if you don’t want to miss an announcement, check the Draw Calendar schedule.

When you understand the Postcode Lottery and how does it work, you can see why people love it — not only are the winnings substantial, the prize-sharing also gives people a sense of community. And don’t worry about missing out on prize announcements; winners are notified by phone, SMS, email, or regular mail, depending on the type of the prize.

What Are the Odds of Winning the Postcode Lottery?

Whenever we play a game of chance, we want to know what are our odds of winning. The official estimate provided by the People’s Postcode Lottery says that approximately 80% of participants win some type of prize (in 2021, 77% of participants won at least once).

However, the odds vary significantly from draw to draw; they depend on the number of the playing postcodes in each draw and the number of tickets sold for the draw. In the UK, there are 1,800,000 postcodes, and roughly 60% of all postcodes participate in the lottery (1,080,000 each month), so predicting the odds of winning the Postcode Lottery is quite a difficult feat.

Even if the odds are in your favour and you win a prize, you never know what prize you’ll be getting, so it’s time to start saving up for a house instead of waiting for the big win.

Conclusion

The People’s Postcode Lottery has a lot to offer and players stand to win substantial prizes. After getting your answer to ‘how does the People’s Postcode Lottery work’, you should consider buying a subscription and becoming one of the many Brits who are waiting for their lucky turn. Plus, you’ll be contributing to charity. Good luck!