national-lottery.co.uk

...am happy to say that national-lottery.co.uk has a very simple account area allowing you to see and amend your information. Not only do you have your main account page which holds all your important information, but you can also go through the many lottery game pages and still see your account balance prominently displayed on the top of each page so you always know where you stand and how much you have won/have left to play with. You are also able ...
...the relevant tab or on your balance which also works as a link to your page - very handy indeed. Within your account area, amongst other things, you are able to check on your open and closed lottery tickets, change/amend your personal details, and if you really want, you can close your account at any time - there is no contracted number of months/length of time as to which you need to stay a member, and no underlying fees. The other interesting and ... more

National-Lottery.co.uk
Website for those who love to Gamble!

I remember all those years ago when the National Lottery begun. The hype! The excitement! And for once, all those wins! I think nearly everyone who participated in that first Saturday night live draw won ten whole pounds! What a start to the hype! But wasn't it so much easier to understand back then. You simply took your pound coin/s to a local lottery outlet, filled in the six numbers and tada! You knew you were entered into the Saturday draw. Now, just looking at the many lottery tickets and choices could leave a perfectly sane person jumping around one shoe on and one shoe off!

Now, not only can you play the original game on a Saturday, but you can also play another six games (not mentioning scratch cards and online specific games of course) any day of the week! I hear all those gamblers crying for joy, but the little people like me may have simply been put off. Now it takes the best of us a few extra moments to work out what on earth we are putting our money on only to watch the Lotto that Saturday night, have five numbers come up, begin to celebrate the large win just to realize that it was actually Wednesdays daily play draw you entered instead.

Some of the main games from the National Lottery include;

• Lotto (The original Lottery game with the bonus number helping out. Costs £1 per line)
• Euro Millions (Enter 5 numbers plus 2 lucky star numbers. Costs £1.50 per play)
• Thunder Ball (Enter 5 numbers and thunderball which works pretty much like the bonus ball. £1 per line)
• Dream Number (As far as I can see, pretty much like the original Lotto game. £1 per play)
• Daily Play (Every day draw like Lotto but less money to win. Costs £1 per line)
• Lotto Hot Picks (Like Lotto again though winning more money for less numbers. £1 per line)

To be quite honest, I have only ever played the main Lotto. The other games seem repetitive and somewhat confusing. You are meant to have a higher chance of winning with such games as Hot Picks and Dream Number, though I can not see this as the case at all, and if anything, I feel it is a waste of money to even try with these other games.

I used to play the main Lotto draw every Saturday until these games began to creep in making the filling in of the tickets more confusing, and not only that, I always seemed to go into a supermarket and completely forget about putting the lottery on or saw the huge queue and be in too much of a rush to wait.

It wasn't until a couple of years later when my dad turned around and asked what a www. was. It was quite funny to hear him ask this as, bless him, being in his 70's had no concept of computers let alone the internet, but he had seen the lottery website and at this time was having health problems so I had a look into it to see if it would be easier for me to put his numbers on for the Saturday and Wednesday draws (which he did regularly) online to save him traipsing down the town in all weathers.

******Setting Up Your Account******

At first I wasn't sure about signing up to the site as I like to know exactly where my money is, so I thought that I would browse the site thoroughly before attempting to open an account. It all seemed simple enough and also seemed very safe, especially as it was through a reputable company, and the terms and conditions were very simple to understand, so therefore it wasn't long before I had set up an account.

As with the terms and conditions with playing the lottery, there were certain criteria you needed to meet before you are eligible to open an account on www.national-lottery.co.uk. As well as this, you are required to give some information that many people would not like to as it is deemed too personal and with scares of hackers these days, you are right to be wary, though with closer inspection, it seemed very safe.

Firstly, you need to meet up with the following criteria and fill in the following information;

• Be aged 16 or above
• Be a resident of the UK or Isle of Man
• Hold a Sterling bank account linked to a valid UK debit card
• Have an e-mail address
• Give your full name, gender, date of birth, and address

Once you have filled in this and set up a username, all you need to do is to click on the authentication link sent to your given email address and your account is set up. Very simple and very quick!

******Your Account******

I have been on sites where your account area and details are rather difficult to track and amend, but I am happy to say that national-lottery.co.uk has a very simple account area allowing you to see and amend your information. Not only do you have your main account page which holds all your important information, but you can also go through the many lottery game pages and still see your account balance prominently displayed on the top of each page so you always know where you stand and how much you have won/have left to play with. You are also able to visit your main account page by either clicking on the relevant tab or on your balance which also works as a link to your page - very handy indeed. Within your account area, amongst other things, you are able to check on your open and closed lottery tickets, change/amend your personal details, and if you really want, you can close your account at any time - there is no contracted number of months/length of time as to which you need to stay a member, and no underlying fees. The other interesting and important point to add is that by being a member on this site, you have full control of your account - there is no need to go through a third party. This is sometimes not the case on other sites and can become quite annoying having to deal with difficult staff members, so I would say this is a big plus.

******Lottery Games******

You are able to take part in numerous lottery games as well as buying your lottery tickets in quick time. The great aspect of this is that each game/ticket sign up is perfectly drawn up so you have little confusion as to what you are meant to do. This does not stop the confusion of the difference in the lottery tickets, though, but that could just be me. You are also able to subscribe to numbers and choose the amount of weeks to run the ticket for, paying accordingly. This is a good idea when you may be away but still wish to buy your tickets. You won't need to worry as they will be done automatically. Unfortunately, once a ticket or subscription is purchased, you can not withdraw it. This is no different to buying in a shop, though, but I thought I would mention it.

All the ticket sale games with the National Lottery are offered through the website plus many instant win games such as Deal or No Deal (£2), Battleship (£2), Scrabble (£2), Pass the Pigs (£1) and many more, all offering varying amounts of money. If you win, your name will flash up on screen with the amount you have won for all to see and immediately be added to your account balance. I tried the deal or no deal game once, though with no success but the game itself was enjoyable.

Personally, I have only really used this site for purchasing of main lottery tickets rather than the instant play games, though through the couple of tries they seem very simple to understand and very reliable if you like that sort of thing.

******Winnings******

If you win in any of the lottery games you are sent an email to allow you to know, though it will not tell you exactly how much you have won (for security reasons). It will link you back to your account where you will be able to find out whether you are a millionaire or whether you have won the cost of your game.

Winnings of under £500 will automatically be put into your National Lottery account. Anything between £500 and £5000 will require you to transfer straight into your bank account as the limit of your National Lottery account is £500. Anything over this amount will take longer to credit to you as it will all need to be verified and you will need to visit the actual National Lottery center to claim it.

Transfering winnings/funds into your National Lottery account or back into your back account is also very simple. All you need to do is enter your account area and select either 'add funds' or 'remove funds' from the 'My Banking' tab on the left hand side. Choosing 'remove funds' will transfer the selected amount back to your bank account and will usually take between 2-5 working days.

******Site Overview******

The site itself is very appealing with the lottery blue and red colours dominant to the appearance. The navigation is simple with tabs across the top of each page for the main options such as your account, home, instant games etc, plus a lower level of tab links on each page to navigate through each section. I have never got lost on the site which is a bonus for someone like me! So far I have not come across any broken links and the site seems to be regularly updated.

How safe is the site?

With hackers galore these days, you want to check any site where you enter any personal details, and this is no different. Before signing up, I checked as much as I could about how safe this site was and what security measures they had up were like. They also give a warning about fraudulent emails sent to you and a contact to report these immediately.

National-lottey.co.uk gives a great amount of security which includes encrypting your details before it leaves your computer so no one else can read your information and hack into your bank account, logging you off after ten minutes of inactivity, membership disabled and an email sent to you if someone tries to enter your account and gives the wrong password over three times (to reactivate your account in this matter you need to go through customer services. This is done by verifying your information by answering security questions that only you would know). As mentioned above, winnings are never mentioned in emails to provide extra security.

The site is closed daily between the hours of 2am to 8am for maintenance and updates so you will not be able to log in during these times.

******Overall******

At first I was dubious about playing the National Lottery online, but after using this service for a while now, I don't think I will ever go back to the regular routine of buying my tickets in shops. Yes, the chances of winning online is the same as shop brought tickets (though there are also more instant games to play online), though it aids with the busy schedules that many people have these days. The site could not be simpler to use, either, and even my dad has had a look (although his sight has deteriorated now so unfortunately can not see the screen to play). No more queuing, no more loosing tickets and no more getting seriously confused with what ticket is for what game.

Would I recommend this way of playing the National Lottery?
The simple answer is yes I would, for all reasons mentioned within this review!

******Contact******

Should you have any problems on the site, there are many ways you can contact a member of staff for help. I haven't personally needed to contact anyone yet, so I can not tell you how fast a reply or how great the service is, though a friend did once for reasons I am not sure and they said that the member of staff they spoke to was extremely helpful.

You can contact staff for help by the following means;

Email: help@national-lottery.co.uk
Telephone: 0845 278 8000 / 0845 912 5000
Post:
The National Lottery
PO Box 1010
Liverpool
L70 1NL 

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