Postcode Lottery: How does it work and what are the chances of winning?

An Aberdeen community is celebrating after winning a share of a £3.2 million jackpot on the People’s Postcode Lottery.

However, the chances of winning money in the draw and the amount you receive varies – so how does it work?

All active players’ chosen postcodes are entered into each prize draw and taken out randomly.

This ensures every one of the prizes have guaranteed winners as postcodes without any entrants will not be entered – ensuring no rollovers in this particular lottery.

How much can you win?

The majority of the Postcode Lottery prizes have set value prices, for example the £30,000 Street Prize drawn every Saturday and Sunday.

In this draw,  everyone with the winning postcode will get the same amount regardless of whether there is one, two or more people playing with that postcode.

However, the monthly Postcode Millions prize is an exception to the rule as the winning player has to have the full postcode and will win the largest sum of money.

Whereas those who have a partial postcode, which is the first two letters and numbers and the first number of the final three characters, will get the remainder of what’s left in the pot.

For example in 2020, 101 islanders in North Uist and Berneray celebrated as their postcode sector, HS6 5, shared a £3 million prize in January’s Postcode Millions today.

Two neighbours took home £193,055 each when their exact postcode, HS6 5BJ, was revealed as the full winning entry.

The remaining 99 residents in the sector received different cheque amounts depending on how many tickets they played with.

Is there a way of increasing the odds of winning?

Players have the ability to choose to play with more than one ticket and those with multiple tickets will get a multiple share of the prize pot.

In the Postcode Millions prize, all winners can earn at least £5,000, but if you had two tickets you’d get £10,000.

As a result, the amount of money you can bank doubles for every additional ticket you purchase.

A postcode in Aberdeen recently got lucky after winning the £3.2 million People’s Postcode Lottery prize.

Each player was informed they’d win at least £5,000 each with more money going to those living at the full winning postcode.

The final postcode will be revealed at a special event at the P&J Live on Saturday, October 1.