Description
The Mega Raffle is an exciting and relatively new feature of the Health Lottery. It operates on behalf of 12 local society lotteries across England, Scotland and Wales to raise money for health-related good causes.
It’s drawn on the first of each month, and, since 31 July 2018, every line of numbers bought gets one automatic entry into it. Since 1 September 2018, nearly £4m has been paid out via the Mega Raffle.
With the monthly winner bagging a guaranteed £250,000 (10 times the top prize of £25k in the main draw), there’s everything to play for. And there’ll always be a winner because the Mega Raffle is drawn from a pool of existing entrants.
How to play
All you have to do is enter the Health Lottery and play the main £1-a-line game, selecting your five numbers between 1 and 50.
There’s also automatic entry if you are playing online scratchcards or the QuickWin game. No further action is ever needed.
The odds of winning depend on the number of entries received, but, clearly, the more tickets you have, the greater your chances!
Equally, the odds are identical whether you have one Mega Raffle code entered into a draw multiple times, or several codes entered once each.
Playing the Main Draw and the Mega Raffle
For every line you buy for the Health Lottery’s main draw, you get a single entry into the Mega Raffle for the following month. That applies to each of the lottery’s five weekly draws, which take place from Tuesday to Saturday.
Log in to your account to check how many entries you have into the next Mega Raffle in the bar at the top of the page. Your ticket will explain which raffle you are entered in, and display your unique raffle codes. If you play online or have set up a direct debit, an email will confirm everything.
Retail tickets show the raffle code just above the barcode.
Keep paper tickets or email confirmations safe so you can check whether you are a Mega Raffle winner, even if the relevant draw has already happened.
You can buy tickets for up to five weeks in advance. So if you’ve bought entries for two draws in, say, September, and one in October, you’ll have two entries into the October raffle and one in the November one.
If you buy five single tickets for the same draw, you will receive five separate raffle codes. If you purchase multiple lines for multiple weeks, one raffle code will be printed on your ticket.
Should your ticket have entries to draws scheduled to take place in different months, again you will use the same code and need to keep all relevant information safe until all raffles and draws are done.
You’ll notice your code begins with EH, IM, IW, PH, PO, PZ, SD or GA, depending on whether you bought your ticket online or in person, and, if the latter, which payment terminal was used.
Choosing your numbers
Can’t decide on your numbers? Just get a Quick Pick ticket and the random number generator will do it for you.
Checking your results
Visit the lottery’s results page on its website, view its social media feeds or check national press, including the Star, Sun, Mirror and Express. If you prefer to find out by phone, call the lottery’s national helpline number.
Verdict
The Health Lottery works to make a difference to thousands of lives across Great Britain, and you can support it by playing – and be in with a chance of winning a life-changing sum!
The Mega Raffle definitely heightens the excitement of this lottery by offering the chance to win a much bigger prize than the main draw offers.
Lottery 
