Christmas lottery top prize of £545,118 won by Guernsey ticket

It is the fifth year in a row that the winning prize has been won by a ticket sold locally – in this case 450563.

The second prize went to a ticket sold in Jersey.

For the last four years, the draw has been done in front of the public.

But last year a redraw was needed as the original one included unsold tickets.

Senior lottery officer Jon Taylor said the draw this year was conducted at a secure States of Guernsey location, in front of three jurats, who were acting as independent observers.

He said there had been other changes this year, to ensure the draw went smoothly.

‘There are more checks this year,’ he said.

The tickets are sent out to shops to sell. Once they are sent out, they are treated as ‘sold’. Shops then let the lottery organisers know if any are not sold, so the numbers can be removed from the draw.

That is why some retailers decided not to sell tickets yesterday, as they had sold their allocation of tickets.

Bespoke software and a random number generator are used to make the draw.

This year’s top prize was £545,118. This compares with £630,852 last year, £696,740 in 2020 and £1m. in 2019.

Mr Taylor said the drop was down to a number of issues, such as increased print costs and increasing the number of prizes in line with public demand.

In 2017, there was a top prize of just over £1m., a £100,000 second prize and £25,000 third prize. There was also 10 £1,000 prizes.

But in a response to feedback, the number of prizes was increased. This year the first prize started at £300,000 and has grown as tickets were sold.

There is also a £50,000 second prize, and five third prizes of £10,000. There are also prizes ranging between £5,000 and £500.

Mr Taylor said a set percentage of the proceeds went to the Social Investment Fund, which supported local good causes. So to generate the extra prizes, the money had to be creamed off the first prize.

He added that ticket prices had been increased to £3 in the past to increase the top prize, but following negative feedback it was brought back down to £2.

‘It’s a challenge to keep everyone happy,’ he said.

He added that a review of this year's draw would take place soon.