How do you play Set For Life in the UK? Pick five numbers from 1 to 47 and one Life Ball from 1 to 10, or let Lucky Dip choose them, and each £1.50 line goes into a Monday or Thursday draw. It's a National Lottery game run by Allwyn; Australia's Set for Life is a different game. Two matching main numbers are enough for the smallest prize, while all five plus the Life Ball win £10,000 every month for 30 years.
Play slips, Lucky Dip and the number of weeks
A line, which the official procedures call a "Selection", is five numbers from 1 to 47 plus one from 1 to 10. You can mark all six yourself or take a Lucky Dip: six numbers "randomly selected by Allwyn's Computer System on Your behalf".
To play Set For Life in the UK online, you fill in the interactive play slip on The National Lottery website or app. Its number-of-weeks option counts each "week" from the first Monday or Thursday draw an entry goes into. Once you accept your numbers on the "Confirm Play Slip" screen, the entry can't be cancelled.
Retail play follows its own procedures, set out in the Players' Guide. Each draw's five Main Numbers and Life Ball go up on lottery.fm's UK Set For Life results page.
Prizes and odds for one £1.50 line
The Life Ball splits each level of main-number matches, from five down to two, into a pair of categories. Prizes and per-entry odds are as the official procedures list them.
| Prize category | Prize | Approximate odds per entry |
|---|---|---|
| Match 5 + Life Ball | £10,000 every month for 30 years | 1 in 15,339,390 |
| Match 5 | £10,000 every month for one year | 1 in 1,704,377 |
| Match 4 + Life Ball | £250 | 1 in 73,045 |
| Match 4 | £50 | 1 in 8,116 |
| Match 3 + Life Ball | £30 | 1 in 1,782 |
| Match 3 | £20 | 1 in 198 |
| Match 2 + Life Ball | £10 | 1 in 134 |
| Match 2 | £5 | 1 in 15 |
Each amount is fixed, though the procedures head the column "Prize (subject to Prize capping explained in Section 4 below)": a rare capped draw, covered below, can reduce it. Nothing builds up between draws either: "Due to the fixed Prize nature of Set For Life, there is no rollover of any Prizes if the top Prize is not won."
The odds of winning any prize are 1 in 12.4 per entry, and the top category is a genuine long shot. The Life Ball alone, or with one main number, isn't a prize category. Every draw is random and independent: a Lucky Dip has the same chance as numbers you pick.
The first £10,000 comes from Allwyn, the rest from an annuity
The Game Specific Rules split the top prize between two payers. Once a claim is validated, Allwyn pays the First Prize Payment of £10,000, by bank transfer or cheque at its discretion. In the standard case, Allwyn then buys an annuity policy from a provider authorised in the UK or Isle of Man, which pays one instalment a month for 29 years and 11 months.
A broker, Gallagher Risk and Reward Limited or another that Allwyn appoints, attends the in-person Validation Meeting, where the winner completes the annuity application. Allwyn aims to have the policy in place within four weeks of the meeting.
The policy is a contract between the winner and the provider, and Allwyn accepts no liability for missed or late annuity payments. Once set up, it "cannot be changed, surrendered or cashed-in". It does carry premium protection: if the winner dies before the payments end, their estate receives a lump sum equal to the premium Allwyn paid, less the gross payments made before the provider is told of the death.
Tax on the monthly payments
Prize money from The National Lottery is tax-free in the UK, but the procedures qualify that for this annuity: "The monthly payments comprise of a capital and interest element. The capital element is tax free and the interest element is subject to applicable tax. However, based on tax rules and rates at the date of these Procedures, the monthly payments will not be less than £10,000 after tax." The Game Specific Rules add that the amount of tax depends on the winner's circumstances, date the after-tax position to 12 October 2023 and make it "subject to capping", refer winners to HMRC for more information, and say Allwyn recommends independent financial advice. This is general information, not tax advice.
When the top prize becomes a lump sum
The Game Specific Rules state that, subject to any statutory cancellation right and the exceptions they list, "there is no cash alternative to the Annuity Policy". A winner not resident in the UK or the Isle of Man when the annuity application is, or would have been, completed gets a cash alternative instead: what Allwyn would have paid for the annuity, plus the First Prize Payment. A deceased winner's personal representatives receive the same amount if Allwyn accepts their claim. Allwyn can also pay a lump sum if it (or the broker) is "unable to arrange an Annuity Policy for You for reasons out of their control", or if it reasonably considers one necessary, and a capped draw offers one too.
Match 5: twelve monthly payments straight from Allwyn
Five main numbers without the Life Ball win £10,000 every month for one year, under Part 2 of the Game Specific Rules. The prize is claimed the same way, by phone and then in person, but Part 2 makes no mention of a broker or an annuity. After validation, Allwyn pays the first £10,000 by bank transfer or cheque, and the other eleven payments go by monthly standing order to a UK or Isle of Man bank account.
A winner not resident in the UK or the Isle of Man when claiming receives a one-off £120,000 instead, less the First Prize Payment if it has already been paid, and Allwyn "reserves the right to pay the Prize as a lump sum if it deems necessary in its reasonable opinion."
The £16 million ceiling, and capping further down the table
Capping, per the procedures, "takes place in very rare circumstances – for example, when popular number combinations are drawn resulting in there being more Winning Set For Life Entries than Allwyn is able to pay Prizes for." Capped prizes are rounded down to the nearest £1.
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Match 5 + Life Ball: the money for these winners is limited to £16 million. If that can't pay every winning entry £10,000 a month for 30 years, it is divided equally, and each winner chooses between a one-off lump sum and an annuity. On the annuity route, the Game Specific Rules set a first payment of the share divided by 360 ("representing 12 payments every year for 30 years"), followed by equal monthly payments over the remaining 29 years and 11 months.
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Match 5: limited to £2 million, divided equally if needed and paid in equal monthly instalments over one year.
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Lower tiers: cut back only if the Capped Prize Fund can't pay the listed prizes to every winning entry from Match 2 to Match 4 + Life Ball. Each of those entries then gets £5, with anything left paid in further steps to the higher categories, and "Match 2 Prizes will never be capped and will always be awarded in full."
A 180-day claim period, and in person for the top two prizes
Set For Life prizes have a claim period of 180 days. For the top two prizes, the Game Specific Rules say to phone within that period, the National Lottery Line for a retail ticket or the Customer Care Team for an online entry, and warn that otherwise "Entitlement to the Prize will be lost (and the Prize won't be paid)".
Those two prizes "must be claimed in person". UK residents can meet Allwyn at home, at an Allwyn Regional Centre or at another location it agrees to; Isle of Man residents must use a Regional Centre. At the appointment, the winner completes a Prize Claim Form and, for a retail entry, hands over the ticket.
Set For Life, like every National Lottery product, can't be sold to anyone under 18.
If gambling stops feeling fun, you can talk to someone for free, in confidence, at any hour — the National Gambling Helpline (GamCare) is on 0808 8020 133.
Always confirm winning numbers, prize amounts, and deadlines with the official operator before acting on a ticket — the operator's published results are the only ones that count.
Sources
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The National Lottery (Allwyn UK) · Edition 4, effective 1 February 2024, viewed 4 October 2026 · Set For Life Online Game Procedures · The National Lottery's Set For Life online game procedures
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The National Lottery (Allwyn UK) · Edition 2a, effective 28 July 2025, viewed 4 October 2026 · Game Specific Rules for the Set For Life Top and Second Tier Prizes · The National Lottery's Set For Life game specific rules
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Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, on GOV.UK · 8 December 2020 · Government response to the consultation on the minimum age to play National Lottery games · Government response on the National Lottery minimum age
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lottery.fm game facts database · facts as of 5 October 2026 · UK Set For Life — game facts · UK Set For Life game facts on lottery.fm
