25 years of the National Lottery

It’s been 25 years since the first National Lottery draw on November 19th 1994. And despite the first draw failing to make the UK its first lottery millionaire, as seven people picked the top numbers, the National Lottery has gone on to make 5,550 people millionaires.

Loyal players who took a flutter on Lotto once a week every week since its launch would have bet a total of £1,625. Based on the fact that you have a one in more than 45 million chance of winning the Lotto draw, many will have come away empty handed. If they’d invested that stake each week instead they could be sitting on £4,000 today, or almost £8,000 if you bought two tickets a week.

Instead of taking a flutter on the Lotto you could put a regular amount into investing, and hope that it returns more over the next 25 years. While it won’t make you a millionaire instantly, your chances of increasing your money are higher.

You can start regular investing for just £25 a month, which is around £5.80 a week – so less than the cost of three Lotto tickets. And by putting in this £25 you could have a pot worth £1,740 after just five years, and after 15 years you’d have almost £7,000** to play with. As the 50th anniversary of the Lotto came around you could be sitting on a tidy pot of just over £15,000. If you do all this in an ISA then – much like the Lottery winnings being tax-free – you won’t pay tax on the gains or income.

If you are set on becoming a millionaire you’d need to significantly up your regular savings. To hit the £1 million mark after 25 years you’d have to pay in £20,000 every year, or £1,666 a month – equivalent to 194 Lotto tickets each week.

*Based on £1 a week for the Lotto draw, until the stake changed to £2 in October 2003
** Based on 5% annual return after fees
***Before tax, based on withdrawing 5% a year and the funds growing by 5% a year after fees

These articles are for information purposes only and are not a personal recommendation or advice.