IT IS a lot of money and a lot of people want it. But if you have spent £1 on a ticket, you only have a one in 2 1/2 million chance of winning tonight's Lotto jackpot, estimated at over £7 million.
Long queues are stretching out the doors of National Lottery agents as they attempt to cater for the increasing demand for tickets. The jackpot has also spawned an orgy of statistical analysis, not least that there are over five million possible combinations.
The man with myriad statistics at his fingertips, Mr Ray Bates, the National Lottery director, advises people to play early. "I don't know if people have already taken the advice because things have been so busy, or whether it will be just as bad today," he said.
During the last hour before 7.45 p.m. on Wednesday, sales reached a record £8,800 or 4,000 slips a minute. Already indications were this could be exceeded today and the jackpot would "easily" exceed £7 million, but it was unlikely to reach £8 million, Mr Bates said.
Some £25 million will have been generated by the close of business at 7.45 p.m. tonight. £8 million of this will go to beneficiary projects, including £1 million to the crisis in central Africa.
An eighth roll-over is "exceptional", and Mr Bates likened it "to tossing a perfectly balanced penny eight times and getting heads all the time".