Previously offered almost solely by niche sites such as Lottoland, lotteries have become increasingly popular on traditional betting sites as well. Today, prominent bookies like Betfred, William Hill and Coral have many different lotto betting options and quite good prizes as well, offering the games on a fixed-odds basis.
While the prizes fluctuate at Lottoland, depending on the size of the jackpot and how many winners there are, the traditional betting sites offer fixed odds instead. This means that you are not actually betting to win a jackpot, but rather a certain amount as per the odds. With many of these sites having great prizes, though, there is not a huge difference between the two.
In our guide for online lotto betting in the UK, we will highlight the best sites for this and what factors are important to consider. After all, with all of the sites in our top five being very good and quite similar, it is not always easy to decipher the best one.
💻 Operator | 🔢 Lotto Games | 💰 Highest Jackpot/Prize | 🤝 Lotto Welcome Offer | 👉 Visit Site |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lottoland | 25+ | £800m+ | ❌ | Join Bookie |
Betfred | 15 | £5m | ✅ | Join Bookie |
The Pools | 4 | £9m | ✅ | Join Bookie |
William Hill | 10+ | £1m | ✅ | Join Bookie |
Coral | 3 | £1m | ✅ | Join Bookie |
As previously mentioned, finding the best lotto betting sites in the UK is not the easiest of tasks, with many of them being quite similar these days. There are some notable factors that make a difference, though, and we have highlighted full situation with our top five list below.
The name gives it away, doesn't it? While Lottoland now also offers a sportsbook and a casino section to its customers, its roots lie in lotto betting and this remains the most popular section of the site. Rightfully so, as over 25 lotto games are offered by the bookie and many of these have large jackpots.
Most betting sites that have lotto games offer fixed odds, so when you partake you are actually not betting to win a jackpot, but rather a fixed fee based on how many numbers you get right. Lottoland, meanwhile, does not offer fixed odds but rather the more traditional lotto approach, with the punter hoping to clinch a jackpot (or at least part of it).
The minimum stake is slightly higher than what some might expect, at least for the popular games as a line costs £2-3. There is also no welcome offer for the lotto section, but this matters little as the sheer coverage Lottoland has makes up for it. It is the king of online lotto betting, that is for sure.
Betfred is a close second on this list as a lot of effort has been put into the lotto section on its site. Unlike Lottoland, Betfred offers fixed odds for its lotto games but there are still some very good prizes available. The Nifty Fifty game, for example, has a top prize of £5m if you pick six correct numbers without the bonus ball.
In total, there are around 15 different lotto games and the minimum stake is just £1, which is very nice. There is also a lotto welcome offer for new customers, while special markets can be found for the lotto draws. Betfred has everything you could ask for and a little more, at least from a Lotto betting site.
The fact that such a hefty prize can be won from just £1 stake is very nice to see.
The Pools is mainly known for - you guessed it - pool betting but the lotto section has also become rather popular on the site. Perhaps this is because The Pools has decided to focus on just four games, which have been rebranded as their own but in truth, these are all based on real lottery draws.
Lucky 4 Life, which is based on the Irish lotto's result, has a minimum stake of just 50p and a top prize of £1m. It should be noted that this works in the same way as Betfred, with fixed prizes for each number of correct balls, while the games at Lottoland fluctuate based on the jackpot and winners.
The Pools lacks a welcome offer for Lotto, which is a bit of a shame, but there are at least some promotions for the section.
William Hill is very similar to Betfred in the sense that both offer about the same games, fixed odds and low minimum stakes. There are just over ten lotto games available on the site and the highest prize is £1m, so you can see already that while they are similar, William Hill deserves to be below Betfred.
There is a lotto welcome offer on the site, though, and the lotto section is very easy to navigate even for those who are not used to this type of betting. On the other hand, the bookie lacks some of the special markets that are offered by Betfred, which is something that some punters might see as a con.
Coral is a fantastic bookie in many ways, especially for a sport like football, but it should only ever be a last resort for lotto betting. Or perhaps if you just like to place the occasional lotto bet. This is because the bookie only offers three games, namely Irish Daily Million, Irish Lotto and 49s.
There is a lotto welcome offer, which helps, and the minimum stake is also low at £1. The highest prize is £1m like William Hill and the site is very easy to navigate. Overall, Coral is certainly a decent option but nowhere near as good as the best sites on this list.
We have already touched on the key factors for lotto betting sites above, but below we will go through them once again. We truly believe that these are the most important ones for determining the best lotto betting sites in the UK.
The best lottos online must offer the most popular lotteries available. EuroMillions, US Powerball, Mega Millions, El Gordo, SuperEnalotto, and EuroJackpot, in addition to other games. The more the lotteries availed on the site, the higher the ranking.
Lottoland is unbeatable on this front but Betfred is certainly the best when it comes to fixed-odds lotto games, so it depends on what you prefer.
The goal of playing the lotto is to try to win the jackpot prize, regardless of whether we are talking about traditional lotteries or fixed odds lottos. Therefore, we took the amounts into consideration when we decided on the best lotto betting sites. Lottoland, for example, offers a whopping £800m jackpot for one of its games.
Playing the lottery online is quite convenient. However, this convenience should come at a relatively low cost. While it is expected for lotto sites to have a higher minimum stake for games with high jackpots/prizes, punters will want to have at least one low-cost game available on the site.
Some of the sites on our top five list, albeit not Lottoland, offer welcome offers for new customers who sign up on the lotto sections. This is something we, as well as the punters, like a lot and thus plays a part in how we rank the site. Then again, the most important thing is that the site is a good long-term option.
If you would like to get started with online lottery betting, you can follow our step-by-step guide for some assistance below.
The first step is to sign up on one of the betting sites that offer lottery betting, with good opinions including Lottoland, Betfred and William Hill. In this guide, we will go through the process of placing a lotto bet on Betfred.
After heading over to the Lotto section at Betfred, you need to choose the game that you would like to bet on. The top prize varies from game to game, so make sure to double-check that before you make your choice. We decided to go with the classic 49s.
In the next step, you will be asked to pick your numbers and decide how many lines you want to have. You can either choose the numbers manually, use your favourite numbers (must be saved in settings) or go with the lucky dip option (random).
After the numbers have been selected, you must choose the lotto draw that you would like to bet on. There are two draws per day for the 49s game, as you can see in the image below.
Finally, you need to set the stake and then place the bet. That's it! It's safe to say that betting on lotteries is a very simple process.
Steven is responsible for all content on BettingGuide UK. He is an experienced iGaming content writer working in the industry since 2018. If you have any questions regarding online gambling in the UK, don't hesitate to contact him.