document_title: National Lottery (United Kingdom)

question_text: when did the national lottery change to 59 numbers

question_tokens: when did the national lottery change to 59 numbers

text: National Lottery (United Kingdom)

text: History[edit]

text: Background[edit]

text: A statute of 1698 provided that in England lotteries were by default illegal unless specifically authorised by statute. Early English state lotteries included the Million Lottery (1694) and the Malt Lottery (1697). These Lotteries were part of a series of financial experiments by the English government including recoinage and the foundation of the Bank of England to raise the capital available to the state.

text: A 1934 Act, further liberalised in 1956 and 1976, legalised small lotteries.

text: 20th century[edit]

text: The UK's state-franchised lottery was set up under government licence by the government of John Major in 1993.[5] The National Lottery is franchised to a private operator; the Camelot Group was awarded the franchise on 25 May 1994.[6]

text: The first draw took place on 19 November 1994 with a television programme presented by Noel Edmonds. The first numbers drawn were 30, 3, 5, 44, 14 and 22, the bonus was 10, and seven jackpot winners shared a prize of £5,874,778.[7]

text: Tickets became available on the Isle of Man on 2 December 1999 at the request of Tynwald.

text: 21st century[edit]

text: The National Lottery undertook a major rebranding programme in late 2002 designed to combat falling sales. The main game was renamed Lotto, and the National Lottery Extra became Lotto Extra. The stylized crossed-fingers logo was modified.[8] However, the games as a collective are still known as the National Lottery. It is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the United Kingdom.

text: In November 2009 Camelot replaced its older Lotto draw machines. The new machines are named Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot and Merlin, reusing the names of older machines. At the same time, new machines for the Thunderball game were introduced. The new Lotto machines are the Magnum II model, manufactured by Smartplay International Inc., and the new Thunderball machines are the Smartplay Halogen II model.[9][10]

text: On 16 March 2018, Camelot warned more than 10 million players with online accounts to change their passwords because of a "low-level" cyber attack that affected 150 customer accounts. They claim that no money was taken from customers. Camelot claimed the hackers used a method called credential stuffing and said the attack appeared to have begun on March 7. [11][12]

text: Eligibility[edit]

text: As of December 2016[update], the eligibility requirements include:

text:
Players must be at least 16 years old to buy scratchcards or to play Lotto, Thunderball or Euromillions
Tickets may be bought in person at approved premises in the UK, or online over the Internet
Online purchase of tickets from the National Lottery website is restricted to people who have a UK bank account (for debit card or direct debit purposes), and are resident in the UK or Isle of Man, and are physically present in the UK or Isle of Man when making the ticket purchase.
The ticket purchaser for a syndicate, typically its manager, must meet the eligibility criteria for ticket purchase. Syndicate members must be aged 16 or over
Lottery tickets are not transferable, so commercial syndicates (i.e. where extra charges are levied over and above the total face value of the tickets purchased) are not permitted

text: Games[edit]

text: Several games operate under the National Lottery brand:

text: Current games[edit]

text: As of December 2016[update], the current games include:

text: Lotto[edit]

text: Players buy tickets with their choice of six different numbers between 1 and 59; there is provision for random numbers to be generated automatically for those who do not wish to choose, known as 'Lucky Dip'. The entry fee to the Lotto draw was set at £1 per board from its introduction.

text: The draw is conducted twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays, except that a draw on Christmas Day is moved to Christmas Eve. Saturday draws started on 19 November 1994, under the name 'National Lottery'; the first Wednesday draw was on 5 February 1997. All of the draws are shown live on the official website at 20:30.

text: Lotto was originally called The National Lottery, but was renamed Lotto in an update in 2002 after ticket sales decreased. Lotto is by far the most popular draw, with around 15 to 45 million tickets sold each draw. The most winners for a single jackpot was 133 in January 1995, each player winning £122,510.

text: In the draw, six numbered balls are drawn without replacement from a set of 59 balls numbered from 1 to 59 (formerly 1 to 49 until October 2015). A further Bonus Ball is also drawn, which affects only players who match five numbers.

text: Prizes are awarded to players who match at least three of the six drawn numbers, with prizes increasing for matching more of the drawn numbers. The players who match all six drawn numbers win equal shares of the jackpot; the chance of doing so is 1 in 45,057,474. Similarly, if four or five balls are matched, the relevant prize is divided equally between all who match that many balls. If no player matches all six numbers, the jackpot is added to that of the next Lotto draw—a rollover. This accumulation was limited to three consecutive draws until 10 February 2011, when it was increased to four. Rollovers are frequent, with for example 20 Wednesday (39%) and 13 Saturday rollovers (25%) in 2011 (fewer tickets are sold on Wednesdays than Saturdays, increasing the probability of a rollover). "Treble rollovers"—two consecutive rollovers—are much less common. The first quadruple rollover draw occurred on Saturday 29 September 2012 with a jackpot of £19.5 million.[13] In the event of a quadruple rollover, if no tickets match all six main numbers, the jackpot will be shared between the tickets that match five numbers and the bonus ball.

text: October 2013 changes[edit]

text: Camelot announced that the price was to double to £2 from 3 October 2013, with prizes restructured.[14][15] The announcement was followed by news that large bonuses were to be set aside for management pay, which drew criticism.[16]

text: The arrival of the "New Lotto" means bigger jackpots with an estimated average of £1.1 million extra for Saturday's draw and £400,000 on Wednesday. Players matching three numbers receive an extra £15, up from £10 before and an extra £40 for matching 4 numbers. Those matching five numbers receive £500 less, and £50,000 less when matching five numbers + the bonus ball, compared to the former system.[17]

text: As part of the refresh, a new Lotto Raffle was introduced, with at least 50 winners of £20,000 per draw.[18] The announcement and launch of the refreshed Lotto game caused controversy due to the price increase (dubbed as a "tax on the poor") and a drop in some of the prizes.[19] The new game launched with a £10,000,000 jackpot and 1,000 Lotto Raffle winners of £20,000.[20]

text: October 2015 changes[edit]

text: From 10 October 2015, Camelot announced further changes to the Lotto game which increased the pool of numbers from 49 to 59. Rollovers are no longer limited in number, instead the size of the jackpot is capped; the cap is reached after about 14 rollovers. When the jackpot gets to £50 million, if no-one matches all six main numbers the jackpot will rollover to the following draw. In the event nobody matches all six numbers on that draw the jackpot "rolls down" and is combined with the prize fund for the next prize category where there is at least one winner. Since August 2016, if nobody wins the jackpot when it is £22 million or more, it will roll to the next draw one final time. Then, the jackpot must be won: if no-one matches all six main numbers, the prize will be shared by the players with the most winning numbers.

text: Since the rule changes in October 2015 there is also a "match 2" prize of a free lucky dip ticket for another draw, with odds of doing so at 1 in 10. This created much criticism as the breakdown of prizes announced by Camelot includes the value of these prizes (£2 each winner) within the draw's prize fund even though each match 2 prize winner doesn't see any monetary value unless their ticket matches three main numbers or more in the following draw. Included with each Lotto ticket is the Millionaire Lotto Raffle where 20 players win £20,000 each and one player wins £1 million per draw.

text:
Division of 17.82% of the sales = X

Matching numbers
% of X
Odds of winning

4 numbers
12.9%
2,179 to 1

5 numbers
2.0%
144,414 to 1

5 numbers and bonus ball
1.9%
7,509,578 to 1

6 numbers
83.2%
45,057,474 to 1

The overall odds of winning any prize are 9.3 to 1.

tag: table

text: From October 2015 the total prize fund is 47.50% of draw sales in a normal week, including the raffle. The three-ball prize winners, with odds of 96 to 1,[21] receive £25 each; the two-ball prize winners receive a free £2 entry. 17.82% of the sales are divided as shown in the table and split equally with the number of winners for each selection:

text: Lotto Hotpicks[edit]

text:
Lotto Hotpicks odds and payouts from October 2015

Match
Prize
Odds of winning

1 number
£6
1 in 10

2 numbers
£60
1 in 115

3 numbers
£800
1 in 1,626

4 numbers
£13,000
1 in 30,342

5 numbers
£350,000
1 in 834,398

text: Lotto Hotpicks uses the main Lotto draw for its numbers but is a different game. The player chooses both the numbers and the number of draw balls they want to try to match, up to a maximum of five. However, if the player does not match all the numbers chosen, they are not a winner. The National Lottery describes Hotpicks as "five games in one", because the player has a choice of five ways of playing the game, each offering different odds and payouts.

text: The entry fee to the Lotto Hotpicks draw is £1 per board.

text: Thunderball[edit]

text: The Thunderball jackpot draw requires players to pick five main numbers from 1 to 39 and one 'Thunderball' number from 1 to 14 for an entry fee of £1 per board. Prizes may be won by matching the main numbers, with matches of the Thunderball number winning higher prizes. The top prize of the game, now £500,000, is won by matching all five main numbers as well as the Thunderball. There is also a £3 prize for matching the Thunderball alone. Draws take place four times a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and are shown live on the official website at 20:00.

text: The first Thunderball draw was held on 12 June 1999 and the draw was originally only held on Saturdays. The rules of Thunderball changed substantially on 9 May 2010. Before this date, Thunderball matches were drawn from numbers 1 to 34; there was no prize for matching the Thunderball number alone, and the top prize (for matching 5 main numbers and the Thunderball) was half the current jackpot at £250,000. After this date, the Friday draw was introduced in addition to the Wednesday and Saturday draws. Following the change of rules, while the chance of winning anything on Thunderball more than doubled, the chance of winning the top prizes more than halved. The Tuesday draw was added on 30 January 2018.

text: The odds and payouts are as follows:

text:
Old (1999–2010)
Current (from May 2010)[22]

Match
Prize
Odds of winning
Prize
Odds of winning

Thunderball only
-
-
£3
1 in 29

1 + Thunderball
£5
1 in 33
£5
1 in 35

2 + Thunderball
£10
1 in 107
£10
1 in 135

3 numbers
£10
1 in 74
£10
1 in 111

3 + Thunderball
£20
1 in 960
£20
1 in 1,437

4 numbers
£100
1 in 2,067
£100
1 in 3,647

4 + Thunderball
£250
1 in 26,866
£250
1 in 47,415

5 numbers
£5,000
1 in 299,661
£5,000
1 in 620,046

5 + Thunderball
£250,000
1 in 3,895,584
£500,000
1 in 8,060,598

text: EuroMillions[edit]

text: On Saturday 7 February 2004 the lottery operator Camelot launched a pan-European lottery: EuroMillions. The first draw took place on Friday 13 February 2004 in Paris. The UK, France and Spain were involved initially. Lotteries from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland joined the draw on 8 October 2004. The draws are currently made in Paris and shown recorded in the UK on the official website twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, approximately three hours after the draw has taken place. The entry fee to the EuroMillions draw is £2.50 per board. The odds of winning the jackpot are 139,838,160 to 1.

text: Scratchcards[edit]

text: As well as tickets for the draw games, the National Lottery also sells scratchcards. Introduced in 1995, they are small pieces of card where an area has been covered by a thin layer of opaque latex that can be scratched off. Under this are concealed the items/pictures that must be found in order to win. Scratchcards can be purchased in most newsagents and supermarkets; they can cost £1, £2, £3, £5 or £10 and come in many different forms, with a variety of prizes and ways to win.

text: The generic scratchcard requires the player to match three of the same prize amounts. If this is accomplished, they win that amount; the highest possible currently being £4,000,000 on a £10 scratchcard.[23] Other scratchcards involve matching symbols, pictures or words. The highest possible prize currently for a £1 scratchcard is £100,000.

text: Initially, all scratchcards were sold for £1. Over the years, scratchcards that range in price from £2 to £10 have become available. More expensive scratchcards are larger and offer more games with higher-value prizes. Some scratchcards have jackpots other than one-off payments, such as a yearly sum or a car. Odds for winning a top prize on a scratchcard depend greatly on how many have been sold and whether there is any top prize scratchcards in circulation at time of purchase. Generally, the odds of winning a top prize are around 1 in 3,500,000 on most scratchcards.

text: Online Instant Wins[edit]

text: Instant Win games are online games where the player can win prizes instantly. Some games are similar in format to scratchcards, with others involving more interactive play such as dice-rolling or matching special symbols. It is made clear that the Instant Win games are solely based on luck and that no skill or judgement is involved. Players must be registered in order to buy or try an Instant Win. "Try" games are free of charge and no payouts are made in respect of any prizes. As with scratchcards, there are a wide variety of Instant Win games available with different odds of winning prizes. The cost to play varies from 25p to £10. The current highest prize is £4 million on a £10 game. Odds of winning a top prize vary on each Instant Win game, and may be higher or lower than their scratchcard counterpart.

text: UK Millionaire Maker[edit]

text: Each EuroMillions ticket purchased in the UK contains a unique "UK Millionaire Maker" code, consisting of four letters and five numbers. There are two winners per draw (with the exception of a special draw), with each winner receiving a fixed £1,000,000.[24] Odds of winning depend on the number of tickets sold for that particular draw in the UK, but are generally 1 in 1,900,000 on Tuesdays and 1 in 2,950,000 on Fridays.[25]

text: Millionaire Raffle[edit]

text: Following the changes to the Lotto game, Camelot introduced the Millionaire Raffle (known previously as Lotto Raffle). A raffle number is included automatically with each line of Lotto numbers bought. Each raffle number consists of a colour and eight numbers (e.g. AQUA 4579 2965). Each winning raffle number wins a fixed amount of £20,000. Before Oct 2015, 50 raffle numbers were drawn with each Lotto draw and the number of raffle winners increased by 50 each time the Lotto jackpot rolled over, with as many as 250 raffle winners in the event of a quadruple rollover.

text: From 10 October 2015, the prize structure was changed, with 20 prizes of £20,000 and one prize of £1,000,000 with each Lotto draw.

text: Discontinued games[edit]

text: Lotto Extra[edit]

text:
Lotto Extra odds and payouts

Match
Prize
Odds of winning

6 numbers
Jackpot
1 in 13,983,815

The maximum jackpot was £50m

text: Lotto Extra was introduced on 13 November 2000 and was originally called The National Lottery Extra but renamed Lotto Extra in 2002. It was an add on from the main draw where a player could select "Lotto Extra same numbers" or a lucky dip. Players would pick six numbers from 49 and there were no lower tier prizes so a perfect match was required. The last draw was on 8 July 2006 and it was replaced by Dream Number.

text: Dream Number[edit]

text:
Dream Number

Match
Prize
Odds of winning

1st number only
£2
1 in 11.2

1st 2 numbers
£10
1 in 111.2

1st 3 numbers
£100
1 in 1,111.2

1st 4 numbers
£500
1 in 11,112

1st 5 numbers
£5,000
1 in 111,112

1st 6 numbers
£50,000
1 in 1,111,112

all 7 numbers
£500,000
1 in 10,000,000

The overall odds of winning any prize were 1 in 10.
Source: National Lottery Players Guide

text: Dream Number was launched on 15 July 2006. It involved a random seven digit number generated for entry into the main draw. It was played independently of Lotto, or if played with Lotto one Dream Number was generated per ticket, not per Lotto entry. The cost of entry was £1. A dream number was printed on every Lotto ticket bought, whether the player had chosen to enter it into the draw or not. Unlike other Lotto games, it was not possible to choose the number entered, and the order that the numbers were drawn was significant, as the numbers had to be matched in the same order for the player to win. Players had to match with the first number in order to start winning prizes (ranging from £2 to £500,000), which meant that 90% of players lost as soon as the first ball was drawn. Draws took place on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but only the Saturday draw was televised. The Wednesday draw took place prior to the live TV show and the winning dream number was announced during the show. All money raised for good causes from Dream Number went towards the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. The National Lottery closed the Dream Number game on Wednesday 9 February 2011, which was also the date of the last Dream Number draw. It was then replaced by Lotto Plus 5.

text: Daily Play[edit]

text:
Daily Play

Match
Prize
Odds of winning

0 numbers
£1 Daily Play
Lucky Dip Ticket
1 in 11.5

4 numbers
£5
1 in 22.3

5 numbers
£30
1 in 222.6

6 numbers
£300
1 in 6,343.1

7 numbers
£30,000
1 in 888,030

The overall odds of winning a prize were 1 in 7.4
Source: National Lottery Daily Play Game Rules & Procedures

text: The Daily Play draw started on Monday 22 September 2003 and could be played every day except Sunday and Christmas Day. By selecting seven numbers between 1 and 27, players could win anything from a free lucky dip to £30,000. The draw gave its players the chance to win a free daily play lucky-dip for not matching any numbers in the draw. The entry fee to the Daily Play draw was £1 per board.

text: Daily Play draws were broadcast via a webcast. In addition, from March 2005 to October 2005, the Daily Play draw was broadcast live on Challenge TV in the Glory Ball show, hosted by Jean Anderson, James McCourt, Jayne Sharp and Nikki Cowan.[26]

text: The National Lottery Daily Play Draw ended on Friday, 6 May 2011.[27]

text: Lotto Plus 5[edit]

text:
Lotto Plus 5

Matching Numbers
Prize
Odds of winning

3 numbers
£2.50
56.65592 to 1

4 numbers
£25
1,032.397 to 1

5 numbers
£250
55,491.33 to 1

5 numbers and bonus ball
£25,000
2,330,636 to 1

6 numbers
£250,000
13,983,815 to 1

The overall odds of winning any prize is 52.65514 to 1 per draw.

The overall odds of winning any prize is 10.13855 to 1 per Plus 5 draw week.

text: Lotto Plus 5 was introduced in 2011[28] to plug the gaps between the Wednesday and Saturday Lotto draws, meaning it takes place on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Players can enter by paying an extra £1 when buying their Lotto ticket, which enters the same ticket numbers into five separate draws. Each draw offers fixed prizes for matching 3, 4, 5 and 6 numbers, with the jackpot being worth £250,000. It has been estimated that the game produces an extra 500,000 Lotto winners every week. Due to the changes to the main Lotto game (most notably the introduction of the Lotto raffle), Plus 5 was discontinued; The last Plus 5 draw was played on 1 October 2013, with the last date to buy a ticket being 23 September 2013.

text: Vernons Easy Play[edit]

text: The National Lottery teamed up with Vernons to create a football pools type lottery. Players marked a playslip to state how many lines they wanted to play.

text: The lottery terminal allocated 10 football fixtures on the players ticket who then attempted to match these fixtures that resulted in a score draw. (1-1, 2-2, 3-3)

text: To win players needed to match at least 5 fixtures which resulted in a score draw which always won £5. Matching 6 won between £6 and £530 depending on how many total score draws there were in total over all the fixtures played. Matching 7 score draws won between £27 and £67,000 depending on total score draws. And matching 8 won from £1850 to £667,000.

text: Basically, the more score draws there are, the easier it is to win. This resulted in the payouts being fixed entirely on how many score draws there were.

text: This was a really difficult game to understand and at one point Vernons and Camelot were ready to discontinue the game after just 3 months, however the game went on to survive one full football season only in the mid 1990s.

text: Tickets were £1 per entry.

text: Big Draw 2000 / Big Draw 2003[edit]

text: Originally, this special one-off draw was made to commemorate the arrival of the new Millennium, but another attempt was made in 2002 to celebrate the new year of 2003.

text: Players would choose 5 years from 1900 to 1999 (in the 2003 version this was altered to 1901 to 2000) or a lucky dip on their Big Draw ticket for the first game, and if they matched all 5 main years, they win the jackpot (lower prize tiers were also available for matching 2 to 4 main years or matching 4 main years + bonus year if the player doesn't match all 5 main years). Two years; one from the old Millennium and one from the new Millennium were also printed at the bottom of the ticket (old Millennium having anything from 1000 to 1999, and new Millennium having anything from 2000 to 2999) for the second game, and if the player matched both years on their Big Draw ticket, they would win the jackpot.

text: Five years and a bonus year would be drawn at random from the machine for the first game, but for the second game, two pairs of machines were used: for the ones for the old Millennium; the left machine would have the numbers from 10 to 19, and the right machine having the numbers 00 to 99. For the ones for the new Millennium; the left machine would have the numbers 20 to 29, and the right machine having the numbers from 00 to 99. One number was drawn at random from each of those machines; each pair creating a year.

text: Other ways to play[edit]

text: As well as by purchasing a ticket at a shop, tickets can be purchased other ways.

text: Online[edit]

text: All National Lottery games can be played online after registering. There are two ways of playing the lotto online.

text: Direct Debit. Players can sign up by registering their bank account details and their saved numbers will be automatically entered. The National Lottery notifies winners by email if they have won, although this will not be on the evening of the draw; notification is usually by 12 noon the following day. This method is only available for the main Lotto and Thunderball games.

text: Loaded Account. Funds are loaded into a player's account and are played as required. The National Lottery notifies winners by email if they have won on the draw games, or in the case of the lower prize Instant Wins, transfer the winnings to their account. The current minimum loading amount is £10.

text: Text[edit]

text: The Play By Text service closed on 30 June 2013. Before then, players had been able to play the Lotto, Thunderball, EuroMillions and Lotto HotPicks by text after registering their mobile phone number. The discontinued games Dream Number and Daily Play also allowed text entry.

text: Sky Active[edit]

text: Lotto and EuroMillions were once available for play through Sky Active; however, this service was discontinued in September 2009. Prior to its discontinuation, players could purchase up to eight weeks worth of tickets at a time.[29]

text: Barclays Pingit[edit]

text: From July 2015 Barclays included a function in their Pingit app to allow the purchase of tickets for the National Lottery and Euromillions. Only lucky dip lottery tickets can be purchased currently. Small winnings are paid directly into the Pingit account within one day.[30]

text: Olympic Lottery[edit]

text: Following the success of London's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, Olympic Lottery Scratchcards were launched on 27 July 2005 under the brand name "Go for Gold". 28% of the price of £1 went to the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund, and the scratchcards were intended to raise £750,000,000 towards the cost of staging the games.[31]

text: The National Lottery on television[edit]

text: The majority of National Lottery draws take place on live television. The first National Lottery show (entitled The National Lottery Live: The First Draw) was at 7 pm on Saturday 19 November 1994. Presented by Noel Edmonds, this was an hour long special, in which 49 contestants competed to become the first person to start the draw, the first person being 18-year-old Deborah Walsh. The first number to be drawn was 30. For its first few years, the TV show took the title The National Lottery Live, and was presented mainly by Anthea Turner or Bob Monkhouse. Other notable presenters during this period included Dale Winton, Carol Smillie, Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson. On 30 November 1996, live on BBC One, the draw machine failed to start.[32]

text: During the 2000 Today broadcast on 31 December 1999, a special Big Draw 2000 drawing was held to ring in the new millennium (despite its having a few problems) This special Big Draw returned again on 31 December 2002 as Big Draw 2003 (with no problems with the draw compared to the last time).

text: On 20 May 2006, during the draw on The National Lottery Jet Set that took place minutes before the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, several members of the group Fathers 4 Justice protested on the set causing the show to be taken off air for several minutes while the protesters were removed from the studio.[33][34]

text: On 7 November 2015, live on BBC One, the Lotto draw machine failed to release all the balls, causing the draw to be postponed. The draw later took place off air, and the results were posted on the website.

text: Originally, the draws would take place in the BBC studio during the game show on Saturdays (and sometimes Wednesdays). However, in more recent years the channel airing the lottery draw has pre-recorded the non-draw parts of the show and then switched to National Lottery HQ, a designated studio for the live draws.

text: Wednesday draws used to have their own 10-minute slot on BBC One. These would take place in the same set as the game show in the BBC studio, and presented by the same host presenting the game show. However, in more recent years the lottery was hosted by various presenters in the National Lottery HQ Studio; presenters included Gethin Jones, Christopher Biggins, John Barrowman, OJ Borg, Matt Johnson and Jenni Falconer. It is Alan Dedicoat who provides the voice-over of announcing the balls drawn, sometimes interacting with the presenter; he is known as The Voice Of the Balls with Charles Nove as the substitute in case he is not in the broadcast.

text: As of 7 January 2012 there had been a total of 1678 draws which consist of 784 Wednesday draws and 894 Saturday draws. In a plan to spread BBC productions across the United Kingdom, all lottery shows were be relocated to BBC Scotland. UKTV Gold additionally hosted the Euromillions: Boom Bang show, which was broadcast every Friday.

text: From January 2013, the Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday draws are no longer broadcast, and are available to be watched exclusively on the National Lottery's website. There is still a results update on BBC One at 10:35 pm. On 24 November 2016, it was announced that the televised draws would be axed and moved to BBC iPlayer in January 2017.[35] Its last broadcast was on New Year's Eve 2016-17.

text: National Lottery Xtra[edit]

text: Between 10 March 2008 and 1 February 2010, the "National Lottery Xtra" channel was broadcast on Freeview channel 45 for one hour a day. Programming included content from winners of the jackpot and National Lottery Good Causes projects, as well as behind-the-scenes footage on how the National Lottery was operated.

text: Good causes[edit]

text: It was announced during the live Saturday night draw show on 30 March 2007 that The National Lottery has so far raised £20 billion (US$39.2 billion) for 'good causes', a programme which distributes money via grants. 28% of lottery revenue goes towards the fund, along with all unclaimed prizes. Additionally, 12% goes to the state. The prize fund is 50% of revenue, with the remaining 10% going towards running costs and profits for the lottery organisers and ticket sellers.

text: The distribution of money to 'good causes' is not the responsibility of the operator (Camelot). It is the responsibility of the twelve distributors that make up The National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF), administered by the government Department for Culture, Media and Sport. At present, 40% is awarded to health, education, environment and charitable causes, 20% to Sports, 20% to Arts and 20% to Heritage.[36] On 19 November 2014, the National Lottery celebrated 20 years of its Good Causes fund, which as of 2014, has raised £32 billion for charities and projects in the UK. The National Lottery celebrated the 20th anniversary with the, 'Just Imagine' campaign which highlighted how the money has filtered through society to improve UK communities. Notable facts included that Good Causes had funded over 1300 elite athletes including Sir Chris Hoy, invested £43.5 million into the National Cycle Network and funded 12,700 after school clubs.[37]

text: The Heritage Lottery Fund was set up by the government in 1994 to provide money for "projects involving the local, regional and national heritage". The funds come from the money raised by the National Lottery's 'Good Causes'.[38] Since 1994, the Heritage Lottery Fund has given grants totalling approximately £4 billion to more than 26,000 projects.[38]

text: In 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the National Lottery, the National Lottery Awards were instituted as an annual event to provide recognition of the work of Lottery funded projects around the UK. Certain projects are selected as the best in particular categories. The trophies were designed and produced by Gaudio Awards.

text: Percentage return[edit]

text: The National Lottery is a jackpot system with the majority of winnings going to those few players who pick all six numbers. The average percentage return is the share of the ticket sales devoted to prize funds, about 45% (i.e., 45% of the money spent on tickets would be won in prizes). The spread of returns will be very wide and influenced by several factors that change week-by-week (e.g. the number of tickets sold, the "distinctiveness" and popularity of the winning numbers). Over an extremely long period (tens of millions of draws) the return on investment would approach the average, about 45% (a 55% loss). Over a shorter period there is a very small chance of a big win, but otherwise an average return of less than 45%; a numerical experiment using 10,000 random sets of numbers each week for 3 years found that, had the tickets been bought, the rate of return would have been less than 30%.

text: In their book "Scenarios for Risk Management and Global Investment Strategies",[39] academics Rachel E S Ziemba and William T Ziemba say with regard to 6/49 lotteries, "Random numbers have an expected loss of about 55%. However, six-tuples of unpopular numbers have an edge with expected returns exceeding their cost by about 65%. The expected value rises and approaches $2.25 per dollar wagered when there are carryovers [UK term: rollovers]. Random numbers, such as those from lucky dip and quick pick, and popular numbers are worth more with carryovers but never have an advantage." They conclude that, due to the time that would be required to achieve success, "except for millionaires and pooled syndicates, it is not possible to use the unpopular numbers in a scientific way to beat the lotto and have high confidence of becoming rich; these aspiring millionaires will also most likely be residing in a cemetery when their distant heirs reach the goal".

text: Unclaimed prizes[edit]

text: Winning tickets must be claimed within 180 days of the draw taking place. If a prize is unclaimed within that time, it is distributed through the National Lottery Distribution Fund. For all major prizes (£50,000 and over) approximately two weeks after the draw, if no claim has been received, the area in which the ticket was purchased is released.

text: The highest unclaimed prize distributed this way to date was a winning ticket worth £63,837,543.60 which was bought in the Stevenage and Hitchin area for the Euromillions draw of 8 June 2012.[40] This was a world record unclaimed prize. All investment income from unclaimed prizes also goes to good causes via the National Lottery Distribution Fund.[41]

text: Regulation[edit]

text: The National Lottery is regulated by the Gambling Commission.[42] Previous regulators were the Office of the National Lottery (known by the acronym OFLOT) until 1 April 1999, and the National Lottery Commission – a non-departmental public body reporting to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport – until 1 October 2013.

text: The Lottery was set up in 1993 under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993[43] and was reformed under the National Lottery Act 1998[44] and the National Lottery Act 2006.[45]

text: The National Lottery is a member of the World Lottery Association.[46]

text: Machine appearances[edit]

text: The National Lottery have a number of different machines and ball sets which are selected by either a celebrity or a member of the general public. This is used to randomise the process and create an independent selection of machinery to reduce the chance of human override. Below is a table of how many times each machine has appeared in the main National Lottery, or Lotto game.

text: As of Saturday 3 May 2014[47]

text:
Machine
Appearances

Guinevere 1
331

Arthur 1/3/4
340

Lancelot 2/3
297

Merlin 2/4
214

Galahad
52

Vyvyan
48

Amethyst
172

Moonstone
66

Opal
56

Topaz
157

Pearl
32

Garnet
16

Sapphire
135

text: 1Note, on the draw on Saturday 17 September 2011, they announced that Arthur with set of balls 3 was chosen, but they were using Guinevere due to technical difficulties. Arthur wasn't used again until the draw on Saturday 8 October 2011.

text: 2Also note, on the draw on Saturday 14 April 2012, they announced that Merlin with set of balls 5 was chosen, but they were using Lancelot due to technical difficulties. Merlin wasn't used again until the draw on Saturday 8 December 2012.

text: 3Also note, on the draw on Saturday 12 May 2012, they announced that Arthur with set of balls 5 was chosen, but they were using Lancelot due to technical difficulties. Arthur wasn't used again until the draw on Saturday 5 January 2013.

text: 4Also note, on the draw on Saturday 31 August 2013, they announced that Arthur with set of balls 3 was chosen, but they were using Merlin due to technical difficulties. Arthur wasn't used again until the draw on Wednesday 18 September 2013.

text: Game shows[edit]


question_text: who has scored the most goals for country

root

text: List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals[edit]

text: As of 6 July 2018. Players in bold are still active at international level.

tag: p

text:
Indicates the FIFA world top scorer.

Indicates the top scorer of the respective confederation.

Indicates the top scorer of the respective nation.

text:
#

Name

Nation

Confederation

International  goals

Caps

Goals  per match

Career span

Notes

1

Ali Daei

 Iran

AFC

109
149
0.73
1993–2006
[1]

2

Cristiano Ronaldo

 Portugal

UEFA

85
154
0.56
2003–

3

Ferenc Puskás

 Hungary
 Spain

UEFA

84
89
0.94
1945–1962

4

Kunishige Kamamoto

 Japan

AFC

80
84
0.95
1964–1977

5

Godfrey Chitalu

 Zambia

CAF

79
108
0.71
1968–1980
[2]

6

Hussein Saeed

 Iraq

AFC

78
137
0.57
1977–1990

7

Pelé

 Brazil

CONMEBOL

77
91
0.85
1957–1971
[3]

8

Sándor Kocsis

 Hungary

UEFA

75
68
1.10
1948–1956

Bashar Abdullah

 Kuwait

AFC

75
134
0.56
1996–2018

10

Kinnah Phiri

 Malawi

CAF

71
115
0.62
1973–1981

Majed Abdullah

 Saudi Arabia

AFC

71
116
0.61
1977–1994

Kiatisuk Senamuang

 Thailand

AFC

71
134
0.53
1993–2007

Miroslav Klose

 Germany

UEFA

71
137
0.52
2001–2014

14

Piyapong Pue-on

 Thailand

AFC

70
100
0.70
1981–1997

Stern John

 Trinidad and Tobago

CONCACAF

70
115
0.61
1995–2012

Hossam Hassan

 Egypt

CAF

70
169
0.41
1985–2006
[4][5]

17

Gerd Müller

 West Germany

UEFA

68
62
1.10
1966–1974

Carlos Ruiz

 Guatemala

CONCACAF

68
132
0.52
1998–2016

Robbie Keane

 Republic of Ireland

UEFA

68
146
0.46
1998–2016[6]
[1][7][8]

20

Didier Drogba

 Ivory Coast

CAF

65
104
0.61
2002–2014
[9]

Lionel Messi

 Argentina

CONMEBOL

65
128
0.51
2005–
[10]

22

Sunil Chhetri

 India

AFC

64
101
0.63
2005–

23

Ronaldo

 Brazil

CONMEBOL

62
98
0.63
1994–2011

Zlatan Ibrahimović

 Sweden

UEFA

62
116
0.53
2001–2016

Ahmed Radhi

 Iraq

AFC

62
121
0.51
1982–1997

26

Imre Schlosser

 Hungary

UEFA

59
68
0.87
1906–1927

David Villa

 Spain

UEFA
59
98
0.60
2005–

28

Cha Bum-kun

 South Korea

AFC

58
135
0.42
1972–1986

29

Neymar

 Brazil

CONMEBOL

57
90
0.63
2010–

Carlos Pavón

 Honduras

CONCACAF

57
101
0.56
1993–2010

Clint Dempsey

 United States

CONCACAF

57
141
0.40
2004–2018

Landon Donovan

 United States

CONCACAF

57
157
0.36
2000–2014

Younis Mahmoud

 Iraq

AFC

57
148
0.39
2002–2016

34

Romário

 Brazil

CONMEBOL

55
70
0.79
1987–2005

Kazuyoshi Miura

 Japan

AFC

55
89
0.62
1990–2000

Jan Koller

 Czech Republic

UEFA

55
91
0.60
1999–2009

Robert Lewandowski

 Poland

UEFA

55
98
0.56
2008–

Fandi Ahmad

 Singapore

AFC

55
101
0.55
1979–1997

Bader Al-Mutawa

 Kuwait

AFC

55
162
0.32
2003–

40

Gabriel Batistuta

 Argentina

CONMEBOL

54
77
0.70
1991–2002

Samuel Eto'o

 Cameroon

CAF

54
118
0.46
1997–2014
[11]

42

Joachim Streich

 East Germany

UEFA

53
98
0.54
1969–1984
[12]

Luis Suárez

 Uruguay

CONMEBOL

53
103
0.51
2007–

Wayne Rooney

 England

UEFA

53
119
0.44
2003–2016

45

Poul Nielsen

 Denmark

UEFA

52
38
1.37
1910–1925

Ali Ashfaq

 Maldives

AFC

52
78
0.66
2003–

Edin Džeko

 Bosnia and Herzegovina

UEFA

52
89
0.59
2007–

Jon Dahl Tomasson

 Denmark

UEFA

52
112
0.46
1997–2010

Adnan Al Talyani

 United Arab Emirates

AFC

52
161
0.32
1983–1997

50

Lajos Tichy

 Hungary

UEFA

51
72
0.71
1955–1971

Lê Công Vinh

 Vietnam

AFC

51
83
0.61
2004–2016

Asamoah Gyan

 Ghana

CAF

51
106
0.48
2003–

Hakan Şükür

 Turkey

UEFA

51
112
0.46
1992–2007

Thierry Henry

 France

UEFA

51
123
0.41
1997–2010

55

Karim Bagheri

 Iran

AFC

50
87
0.58
1993–2010

Phil Younghusband

 Philippines

AFC

50
97
0.52
2006–

Robin van Persie

 Netherlands

UEFA

50
102
0.49
2005–

Hwang Sun-hong

 South Korea

AFC

50
103
0.49
1988–2002

Javier Hernández

 Mexico

CONCACAF

50
106
0.48
2009–

Tim Cahill

 Australia

OFC/AFC

50
107
0.47
2004–

Shinji Okazaki

 Japan

AFC

50
116
0.43
2008–

text: Number of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals by country[edit]

text:
Footballers

Country

Confederation

4
 Brazil
CONMEBOL

 Hungary
UEFA

3
 Iraq
AFC

 Japan
AFC

2
 Argentina
CONMEBOL

 Denmark
UEFA

 Germany(including  West Germany)
UEFA

 Iran
AFC

 Kuwait
AFC

 South Korea
AFC

 Thailand
AFC

 United States
CONCACAF

1
 Australia
OFC through 2005AFC 2006–present

 Bosnia and Herzegovina
UEFA

 Cameroon
CAF

 Czech Republic
UEFA

 Egypt
CAF

 England
UEFA

 France
UEFA

 East Germany
UEFA

 Ghana
CAF

 Guatemala
CONCACAF

 Honduras
CONCACAF

 India
AFC

 Ivory Coast
CAF

 Malawi
CAF

 Maldives
AFC

 Mexico
CONCACAF

 Netherlands
UEFA

 Philippines
AFC

 Poland
UEFA

 Portugal
UEFA

 Republic of Ireland
UEFA

 Saudi Arabia
AFC

 Singapore
AFC

 Spain
UEFA

 Sweden
UEFA

 Trinidad and Tobago
CONCACAF

 Turkey
UEFA

 United Arab Emirates
AFC

 Uruguay
CONMEBOL

 Vietnam
AFC

 Zambia
CAF

text: Number of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals by Confederation[edit]

text:
Footballers

Confederation

22
AFC

20
UEFA

7
CONMEBOL

6
CAF

6
CONCACAF

0
OFC

61
Total


document_title: Britain's Got Talent

question_text: who is in britians got talent final 2017

text: Britain's Got Talent

text: History[edit]

text: The show's format was devised by X Factor creator and Sony Music executive, Simon Cowell, who was involved in the creation of other Got Talent programmes across several different countries. To showcase his idea, a pilot episode was filmed in September 2005, with the judging panel consisting of Cowel, then-This Morning presenter Fern Britton, and tabloid journalist Piers Morgan;[4] the pilot was not broadcast on television until it was shown as part of a documentary series entitled The Talent Show Story in January 2012.[4]

text: The original plan for the show was for it be aired within 2005-06, before the broadcast of America's Got Talent, with Paul O'Grady presenting the programme under the title Paul O'Grady's Got Talent, after having hosted the pilot, with his selection as host due to the popularity he was attaining from his teatime chat show, The Paul O'Grady Show.[5] However, complication arose when O'Grady was involved in a row with ITV and refused to appear on another show of the broadcaster, eventually defecting to Channel 4 to continue hosting his teatime show, effectively putting plans for the programme on hold.[6] In a 2010 interview, O'Grady commented about the row by stating:[7]

text: "I did the pilot for Britain's Got Talent – which was originally going to be called Paul O'Grady's Got Talent. But I told the producers they were having a joke if they thought I would front a show with that title. The original panel of judges was going to be Simon Cowell, Fern Britton and Piers Morgan. I was the host. Then when I had the row with ITV I was banned from the studios. I remember I rang Simon and told him he had a huge hit on his hands, but there was no way I could do it. I said, if I am banned I have to be banned from everything. I can’t be a hypocrite and come in and do this. I had to bow out."

text: On 12 February 2007, following the success of America's Got Talent the previous year, ITV announced their intentions for a British series of Got Talent. Their announcement revealed changes to the original plan for the programme, with Ant & Dec revealed to be the hosts for the new programme. While Cowell remained as part of the judging panel, the new plan intended for David Hasselhoff and Cheryl Cole. However, both resigned before the programme was due to air, leading to Morgan being part of the panel as originally planned, and actress Amanda Holden joining him and Cowel as a judge; Hasselhoff would later join the panel for the programme's fifth series after being a part of the panel for America's Got Talent, while Cowell later employed Cole to be a replacement for Sharon Osbourne on The X Factor. At the same time, the broadcaster also announced that the show would be accompanied by a sister show on ITV2, entitled Britain's Got More Talent, with Stephen Mulhern as its presenter.

text: Format[edit]

text: Auditions[edit]

text: The show holds two auditions for contestants. The first is an open audition held across several different cities across the UK during the Autumn months while the second, referred to as the "Judge's Auditions", is held the following year during January and February, prior to the broadcast of the show during Spring - early Summer, and consists of the contestants who made it through the open auditions, held within a select set of cities - these have commonly included Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London. For the Judge's Auditions, each site used for these is located within a theater or convention hall, which are chosen for having facilities designed for handling large volumes of contestants, which are set up into three arrangements when auditions are taking place - a waiting area for contestants to prepare and await their turn to perform, with monitors to allow them to see the performances of other contestants; the wings, where a contestant enters and leaves from, and where friends and family of the contestant can view them from; and the main stage, where the contestant performs their act before the judging panel, who are situated in front of the stage. The main stage area is usually modified to include the judge's panel desk, and a special lighting rig above the stage, consisting of Xs that each have a name of the judge under them.

text: Each contestant(s) that auditions, is given a number by the production team, and remain in the waiting area until called out into the wings, giving them a certain amount of time to prepare their act. Upon being allowed onto the main stage, they will usually be asked by one of the judges for their name and what they plan to perform, along with other details such as age, occupation, personal background, and what they wish to achieve if they won. After this, they are then given three minutes to conduct their performance before both the judges and a live audience, with some acts being supported by a backing track provided by the production team. If at any time, the judges find the performance to be unconvincing, boring or completely wrong, they may use a buzzer before them, which changes the Xs from white to red; if all the judges press their buzzers, then the performance is immediately over.

text: Once a performance is over, each judge will give a overview of what they thought about the act, before casting a vote - if "Yes", the judge approved of the act; if "No", they disliked the act. If the contestant(s) receives a majority vote of "Yes", they then proceed onto the next stage in the contest, otherwise they are eliminated from that series' contest. In Series 8, a new feature was added to the auditions, which had been previously used on Germany's Got Talent, called the "Golden Buzzer".[8] Situated in the centre of the judge's desk, the Golden Buzzer allows a judge to effectively send a contestant(s) into the live semi-finals, regardless of the opinions of the other judges, if they felt that a contestant's performance was outstanding; when pressed, the judge's X turns gold and the stage is showered in gold glitter strips. However, as a general rule, they may only press it once and cannot press it again in later auditions. While the hosts of Britain's Got Talent may also press the golden buzzer for a contestant(s), they may only press it once themselves in the same manner.[9][10]

text: Filming for the show begins during the Judge's Auditions, with footage that is recorded in these being edited into a series of episodes that are aired on a weekly schedule before the live semi-finals, and featuring the best highlights of the auditions, including those from the best performances the judges saw, to the worst that appeared, whether funny, poorly conceived or generally bad, and in some cases totally inappropriate. These episodes also include interviews with the contestants in a separate area, as well as additional interviews conducted within the wings before and after a performance, that are conducted by the hosts, who also give personal comments about a performance while watching from the wings.

text: Judges' Decisions[edit]

text: This stage takes place after the auditions have been completed, and is also referred to as Deliberation Day, in which the judges look through the acts that have successfully made it to this stage, and begin whittling them down to those who would stand a fair chance in the live semi-finals. The amount that goes through has varied over the show's history, though usually consists of a number that can be divided equally over the semi-finals being held in a series. Once the judges have decided on who will go through, all contestants that have reached this stage are called back to discover if they had progress into the live semi-finals or not. After this has been done, the acts are divided up between the semi-finals that the series will have; usually eight in each series, except for the sixth to tenth series which had nine acts per semi-final.

text: For the fifth series, some acts were asked to perform again, as the judges had had difficulty coming to a final decision on the semi-finalist, and thus needed to see their performance again in order to make up their minds; it is only time in the show's history that this has happened, and has not been repeated since.[11]

text: Semi-finals & Final[edit]

text: Contestants that make it into the semi-finals after both stages (or, from series 8, received the Golden Buzzer), perform once more before an audience and the judges, with their performance broadcast on live television; until the tenth series, live episodes were broadcast The Fountain Studios in Wembley, the same site used for The X Factor, but following the closure of the studios,[12] the show relocated its live episodes to Elstree Studios. Like the Audition stage of the contest, they must attempt to impress by primarily conducting a new routine of their act within the same span of time; the judges can still use a buzzer in the semi-finals if they are displeased with a performance, and can end it early if all the buzzers are used, and can still give a personal opinion about an act when the performance is over, but neither of these impact how the semi-finalists fare at this stage of the contest, only the last part of this stage. As only two semi-finalists from each semi-final may proceed on to the Final, which two is determined by two different types of votes given towards the end - a public phone vote, and a judges' vote.

text: The phone vote determines the first semi-finalist that wins this stages, and occurs after all the acts in a semi-final have performed, whereupon a special phone line is opened for a short time, which the public can use to vote on the act that they thought was the best; the phone number used, shown after their performance, is the same for all semi-finalists, with the exception of the final two digits, which differs between each semi-finalist in terms of the order of their appearance. Once the lines have closed and the votes have been counted, the act with the highest number of public votes is automatically placed in the final. The judges' vote, held after the result of the phone vote, determine the second act that wins this stage, and is conducted between the second and third most popular acts the public voted on; the other semi-finalist at this point, are eliminated from the contest. The act which receives a majority vote from the judges, moves on to the final; in the event of a tied vote, upon the show increasing the number of judges to 4 from fifth series onwards, the second most popular act moves on to the final. From the sixth series onwards, the show incorporated a new feature in which any eliminated act from the semi-finals could still have a chance of being sent through to the finals, by being picked by the judges to as their "Wildcard" act, later expanding this by allowing the public to vote on a second act to go through into the finals, out of the top three eliminated acts.

text: For the final of each series, the format of the contest operated in the exact same manner as the semi-finals, including being broadcast live on television, though this time the winner is determined purely by a phone vote, with the finalists attempting to secure more votes than the others by performing a new routine at their best. Upon the result being given, the top two acts are brought onto the stage, with the hosts announcing which of them received the most votes. In addition to the performances by the finalists, the show also features an appearance by a guest performer, who appears between the final act and the announcement of the results. The winner of each year's contest receives a cash prize, and earns the opportunity to perform in the Royal Variety Performance later that year.

text: For the show's scheduling, the live episodes are usually arranged to take place over the course of a week, with the semi-finals aired mainly on weekdays, and the final aired on the weekend; in some series, the schedule featured a break between the live episodes of the semi-finals, due to coverage of live events. All live episodes are divided into two parts when they are aired - the first half focuses on performances, each introduced by a short clip of the semi-finalist/finalist, and ended with comments by the judges; the second half occurs after voting is closed, usually after another programme has aired between the two part, and focuses on the results of the phone vote, with a guest performance taking place prior to the announcement of the results. This format was initially used for the live finals only, until the start of the fourth series.

text: Judges[edit]

text: For the first four series after the show began in June 2007, the judging panel consisted of music executive and television producer Simon Cowell, television and West End star Amanda Holden, and newspaper editor and journalist Piers Morgan. When the third series was starting in 2009, it was announced that Kelly Brook would be joining as a fourth judge in the panel,[13] but this later dropped less than a week later by the producers, who believed at the time that the format would be "too complicated" with four judges, thus leaving the panel consisting of just three judges; Brook was later credited as a guest judge.[14][15][16] In 2010, Cowell fell ill during filming of the fourth series and was unable to attend the Birmingham auditions, leading to fellow The X Factor judge Louis Walsh stepping in as guest judge in his place, until he had recovered.[17]

text: In 2011, Morgan revealed he was leaving the show to travel to America and begin filming of his new show, with Cowell announcing that, although he would attend the live episodes of the fifth series, he wouldn't be present for the auditions, due to his busy schedule with launching The X Factor USA.[18] The show's producers decided therefore to have Holden act as the head judge in the auditions until Cowell returned, while also having comedian Michael McIntyre, and actor, singer and former America's Got Talent judge David Hasselhoff, join the fifth series and oversee the auditions,[19][20] although Walsh had to be brought in again as a guest judge for the London auditions, due to Hasselhoff's commitments with a pantomime; both judges remained on the panel for the live shows, with Cowell becoming a fourth judge upon his return. After their appearance, it was announced later that year in October, that neither Hasselhoff nor McIntyre would be returning as a judge for the sixth series, after Cowell returned full-time.[21]

text: On 2 January 2012, the producers revealed its decision to adopt the use of a fourth judge for the programe, after it announced that both Cowell and Holden would now be joined by David Walliams and Alesha Dixon in the sixth series, with the latter moving to the talent show after deciding to leave BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.[22] During filming in February, Holden was unable to attend the London auditions, due to having given birth to her daughter and suffering some after effects from her pregnancy, leading to actress and model Carmen Electra stepping in as a guest judge until she recovered. In subsequent series, the line-up remained as Cowell, Holden, Walliams and Dixon, with no further incidents except for the eighth series in 2014 - Cowell missed the first day of the Manchester auditions, leading to Ant & Dec filling in for him, and was also absent for the final day of the London auditions - and the tenth series in 2016 - Cowell was late for an audition, and was temporarily replaced by Walliam's mother Kathleen, who was attending it.

text:
Series
Main Judge
Guest Judge

1
2
3
4

1
Simon
Amanda
Piers
N/A
N/A

2

3
Kelly1

4
Louis2

5
Michael
David H.

6
Alesha
David W.
Carmen3

7
N/A

8
Ant & Dec4

9
N/A

10
Kathleen5

11
N/A

text:
^ Brook was credited as a guest judge for the Manchester auditions, after the producers dropped plans for her to be a permanent judge in this series.
^ Walsh served as a guest judge in place of Cowell during the fourth series, and Hasselhoff during the fifth series.
^ Electra served as a guest judge in place of Holden, during the sixth series.
^ Ant & Dec served as guest judges in the eighth series, substituting for Cowell on the first day of the Manchester auditions.
^ David Walliams' mother, Kathleen Williams, served as a guest judge in place of Cowell, while attending a session in the tenth series.

tag: ol

text: Series overview[edit]

text:
Series
Start
Finish
Winner's prize 1
Winner
Runner-up
Third place

1
9 June 2007
17 June 2007
£100,000
Paul Potts
Not announced

2
12 April 2008
31 May 2008
George Sampson
Signature
Andrew Johnston

3
11 April 2009
30 May 2009
Diversity
Susan Boyle
Julian Smith

4
17 April 2010
5 June 2010
Spelbound
Twist and Pulse
Kieran Gaffney

5
16 April 2011
4 June 2011
Jai McDowall
Ronan Parke
New Bounce

6
24 March 2012
12 May 2012
£500,000
Ashleigh and Pudsey
Jonathan and Charlotte
Only Boys Aloud

7
13 April 2013
8 June 2013
£250,000
Attraction
Jack Carroll
Richard & Adam

8
12 April 2014
7 June 2014
Collabro
Lucy Kay
Bars & Melody

9
11 April 2015
31 May 2015
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse
Jamie Raven
Côr Glanaethwy

10
9 April 2016
28 May 2016
Richard Jones
Wayne Woodward
Boogie Storm

11
15 April 2017
3 June 2017
Tokio Myers
Issy Simpson
Daliso Chaponda

text: ^ In addition to the cash prize, winners also earn the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in the year they win.

text: Series 1 (2007)[edit]

text: The first series was aired during 2007, between 9-17 June. Auditions for this series took place within the cities of Manchester, Birmingham, London and Cardiff, between January and February earlier that year. The series had 3 live semi-finals, featuring a total of 24 semi-finalists, all of whom were vying for a chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance, as well as claiming a £100,000 cash prize. The series was won by opera singer Paul Potts; the results of the other finalists were not announced.

text: Series 2 (2008)[edit]

text: The second series was aired during 2008, between 12 April to 31 May, and featured notable differences. Not only did the series run for much longer, auditions took place in Blackpool and Glasgow, the latter following complaints that Scotland hadn't been visited during the previous series, along with Manchester, Birmingham, London and Cardiff. In addition, the show had five live semi-finals, featuring a total of 40 semi-finalists. The series was won by street-dancer George Sampson, with dual dance group Signature coming in second, and singer Andrew Johnston placing third.

text: Series 3 (2009)[edit]

text: The third series was aired during 2009, between 11 April to 30 May, with auditions held in the same five cities as before. Initially, the producers intended to change the format by including a fourth judge on the panel, but this was later dropped a few days after auditions began. The series was won by dance troupe Diversity, with singer Susan Boyle coming in second, and saxophonist Julian Smith placing third.

text: Series 4 (2010)[edit]

text: The fourth series was aired during 2010, between 17 April to 5 June; a single episode of this series, intended for airing on 22 May, was pushed back to 23 May, in order to avoid it clashing with live coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final that year. The auditions were once more held across the same five cities as before, though the series also held auditions with Newcastle upon Tyne; the city had been originally planned to hold auditions for the previous series, but these were cancelled before this could happen. Owing to illness, Cowell was unable to attend the Birmingham auditions, which led to Louis Walsh being in brought in as a guest judge for these.[23] The series was won by gymnastic troupe Spelbound, with dancing duo Twist and Pulse coming in second, and drummer Kieran Gaffney placing third.

text: Series 5 (2011)[edit]

text: The fifth series was aired during 2011, between 16 April to 4 June, and was the first to be broadcast completely in high-definition; like before, a single episode intended for airing on 28 May, was pushed back to 29 May, to avoid it clashing with live coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final that year. Auditions took place across the same five cities, though also included Liverpool. This series saw a change in the judging panel, following Piers Morgan's departure from the show,[24] with Holden joined by David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre during the auditions; Cowell appeared during this series in the live episodes,[25][26] with Louis Walsh returning as a guest judge for the London auditions when Hasselhoof couldn't attend due to other commitments at the time;[27] Cowell was present in the panel for the live shows only. The series was won by singer Jai McDowall, with singer Ronan Parke coming in second, and boyband New Bounce placing third.

text: Series 6 (2012)[edit]

text: The sixth series was aired during 2012, between 24 March and 12 May. For this series, the cash prize was increased from £100,000 to £500,000, and a new feature was introduced called the "Wildcard", in which the judges could select one of the acts eliminated in the semi-finals, to return and compete in the finals. The show also increased the number of semi-finalist for the semi-finals to 45, with nine acts per semi-final, and the number of judges for the entire contest to 4; the previous series also featured four judges, albeit for the live episodes only. In addition, the show attempted to bring in a new way of voting for the semi-finals via a mobile app, but this was suspended for the series after it suffered technical problems during the first live semi-final. This series featured an open audition in London, along with inviting other acts to audition via YouTube, before holding Judge's Auditions within Birmingham, London, Manchester and Cardiff, Blackpool and Edinburgh. As both McIntyre and Hasselhoff announced in late 2011 they wouldn't be returning,[21] the show announced on 2 January 2012 that they would be replaced by David Walliams and Alesha Dixon,[28] and join both Holden and Cowell for the new series, the latter having announced he would be returning as a full-time judge on the show.[29][30] Holden was unable to attend some of the auditions due to ill health following her pregancy, leading to Carmen Electra stepping in as a guest judge for these. The series was won by trainer and dog duo Ashleigh and Pudsey, with opera duo Jonathan and Charlotte coming in second, and Welsh boys choir Only Boys Aloud placing third.

text: Series 7 (2013)[edit]

text: The seventh series was aired during 2013, between 13 April to 8 June; the show took a break on the 29 May, due to live football coverage of England's friendly with the Republic of Ireland. While the show retained the new features introduced in the previous series, the cash prize was reduced to £250,000, with the series featuring auditions within five cities - Birmingham, London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester. The series was won by shadow theatre troupe Attraction, with comedian Jack Carroll coming in second, and opera duo Richard & Adam placing third.

text: Series 8 (2014)[edit]

text: The eighth series aired during 2014, between 12 April to 7 June. This series was the first to introduce the "Golden Buzzer", and for the first time since the second series, auditions were not held in Scotland, instead being held in Northern Ireland within Belfast, along with Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Manchester; Edinburgh joined these cities to hold open auditions in late 2013, along with Blackpool and Brighton, with additional open auditions held in various local branches of Morrisons within "Talent Spot" tents, owing to the show's sponsorship deal with the supermarket chain at the time. The series was won by boy band Collabro, with opera singer Lucy Kay coming in second, and rapper duo Bars & Melody placing third.

text: Series 9 (2015)[edit]

text: The ninth series was aired during 2015, between 11 April to 31 May. This series saw the "Wildcard" feature updated; along with the judges being able to put forth an eliminated act from the semi-finals into the final (referred to as the Judges' Wildcard), the show now also allowed the public to vote between the three most popular eliminated acts, with the one with the highest number of votes going forward into the final - this act is referred to as the Public Wildcard. Audition took place within Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, and London, with the latter three cities holding open auditions in late 2014 along with Newcastle, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Leeds, Dublin, Norwich, and Bristol. The winner of the series was trainer and dog duo Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse, with magician Jamie Raven coming second, and Welsh choir Côr Glanaethwy placing third.

text: Series 10 (2016)[edit]

text: The tenth series was aired during 2016, between 9 April to 28 May. Auditions were held within Liverpool, Birmingham and London, with all three holding open auditions in late 2015 along with Cardiff, Glasgow, and Manchester. It was the last series to hold live episodes within The Fountain Studios, before its closure at the end of the year. The series was won by magician Richard Jones, with singer Wayne Woodward coming in second, and dance group Boogie Storm placing third.

text: Series 11 (2017)[edit]

text: The eleventh series was aired during 2017, between 15 April to 3 June; the final was originally planned for 4 June, but this was moved forward to avoid it clashing with the One Love Manchester benefit concert that day.[31] The series saw two major changes: the first saw the total number of semi-finalist reduced to 40 with eight per each semi-final, as it had been prior to the sixth series; the second saw the Judges' vote being dropped, with the two semi-finalists with the highest number of public votes moving on into the final. In addition, the live episodes were now broadcast from Elstree Studios, owing to the closure of the previous site. Auditions were held within Salford, Birmingham, London, and Blackpool, with the latter two cities holding open auditions in late 2016, along with Peterborough, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Kingston upon Hull, Lincoln, Reading, Manchester and Luton. The series was won by pianist Tokio Myers, with magician Issy Simpson coming in second, and stand-up comedian Daliso Chaponda placing third.

text: Future series[edit]

text: At present, Britain's Got Talent has been renewed for two more series until at least 2019.[32]

text: Britain's Got More Talent[edit]

text: Britain's Got More Talent is a companion sister show that is broadcast on ITV2, and is aired after each episode of Britain's Got Talent since the main show began in June 2007. Hosted by Stephen Mulhern (with occasional appearances by Ant & Dec), the programme operates in a similar manner to The Xtra Factor (the companion show of The X Factor), in that it features interviews with contestants and behind-the-scenes footage, though what is shown depends on what the main show is focused on during its broadcast. When the auditions stage is being broadcast, its sister show focus on highlights of acts that couldn't be shown on the main show, with Mulhern operating in a similar manner to Ant & Dec by viewing the performances in the wings and giving comments, as well as interviewing contestants before and after their performance. When the main show begins broadcasting live episodes, its sister show conducts live "after-show" episodes, featuring interviews with the semi-finalists/finalists, as well as chatting with the judges.

text: In addition to this format, each year also sees Britain's Got More Talent broadcasting a special set of compilation episodes featuring the best and worst auditions from that year's contest, entitled Britain's Got Talent: Best and Worst, which are presented by Mulhern who introduces each clip shown.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Britain's Got Talent has been nominated for a number of National Television Awards in the category of 'Most Popular Talent Show' since 2007. But has lost out to its sister shows The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing. Ant and Dec have won the award for 'Most Popular Entertainment Presenters' at the same awards for twelve consecutive years (as of January 2014). Britain's Got Talent has also been nominated for two British Academy Television Awards in 2008, but failed to win any awards. In 2007 and 2008, the show was nominated at the TV Quick and Choice Awards in the 'Best Talent Show' category, losing out to The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing respectively.

text: In 2008, it was a recipient of a Royal Television Society Programme Award for its technical achievements. It has also won four Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards from five nominations. In 2009, it won its first ever Digital Spy Reality Award for George Sampson for 'Favourite Reality Contestant'. The show was further nominated in the 'Reality Show' category, but lost out to The X Factor in the 'Reality TV Presenter' category for Ant & Dec and two nominations in the 'Reality TV Judge' category for Cowell and Morgan.

text:
Year
Group
Award
Nominee
Result

2007
National Television Awards
Most Popular Talent Show
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated

Most Popular Entertainment Presenter
Ant & Dec
Won

Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards
Best Reality Show
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated

Best TV Presenters
Ant & Dec
Won

TV Quick and Choice Awards
Best Talent Show
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated

2008
National Television Awards
Most Popular Talent Show
Nominated

Most Popular Entertainment Presenter
Ant & Dec
Won

Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards
Favourite Winner
George Sampson
Won

British Academy Television Awards
Lew Grade Award
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated

Audience Award
Nominated

Royal Television Society Programme Awards
Best Production Design-Entertainment
Dominic Tolfts
Won

Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards
Best TV Presenters
Ant & Dec
Won

Best Family TV Show
Britain's Got Talent
Won

Best TV Baddie
Simon Cowell
Won

2009
TV Quick and Choice Awards
Best Talent Show
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated

Digital Spy Reality TV Awards
Favourite TV Reality
Nominated

Favourite TV Reality Judge
Simon Cowell
Nominated

Piers Morgan
Nominated

Favourite TV Reality Presenters
Ant & Dec
Nominated

Favourite Reality Contestant
George Sampson
Won

2010
National Television Awards
Most Popular Talent Show
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated

British Academy Television Awards
Best Entertainment Programme
Won

2011
National Television Awards
Most Popular Talent Show
Nominated

TV Choice Awards
Best Talent Show
Won

2012
National Television Awards
Most Popular Talent Show
Nominated

2013
Broadcast Awards
Best Entertainment Programme
Nominated

National Television Awards
Most Popular Talent Show
Nominated

2014
Nominated

2015
Nominated

TV Judge
Simon Cowell
Nominated

David Walliams
Won

2016
Most Popular Talent Show
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated

2016 British Academy Television Awards
Best Entertainment Programme
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated[33]

2017
22nd National Television Awards
Talent Show
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated[34]

TV Judge
Simon Cowell
Nominated[34]

David Walliams
Nominated[34]

2017 British Academy Television Awards
Best Entertainment Programme
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated[35]

Diversity in Media Awards
TV Programme of the Year
Britain's Got Talent
Nominated

text: Controversies and criticism[edit]

text: In series 1, the show was criticised for not visiting Scotland. Extra audition dates were added in series 2, and the judges visited Scotland.[citation needed]

text: The show was criticised by psychologist Glenn Wilson, who referred to it as a "freak show". He stated that "[contestants'] deficiencies and shortcomings are as important as their talent. We enjoy the stress we are putting these people under – will they or will they not survive?"[36]

text: The treatment of contestants at the audition stage was heavily criticised by the Daily Mail, which described applicants being kept waiting for over 10 hours with no food or drink provided, with no certainty of being allowed to perform more than a few seconds of their act. It also detailed how staff intentionally built up the hopes of low-quality performers in order to maximise the dramatic effect of the judges' put-downs, and the fine points of the contracts performers must sign, which gives the show infinite freedom to "modify" the footage for their own purposes, and to use the footage indefinitely for whatever purpose they choose.[37]

text: In two separate interviews in 2012, MC Kinky said "Shows like X Factor and Britain's Got Talent reduce the art of making music and practising your craft to the level of a low rent game show with huge financial backing and support. It's a means to make money, not a means to produce ground breaking or interesting artists that demonstrate what they are feeling or are compelled to do. It's corporate"[38] and "it's a churn 'em out fast food form of putrid shit that I have no affiliation with".[39]

text: In 2013, Bruce Forsyth questioned the show's allowing children to audition. He said, "I don't think that's entertainment. I don't think they should put children on that are too young. If you're going to do that, have a separate show. Have a children's show, British Children Have Talent."[40]

text: In 2013 it was revealed that up to 50% of acts on the televised shows had been headhunted by producers. In 2012, electropop band Superpowerless were approached to appear in the semi-finals. They attended the audition after assurances that the act would be portrayed in a positive light. On the day they felt that all interviews, especially those with Stephen Mulhern, were conducted in a manner intending to portray them in a negative light, reducing their act to a novelty/comedy routine intended for ridicule and humiliation. While many newspapers wrote articles on this topic, very few were published as the news outlets were told that running the story would cut that publication out of any advance coverage of the show in the future.[41]

text: Live tour[edit]

text: On 17 April 2008, a thirteen date live tour was announced visiting the UK's major cities during the month of June, featuring the semi-finalists, the finalists and the winner from series two, along with a few surprises. Stephen Mulhern hosted the tour, which began on 6 June. None of the judging panel were present, and there was no live voting. After high demand for tickets, the tour was later extended to twenty two performances, including matinées. The tour featured all ten finalists, as well as semi-finalists Tracey Lee Collins and Anya Sparks. The tour also featured a duet with Faryl Smith and Andrew Johnston.

text: On 13 January 2009, a four date tour was announced with dates in Newcastle, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester. More dates were later added and the tour ran for eighteen shows from 12–26 June 2009 and also travelled to Dublin, Birmingham, Belfast, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nottingham, London, Aberdeen and Bournemouth.

text: The tour in 2009 included: Diversity, Flawless, Aidan Davis, Shaun Smith, Stavros Flatley, Hollie Steel, 2 Grand, Julian Smith, Shaheen Jafargholi, Susan Boyle, Darth Jackson, DJ Talent and the 2008 winner, George Sampson. Stephen Mulhern hosted the tour.

text: The tour returned in 2010, this time hosted by comedian Paddy McGuinness. The show also added a new city to the schedule, Brighton. The tour included all the finalists: Spelbound, Twist & Pulse, Kieran Gaffney, Tobias Mead, Tina & Chandi, Paul Burling, Christopher Stone, Janey Cutler, Liam McNally and Connected. The tour lasted from 19 June to 11 July. With 16 cites and 23 shows, it was the longest Britain's Got Talent Tour to date.

text: The tour in 2011 included all the finalists: Jai McDowall, Ronan Parke, New Bounce, Razy Gogonea, Michael Collings, Paul Gbegbaje, Steven Hall, James Hobley, Les Gibson and Jean Martyn.[42]

text: In 2012, due to very low ticket sales the tour was axed.[43]

text: Best-selling albums[edit]

text: These albums were sold after Britain's Got Talent. The sales numbers are UK sales only.

text: Artists with BPI-certified albums[edit]

text:
Former contestant
Total sales
Debut album
Second album
Third album
Fourth album
Fifth Album
Sixth Album
Seventh Album

Susan Boyle
(Series 3, runner-up)
3,452,059
I Dreamed a Dream
(23 November 2009)
Syco/Columbia
7× platinum
2,100,000[44]
Peak: 1
The Gift
(8 November 2010)
Syco/Columbia
2× platinum
609,602
Peak: 1
Someone to Watch Over Me
(1 November 2011)
Syco/Columbia
Platinum
344,508
Peak: 1
Standing Ovation: The Greatest Songs from the Stage
(13 November 2012)
Syco/Columbia
Gold
175,488
Peak: 5
Home for Christmas
(25 October 2013)
Syco/Columbia
Gold
122,448
Peak: 9
Hope
(21 October 2014)
Syco/Columbia
Silver
85,000
Peak: 13
A Wonderful World
(4 November 2016)
Syco/Columbia
N/A
15,013
Peak: 22

Paul Potts
(Series 1, winner)
680,000
One Chance
(16 July 2007)
Syco/Columbia
2× Platinum
680,000
Peak: 1
Passione
(1 June 2009)
Syco/Columbia
N/A
N/A
Peak: 5
Cinema Paradiso
(15 October 2010)
Sony
N/A
N/A
Peak: did not chart in the UK
Home
(12 October 2014)
Sony
N/A
N/A
Peak: did not chart in the UK

Richard & Adam
(Series 7, 3rd place)
300,000+
The Impossible Dream
(29 July 2013)
Arista Records, RCA Records
Platinum
300,000
Peak: 1
The Christmas Album
(2 December 2013)
Sony
N/A
N/A
Peak: 24
At the Movies
(8 August 2014)
Sony
N/A
N/A
Peak: 5
Believe – Songs of Inspiration
(26 February 2016)
Sony
N/A
N/A
Peak: 9

Collabro
(Series 8, winner)
253,100+
Stars
(18 August 2014)
Syco
Gold
193,100+
Peak: 1
Act Two
(1 June 2015)
Syco
Silver
60,000+
Peak: 2

Jonathan and Charlotte
(Series 6, runner-up)
160,000+
Together
(24 September 2012)
Syco
Gold
100,000
Peak: 5
Perhaps Love
(14 October 2013)
Sony Classical
Silver
60,000
Peak: 5
Solitaire (Charlotte Jaconelli)
(9 June 2014)
Sony Classical
N/A
N/A
Peak: 40

Tenore (Jonathan Antoine)
(13 October 2014)
Sony Classical
N/A
N/A
Peak: 13
Believe (Jonathan Antoine)
(19 August 2016)
Cavendish
N/A
N/A
Peak: 79

Faryl Smith
(Series 2, 4th place)
150,000+
Faryl
(9 March 2009)
Universal Classics and Jazz
Gold
150,000+
Peak: 4
Wonderland
(30 November 2009)
Universal Classics and Jazz
N/A
N/A
Peak: 56

Andrew Johnston
(Series 2, 3rd place)
120,000
One Voice
(29 September 2008)
Syco
Gold
120,000
Peak: 4

Escala
(Series 2, 4th place)
100,000
Escala
(25 May 2009)
Sony BMG/Syco
Gold
100,000
Peak: 2
Quadrasonic
(15 January 2016)
Arctic Poppy
N/A
N/A
Peak: N/A

Connie Talbot
(Series 1, finalist)
100,000+
Over the Rainbow
(26 November 2007)
Rainbow Recording Company
Gold
100,000
Peak: 35
Connie Talbot's Christmas Album
(24 November 2008)
Rainbow Recording Company
N/A
N/A
Peak: 93
Holiday Magic
(20 October 2009)
AAO Music
N/A
N/A
Peak: did not chart in the UK
Beautiful World
(26 November 2012)
Evosound
N/A
N/A
Peak: did not chart in the UK
Matters to Me
(25 March 2016)
Evosound
N/A
N/A
Peak: did not chart in the UK

text: Artists without BPI-certified albums[edit]

text:
Former contestant
Total sales
Albums

Charlie Green
(Series 2, semi-finalist)

Charlie Green (1 October 2008) did not chart
A Friend Like You (9 May 2010) did not chart
Rainbow (5 November 2012) did not chart

Hollie Steel
(Series 3, finalist)

Hollie (24 May 2010) did not chart
Hooray For Christmas (11 October 2011) did not chart
Children on the Titanic (19 April 2012) did not chart

Lucy Kay
(Series 8, runner-up)

Fantasia (24 September 2014) #18

Beau Dermott
(Series 10, 5th place)

Brave (1 Sept 2017) #73

text: Merchandise[edit]

text: There are 6 pieces of related merchandise:

text:
Best of The Auditions DVD (2009)
The Electronic Board Game (2009)
The Magic Set (2009)
Finalists of 2009: Annual 2010 (2009)
Be the judge buzzer (2010)
Finalists of 2010: Annual 2011 (2010)

tag: ul

text: BGT App[edit]

text: Since 2010, a Britain's Got Talent app has been available on Apple's App Store and Google Play. The features of the app vary from year to year but always include an interactive feature (e.g. a buzzer, polls or quizzes), relevant social media feeds and clips from the show. In 2015, free in-app voting was introduced. This means viewers are able to vote free of charge for five acts of their choice per voting window during the semi-finals and final rounds.[citation needed]