Quick answer: The odds of winning the Set For Life top prize, £10,000 every month for 30 years, are 1 in 15,339,390 per £1.50 line. The odds of winning any prize are 1 in 12.4, and the second prize, £10,000 a month for one year, is 1 in 1,704,377. Draws are every Monday and Thursday.
Key takeaways
- Set For Life is a fixed-prize game: the top prize is 1 in 15.3 million, the second prize 1 in 1.7 million, any prize 1 in 12.4, and nothing rolls over.
- The top prize is paid monthly through an annuity and cannot normally be taken as a lump sum.
- It has been won. The National Lottery publishes top-prize winner stories, and by our estimate from a recent draw, a top prize lands roughly once every five weeks on average.
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What are the odds of winning Set For Life?
The odds of winning the Set For Life top prize are 1 in 15,339,390 per line, and the odds of winning any prize are 1 in 12.4. Each line costs £1.50: you pick five numbers from 1 to 47 and one Life Ball from 1 to 10, and win by matching at least two main numbers.
Here is every prize tier from the official game procedures:
| Match | Prize | Odds per line |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + Life Ball | £10,000 every month for 30 years | 1 in 15,339,390 |
| 5 | £10,000 every month for one year | 1 in 1,704,377 |
| 4 + Life Ball | £250 | 1 in 73,045 |
| 4 | £50 | 1 in 8,116 |
| 3 + Life Ball | £30 | 1 in 1,782 |
| 3 | £20 | 1 in 198 |
| 2 + Life Ball | £10 | 1 in 134 |
| 2 | £5 | 1 in 15 |
| Any prize | 1 in 12.4 |
Where 15,339,390 comes from. There are 1,533,939 ways to choose five numbers from 47, and 10 possible Life Balls. Multiply them and you get 15,339,390 possible lines, only one of which wins the top prize. Buying more lines raises your chance in a straight line: 10 lines in one draw is 10 in 15,339,390, or about 1 in 1.5 million.
Draws take place at 8pm every Monday and Thursday, and on draw days you need to buy before 7.30pm. The National Lottery says it currently expects 50% to 52% of Set For Life ticket sales to be paid out in prizes on average.
What does the Set For Life top prize actually pay?
£10,000 every month for 30 years: 360 payments, £3.6 million in total. Allwyn pays the first £10,000 when your claim is validated, then buys an annuity policy that pays the remaining monthly payments for 29 years and 11 months. Once the annuity is set up, it cannot be changed, surrendered or cashed in.
A few details from the game rules worth knowing:
- Tax. Each monthly payment has a tax-free capital element and a taxable interest element. The game is designed so every top prize winner still receives at least £10,000 a month after tax, based on tax rules at 12 October 2023, and the National Lottery says that in most cases the tax is dealt with at source.
- Advice. Top prize winners are offered a meeting with a financial adviser.
- Death. If a winner dies after payments start, their estate receives a lump sum equal to the cost of the annuity policy less the payments already made.
- Capping. Up to £16 million is available for top prize winners in a single draw. Only if that is not enough to pay every winner £10,000 a month for 30 years is the prize capped and shared.
What £10,000 a month is really worth. The payment is a fixed £10,000. If prices rose every year at the Bank of England's 2% inflation target, the last payment in 30 years would buy roughly what £5,500 buys today. That is our illustration, not a forecast, but it shows why the monthly prize is worth less in real terms than its headline total.
What is the second prize on Set For Life?
The second prize is £10,000 every month for one year, £120,000 in total, for matching all five main numbers without the Life Ball. The odds are 1 in 1,704,377 per line. Allwyn pays the first payment when the claim is validated and the other 11 by monthly standing order to a UK or Isle of Man bank account.
Two rules differ from the top prize. The second prize is paid by Allwyn directly, with no annuity involved. And a winner who is not resident in the UK or the Isle of Man is paid a one-off £120,000 lump sum instead, less any first payment already made. Up to £2 million is available for second prize winners in a draw before capping applies.
Can you take a lump sum from Set For Life?
No, except in very limited cases. The National Lottery's answer to this exact question is "No, except in the very limited circumstances set out in the Games Specific Rules". The top prize is designed as an annuity, and once the annuity policy is in place it cannot be cashed in.
The rules do allow a lump sum in these situations:
- You are not resident in the UK or the Isle of Man. You cannot have the annuity, so you receive a cash alternative: what the annuity would have cost, plus the first £10,000 payment.
- An annuity cannot be arranged for reasons outside Allwyn's control, or Allwyn decides a lump sum is necessary.
- The prize is capped because too many people win in one draw. Each winner can then choose their capped share as a lump sum or as monthly payments.
- The winner dies before payments start. Their estate receives what the annuity would have cost, plus the first £10,000.
The rules also refer to any statutory cancellation right you may have.
Lump sum or monthly: which is better?
Neither is better for everyone, and for most UK winners there is no choice to make. The monthly structure spreads the money over 30 years, which protects against spending it all at once. A lump sum, where one is paid, gives flexibility to invest, clear a mortgage or help family straight away, but it also puts the risk of managing a large sum on you. The fixed £10,000 also loses buying power over time, as the inflation example above shows.
Has anyone ever won the 10,000 a month for 30 years?
Yes. The National Lottery publishes stories of players who have won the Set For Life top prize, including one published in June 2025, as well as second prize winners, such as a player who matched all five main numbers in a January 2025 draw. Each draw's results page lists how many people won each tier.
Because Set For Life is a fixed-prize game, a draw can have no top prize winner, one, or several. The prize does not roll over when nobody wins it, so a draw with no winner does not make the next one any bigger.
How often does someone win Set For Life?
At recent sales levels, roughly once every five weeks on average. That is our estimate: the draw on 21 September 2026 had 132,769 prize winners across all tiers, which at 1 in 12.4 suggests about 1.6 million lines were played. At 1 in 15,339,390 per line, that is about one top prize every nine or ten draws.
Two cautions go with that number. First, it is an average: real gaps between winners can be much shorter or much longer, and that draw itself had no top or second prize winner. Second, it depends on sales. More lines sold means more winners overall, but your own chance per line never changes from 1 in 15,339,390.
How do Set For Life odds compare with other lottery games?
Set For Life's top prize, at 1 in 15.3 million, is easier to win than the Lotto jackpot (1 in 22.5 million) or the EuroMillions jackpot (1 in 139.8 million), but harder than Thunderball's £500,000 top prize (1 in 8.1 million). Its 1 in 12.4 any-prize odds are close to Thunderball's and EuroMillions' 1 in 13.
Like-for-like, one line each, top prize against top prize and any prize against any prize:
| Game | Cost per line | Top prize | Top-prize odds | Any-prize odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderball | £1 | £500,000 | 1 in 8,060,598 | 1 in 13 |
| Set For Life | £1.50 | £10,000 a month for 30 years | 1 in 15,339,390 | 1 in 12.4 |
| Lotto | £2 | Jackpot (varies) | 1 in 22,528,738 | 1 in 4.9 |
| EuroMillions (with UK Millionaire Maker) | £2.50 | Jackpot (varies) | 1 in 139,838,160 | 1 in 13 |
Lotto wins more often per line, but about 9 in 10 of those wins are its £1 Match 2 prize. For the full ranking, see which lottery has the best odds, or our guide to the odds of winning the lottery in the UK. If you like the idea of a smaller, more likely prize, Thunderball odds are worth a look.
Prefer a regular draw you can enter without buying a separate ticket? On MrRaffle, every 10p you play earns a free ticket into a jackpot draw: you choose the Daily, Weekly or Monthly jackpot for each ticket. At the time of writing, the Weekly jackpot was £5,000 and the Monthly £10,000 (confirmed on the live pages on 28 August 2026).
Frequently asked questions
Do you pay tax on Set For Life winnings?
Not on the prize as such. The top prize's monthly payments include a taxable interest element, but the game is designed so every top prize winner gets at least £10,000 a month after tax, usually dealt with at source. Lower prizes are ordinary tax-free lottery wins. See our guide to tax on lottery winnings.
What time is the Set For Life draw?
The draw is at 8pm every Monday and Thursday. On a draw day you need to buy your ticket before 7.30pm to be in that night's draw. Results are published on the National Lottery website from around 9.30pm, and you can buy entries up to four weeks in advance.
Does the Set For Life top prize roll over?
No. Set For Life is a fixed-prize game, like Thunderball, so if nobody matches five numbers and the Life Ball, the top prize simply is not paid out in that draw. The next draw offers the same £10,000 a month for 30 years, with the same odds of 1 in 15,339,390 per line.
What happens if a Set For Life winner dies?
If payments have started, the winner's estate receives a lump sum equal to the cost of the annuity policy less the payments already made. If the full cost has already been paid out, nothing further is due. If the winner dies before payments start, the estate receives the annuity's cost plus the first £10,000.
Can you play Set For Life by Direct Debit?
No. The National Lottery says Set For Life is not available by Direct Debit. You can instead buy lines for up to four weeks of draws in advance, online or in shops. Each line costs £1.50, and you choose whether to play the Monday draw, the Thursday draw or both.
Sources
- The National Lottery: Set For Life Online Game Procedures (Edition 4, effective 1 February 2024), accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: Set For Life Game Specific Rules (Edition 2a, effective 28 July 2025), accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: About Set For Life, accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: Set For Life prize payout, accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: Set For Life results and draw history (draw of 21 September 2026), accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: Set For Life top prize winner story, June 2025, accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: Set For Life second prize winner story, January 2025 draw, accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: Lotto Online Game Procedures, accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: EuroMillions Online Game Procedures, accessed 24 September 2026
- The National Lottery: Thunderball Online Game Procedures, accessed 24 September 2026
- Bank of England: Bank Rate and the 2% inflation target, accessed 24 September 2026
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