The Downshire Lotto is a monthly society lottery run in aid of Downshire Football Club. These rules explain how to enter, how winners are drawn and how the money is used.
How to enter
- Entry costs £10 per month, per entry, paid by Direct Debit through GoCardless.
- When you sign up you choose one number between 1 and 59. This is your number for every draw while your entry is active.
- More than one member can hold the same number, and there is no limit on how many members can take part.
- You must be 18 or over to take part.
- You can cancel at any time with no notice and no penalty by cancelling your Direct Debit.
Where your £10 goes
- 10% funds the monthly cash prize.
- 20% builds the rolling jackpot (see below).
- 70% stays with the club to fund pitches, kit and coaching.
The monthly draw
- The draw takes place on the last Saturday of each month.
- The winning number is the National Lottery Round 1 bonus ball from that Saturday's Lotto draw. Since June 2026 the National Lottery has run two separate draws each night, so we always use Round 1, the first draw of the night.
- One winner is drawn at random from all members holding that number. If no member holds the winning number, the monthly prize rolls over into the following month.
The rolling jackpot
- There is no annual draw. Instead the jackpot builds month on month, and the moment it reaches £10,000 it is paid out in full at the very next monthly draw.
- To be entered into the jackpot draw a member must have held a paid entry for at least six consecutive months. New members join the monthly prize draw straight away, and become eligible for the jackpot once they reach six months.
- One winner is drawn at random from all active members, whatever number they hold. You do not need to match anything and your chosen number does not matter - every active entry goes into the jackpot draw automatically.
- The winner is chosen using the same fixed, published method as the monthly draw (set out below), seeded by the six main National Lottery balls from that Saturday's draw, so the result can be independently checked.
- Once won, the jackpot resets to zero and starts building again. Because it only pays out when it reaches £10,000, it can take several years to be won - which is exactly what makes it worth winning.
How the winner is chosen (and how you can check it)
Every draw is transparent and can be independently checked. On draw day we publish:
- the six main National Lottery balls and the bonus ball from Round 1 of that Saturday's draw;
- a numbered list of the members eligible for that draw.
The winner is then chosen using this fixed method, which is published here in advance:
- Everyone eligible for the draw is placed in a numbered list, ordered by membership number, lowest first. This gives positions 1 to N, where N is the number of members in the draw. For the monthly draw the eligible members are those holding that month's winning Round 1 bonus ball; for the jackpot draw it is every active member who has held a paid entry for at least six consecutive months.
- The six main National Lottery balls from that Saturday's draw are written out in order, smallest first, each as two digits (for example 7 becomes 07), and joined together into one long number, called the draw number.
- That draw number is divided by N and the remainder is taken; adding 1 gives the winning position. In plain terms: winning position = (draw number from the six main balls, divided by the number of members, remainder) + 1. Because the draw number is very large, every position stays reachable no matter how many members are in the draw, so the method is fair for any club size.
- The member in that position wins.
Because the six main balls are public and this method is fixed in advance, anyone can repeat the calculation and confirm the winner for themselves. Nothing is chosen behind closed doors.
Registration
The Downshire Lotto is registered with Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council. It is promoted by Downshire Football Club. Please play responsibly.
Back to the Downshire Lotto
