Frequently asked questions

Draws take place each and every *Friday, with the exception of bank holidays where the draw will take place on the Thursday before. The winning numbers are selected at random by the lottery computer system and all prize cheques are sent to the lucky winners by post. However, you can easily view the winning numbers every week on the ‘Results’ page on our website, or by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

*Please note: From 1st January 2021, the weekly draw will normally be carried out every Monday (with the exception of Bank Holidays where the draw will take place on the next working day).

You can read more about the weekly prizes and your chance of winning on our ‘Prizes and odds of winning‘ page.

Payment by Direct Debit can be from as little as £4.34 per calendar month, spreading the cost of your participation across the year. You can also pay quarterly, six monthly or annually. Card payments are also accepted (debit cards only, no credit cards), with minimum payment levels applying. If you would like to change your method of payment, or the amount that you pay, at any time, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

Please Note: In line with the prize fund improvements that are coming to effect in January 2021, the price to take part in the Local Hospice Lottery is changing on 24th December 2020. Please visit the ‘Prizes and odds of winning‘ page to find out more.

The cost of entry is £1 per entry per draw, payable in advance. We are required by law to collect payments in advance of all of our draws. ‘Back payments’ cannot be accepted. Payments can be made by regular standing order, direct debit, cheque, or debit card (we do not accept credit cards) or through a Local Hospice Lottery agent (if this option is available in your area).

By sharing management costs and overheads, Local Hospice Lottery is able to offer both a larger prize fund to players and provide more money for hospice care. Our model of operation is based around partner hospices receiving more income from every £1 spent by players entering the draw in support of them, than they would if they ran their own lottery. All profits are donated to hospice care and Local Hospice Lottery gives between 55% and 80% of profits to its partner hospices. This is a sliding scale and the more people who play the Lottery in support of a particular hospice – the more that hospice will receive. For each £1 entry in the weekly draw Local Hospice Lottery gives an average of 60p to hospice care and this is significantly more than most other society lotteries.

In 2019, of £8.76 million in ticket sales from players supporting all participating hospices, 61% went to hospice care, 3% was spent on prizes, 24% was spent on recruiting new members to the lottery and 12% was spent on running the lottery. Local Hospice Lottery has now raised in excess of £30 million for hospice care.

Players also enter the draw in support of hospices throughout Great Britain. A full list of the charities supported can be seen under ‘Hospices Supported’. Being honest and transparent about the amount we give is very important to us and you can see exactly how much we are hoping to raise for each of our hospice partners on the individual page about them (under ‘Hospices Supported’).

Local Hospice Lottery is a membership lottery and the odds of winning vary each week depending on the number of £1 game numbers entering the weekly draw. The higher the number of entries – the greater the amount available for hospice care!

In 2019, an average of 168,480 game numbers belonging to players supporting all of our partner hospices were entered into each regular weekly draw and had the opportunity to win from the 153 weekly prizes. As from 1st January 2021 the number of weekly prizes will increase to 201. The number of players playing each week can be viewed on our ‘Results’ page.

If you choose to pay by cheque or card, we will send you a reminder letter three to four weeks before your current credit expires. You can then renew with your card over the phone. If you pay by cheque, please send your payment (made payable to ‘Local Hospice Lottery’) by return of your reminder letter. You will only be entered into the weekly draw if your membership is in credit.

Monthly Subscriptions

Players whose first payment is received by Local Hospice Lottery before 23 December 2020:

Up until 23 December 2020, you will pay a monthly subscription of £4.34 per game number via one of the above methods. This includes 34p which accumulates and funds the extra weeks in 5 week months. It is also possible to pay quarterly, bi-annually or annually (please see below for further details).

From 24 December 2020 we are changing our monthly subscription to £5 per month. For months with only 4 lottery draws in them, your extra £1 will be accumulated to give you an entry into the Christmas draw which will take place on the last Monday before Christmas each year. Over a calendar year, providing that you make all scheduled payments that year, you will accrue 7 or 8 entries into the Christmas draw, depending on how many Monday draws take place in that year. If you join part-way through a calendar year, this will affect how many Christmas draw entries you accumulate.

If a payment is missed, any accumulated funds will be used to ensure entry into the next draw and will impact on the number of entries you accrue for the Christmas Draw.

If you cancel your monthly subscription before the 1st December, any additional entries you have accrued throughout that year will be entered into the subsequent weekly draws, and will not be entered as additional entries into the Christmas draw.

Players paying by Direct Debit and who joined the Lottery before 3 August 2020 will be given an option to opt-out of the increase from £4.34 to £5 before this increase takes place. Players who are paying by Direct Debit and joined the Lottery from 3 August 2020 will see their monthly subscription automatically increase from 24 December. Players paying by standing order will be given the opportunity to opt-in to the £5 monthly payment. Any players that remain with the £4.34 monthly subscription will not accrue additional entries in the annual Christmas draw.

Players whose first payment is received by Local Hospice Lottery after 23 December 2020:

You will pay a monthly subscription of £5 per game number. For months with only 4 lottery draws in them, your extra £1 will be accumulated to give you an entry into the Christmas draw which will take place on the last Monday before Christmas each year. Over a calendar year, providing that you make all scheduled payments that year, you will accrue 7 or 8 entries into the Christmas draw, depending on how many Monday draws take place in that year. If you join part-way through a calendar year, this will affect how many Christmas draw entries you accumulate.

Quarterly/ Bi-annual and annual subscriptions

Up until 23 December 2020, players will pay a quarterly subscription of £13, a bi-annual subscription of £26 or an annual subscription of £52 per game number:

From 24th December 2020, in order to provide players paying in these frequencies with the same options for entries into the new Christmas Super Draw as monthly subscribers, players will pay a quarterly subscription of £15, a bi-annual payment of £30 or an annual payment of £60 per game number. All other entry requirements remain as for monthly subscribers, with recurring debit card players joining before 3 August 2020 being given an option to opt-out of the increase.

To enable us to keep our administration costs to a minimum, we do not usually issue subsequent payment receipts. Should you ever wish to discuss or confirm any of your payments, please do not hesitate to call us on
FREEPHONE 0800 316 0645 or
email info@localhospicelottery.org

Cheques are valid for 6 months from date of issue. Any cheques that are not cashed after six months will be deemed to be cancelled and treated as a donation to the hospice you have chosen to support.

In accordance with data protection legislation, Local Hospice Lottery will store your data securely for the purposes of administering your participation in the weekly draw and contacting you about your membership. Local Hospice Lottery will also keep you updated on existing lottery products that you may be interested in, including our Super Draws, as well as our new products and services by post, unless you have indicated otherwise. You can opt out of receiving marketing communications, or update your communication preferences, any time by contacting us on Freephone 0800 316 0645. For more information please see our Privacy Policy.

Local Hospice Lottery will provide your details to the hospice you are playing in support of so that they are aware of your support. The hospice may wish to keep you up to date about the difference your support is making and other opportunities to support their work. Please contact the hospice directly if you would like to change your communication preferences with them at any time.

We understand that circumstances change and that on occasion people may wish to cancel their membership (although we’d like to keep you forever obviously!). If this is the case and you would like to cancel your lottery membership – please just let us know by calling us on Freephone 0800 316 0645, emailing us at info@localhospicelottery.org, or by completing the Cancellation Form on this website. Please provide your full name and address details, the hospice you are playing in support of, as well as your game number(s) if you have it/them to hand.

You can re-join at any time and we’d love you to have you back!

Important Note: If you pay by Standing Order, you will also need to contact your bank directly to cancel the payment with them. If you fail to do so, Local Hospice Lottery cannot amend for you and your payments will continue to be sent to us. 

It is the policy of Local Hospice Lottery not to give refunds once the payment has been processed onto the lottery software. In the case of standing order payments where the player’s bank makes an error in relation to the amount or frequency of payment requested by the player, and over-subscribes as a result, a refund will be offered.

If a player leaves with a credit of less than £1 Local Hospice Lottery will treat such amounts as a donation to the hospice you have chosen to support. If a player who subscribes to Local Hospice Lottery via Standing Order contacts us to cancel their membership we will update our records with the cancellation but inform them that they are responsible for cancelling their Standing Order with the bank. Should Local Hospice Lottery receive any further payments in this instance we will write to the customer reminding them that they need to cancel the payment with their bank and confirming that if they do not do so any further payments will be treated as a donation to the hospice the player supports.