What happens if no one wins £208m Euromillions jackpot?

Independent

a day ago

Friday's Euromillions lottery draw could see a lucky member of the public take home the largest prize ever awarded in the UK.
At £208million, anyone winning the National Lottery 's jackpot would be instantly richer than the likes of Dua Lipa and Adele.
While the ticket holding the keys to the hefty sum hasn't been played, ticket-holders are still being urged to check their numbers to see if they have won any of the smaller prizes on offer.
What happens if no one wins?
With the total prize money now capped, Friday is the final chance before a 'Must Be Won' draw is triggered, meaning the money has to be given away that night.
This means that all the prize money will be awarded even if no players match all five numbers and both Lucky Stars.
The prize will work in the same way as a standard draw, but if no one picks the winning ticket, it will roll down to the next tier.
This means that anyone who matches five numbers and one Lucky Star will be able to get their hands on the life-changing prize money.
If there are no winners in this tier, the prize money will roll down to the category below.
What have the National Lottery said?
Andy Carter, senior winners' adviser at Allwyn, said: 'This Friday EuroMillions gets even bigger.
'Not only will we see the £208 million EuroMillions jackpot up for grabs – which would make the biggest-ever National Lottery winner – but there will also be an incredible 13 guaranteed UK millionaires made through EuroMillions Millionaire Maker.
'That's a not-so-unlucky Friday 13th for the lucky ticket-holders who end up bagging these life-changing prizes.
'Get your tickets early to ensure you'll be in with a chance of a massive life-changing win.'
He added: 'The EuroMillions jackpot is now capped, so any money that would have gone into increasing the jackpot now boosts prizes in the next winning prize tier, meaning that we could see multiple UK players banking huge prizes for matching just the five main numbers and one Lucky Star.'
Has this happened before?
After the jackpot was increased to a €200 million in February 2020, it was stipulated that the prize could stay at its maximum value for four draws before a Must Be Won draw would take place.
Prior to that, the original rules had said the jackpot could be rolled 11 times, before a series of changes between 2016 and 2020, as the cap gradually increased.
In October 2019, a UK player managed to match all the numbers to win £170m after the jackpot had rolled over four times.
Similar rollovers occurred twice in 2006, when the jackpot had to be won after 11 consecutive draws which saw no winners. In one case, three players split the share of the jackpot to win £42m each, while in the second case, 20 players ended up winning £6.7m each.
The last major Euromillions win came in July 2022, when an anonymous UK ticket holder bagged the existing record of £195m.