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Health Lottery vs Postcode Lottery: Prices, Odds and Prizes Compared
The main difference is how you take part: the Health Lottery costs £1 a line and you pick five numbers for a fixed top prize of £25,000, while the Postcode Lottery costs £12.50 a month, your postcode is your ticket and every ticket in a winning postcode wins. Neither is part of the National Lottery.
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The two side by side
| Health Lottery (Big Win) | Postcode Lottery | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £1 a line, per draw | £12.50 a month per ticket, paid in advance |
| How you enter | Five numbers from 1 to 50, or a Quick Pick | Your postcode, with no numbers to choose |
| Draws | A Big Win draw every day | Each ticket goes into all of that month’s draws, with winners revealed daily |
| Top regular prize | £25,000 for matching all five numbers, shared if several lines match | £250,000 per ticket in one postcode in most months, or a share of £1 million in Millionaire Street |
| Where you can play | Online or in shops | Great Britain only, not Northern Ireland |
What a Health Lottery line can win
The Big Win draws five numbers and a Bonus Ball from the same pool of 1 to 50. The Bonus Ball lifts the lower prizes. Prizes are set amounts, but the top one is shared between matching lines:
| Match | Prize | Odds per line |
|---|---|---|
| 5 numbers | £25,000 | 1 in 2,118,760 |
| 4 + Bonus Ball | £10,000 | 1 in 423,752 |
| 4 numbers | £300 | 1 in 9,631 |
| 3 + Bonus Ball | £50 | 1 in 4,815 |
| 3 numbers | £10 | 1 in 224 |
| 2 + Bonus Ball | £5 | 1 in 224 |
| 2 numbers | Free ticket | 1 in 16 |
| 1 + Bonus Ball | Free ticket | 1 in 32 |
Counting the free tickets, a line’s chance of any prize is about 1 in 9.7, and most of those prizes are free tickets.
What a Postcode Lottery ticket can win
When a postcode is drawn, every ticket registered to it wins. The regular cash prizes are:
- £1,000 for each ticket in 20 postcodes, every day;
- a share of £1 million on Saturdays, the Millionaire Street prize, split between the tickets in one postcode;
- £250,000 for each ticket in one postcode, once a month except in December;
- £15 for each ticket in the winning postcodes every Thursday.
Cost, odds and good causes
A Health Lottery line covers one draw, so one line in every Big Win draw for 30 days costs £30. A Postcode Lottery ticket is £12.50 for the whole month, and the subscription runs until you cancel it.
Health Lottery odds are fixed for each line in each draw. The Postcode Lottery publishes average chances per ticket per month, such as better than 1 in 4 for any prize, which move with the number of tickets in play. At least 30% of each Postcode Lottery ticket goes to charity, and part of every Health Lottery ticket goes to health-related good causes across Great Britain. With either one, most entries win nothing, and no prize is guaranteed.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Health Lottery cheaper than the Postcode Lottery?
One line is £1, against £12.50 a month for a Postcode Lottery ticket, but a line in every daily draw for a month costs more.
Are they part of the National Lottery?
No. Both are separate lotteries, each run by an operator licensed by the Gambling Commission.
Related guides: how Thunderball compares with the Postcode Lottery, how The Birthday Draw compares with the Postcode Lottery and how much a lottery ticket costs in the UK.
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