Make a smile is a weekly lottery draw dedicated to raising funds for good causes and in doing so makes a difference to the local communities served by our partners.
St Helena Hospice, a hospice charity based in Colchester wholly owns and administers the lottery and is working with other local causes to raise funds. Please click the links on the about page to find out more about the causes we support. Members of make a smile lottery choose which cause they wish to play in support of when they join. By working with other partners in this way, overheads and costs are kept to a minimum so more funds can be used for good causes.
St Helena Hospice trading as make a smile lottery under license number 4685. www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk St Helena Hospice is a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England and Wales Number 01511841. Registered Charity Number 280919. Registered Office: Myland Hall, Barncroft Close, Highwoods, Colchester, CO4 9JU. make a smile lottery office: 4 The Atrium, Phoenix Square, Wyncolls Road, Colchester, CO4 9AS.
Licensed by the Gambling Commission Number 4685.
You can sign up through our website and create an online account. There are some key benefits to having an account that can help you manage your regular giving easily.
Representatives of make a smile lottery go out to events and retail premises and call on householders in the communities served by our partners, to raise awareness about our fundraising lottery. We also have a telesales team who help with the recruitment of lottery players.
All our representatives will have official identification on them – please ask to see this and ask any questions you may have.
You can also contact the make a smile lottery office on 0300 303 4500 Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.
Please click on the fundraisers page to view photographs of our representatives.
To cancel your membership with us you can call us on 0300 303 4500, email us on hello@makeasmilelottery.org.uk, or you can cancel through your account.
Once you cancel your membership all monies will be used as entries into the draw until this amount becomes zero. For those who pay their membership via a monthly payment this will mean that you will have a pence amount left which unfortunately will not be enough for a complete £1 stake in the lottery draw. Any pence amount that remains after ten weeks will be treated as a general donation to the good cause that a supporter was playing in support of.
Please note that if you pay by standing order you will also need to contact your bank or building society to notify them that you wish to stop payment to us.
We cannot cancel the play on your behalf.
Yes, you can, but there is a limit of 5 numbers played each week if you sign up to a subscription (autoplay). You can only purchase up to 5 subscriptions (autoplays) per week on the website. However, you can purchase up to 100 single tickets. Each number you play costs £1 per week.
Yes! We offer single tickets into the weekly draw. They are a fantastic option if you want to increase your chances as the rollover gets high or have a flutter without any commitment. They cost £1 per entry and go to support your chosen cause. Tickets must be purchased before Friday morning for guaranteed entry into the weekly draw. Please check the countdown on the website for specific cut off. If you purchase after this time, you will be entered into the following draw.
No, sorry. You can, however, play more than one number and dedicate each to a different cause. There is a maximum of 5 subscriptions (autoplays) and 100 single tickets.
This is the same as your unique lottery number. If you would like a reminder of your number, please contact us. If you play by direct debit this will be the same number, if you play by debit card this will be different each week. Your play numbers will be sent to you on completion of payment.
Unfortunately, we are currently unable to set up a syndicate.
For the last Financial Year 2022/2023:
Lottery Income that went towards charitable causes – £573,922.20 (38.9%)
Lottery income that went on expenses – £741,499.80 (50.3%)
Lottery income that went on prizes –£132,500.00 (10.8%)
Our Results tab has the latest information and posters are displayed at cause locations. But you don’t need to remember to check your number(s) as your prize will be automatically added to your account, and if you don’t have an email we will send out prize cheques to winning members soon after each weekly draw takes place. You may even receive an email or phone call from us informing you of your win!
Please contact us if your contact details change.
If you have purchased your tickets in one of our partners shops for prizes of £10 please claim this in the shop. For any larger prizes please obtain a claim form from the shop.
If we hold an email address for you, your winning cash amount will be transferred into your account where you can request to withdraw it to your bank account. Please go to ‘My Account - My Funds – Withdraw Funds’ and then withdraw funds to make a request to our admin team. We will pick this up for you and process this within 7-10 working days. With the exception of bank holidays, we aim to process prize withdrawals on a Monday (cut off 12 pm) and transfer funds by the following Wednesday. Any withdrawal requests after Monday pm will be processed the following week.
If we hold an email address for you, but you do not want to withdraw your winnings from an online account. Please contact us and we will send your winning sterling cheques out to you shortly after the draw, payable in the member’s name and the address we have on our system.
If you do not have an email address, we will send your winning sterling cheques out to you shortly after the draw, payable in the member’s name and the address we have on our system.
All historic results are available to see on our website. Please check the draw number in the search bar under the Results tab to see all prizes won in each draw.
Winners are picked at random by a RNG (Random Number Generator) in our lottery software, which is hosted by Jumbo. This RNG has been independently tested by a Gambling Commission approved test house.
There are 142 weekly prizes (1 x £1,000, 1 x £250, 140 x £10) and 1 rollover prize. The rollover goes up by £500 should it not be won, up to a maximum of £25,000. The roll over is set at a 5% chance of winning each week. If it is not won by the time it reaches it’s maximum, then this 5% chance will manually be changed to 100%. The system will decide if the rollover is won.
Chances of winning – In the last financial year (April 22 – March 23) there were an average 27819 weekly plays across our charity partners, with 6734 prizes being given away over the year.
Any prize = 1 in 204 tickets entered into the draw will win a prize
These figures are estimated using current plays and figures and can vary slightly from each week. These are an approximate and can be updated at any time.
No. We do like to feature the stories of some of our members on our website, social media and sometimes in the media to encourage other people to help us raise money for local causes, but there is no pressure to do this at all. If you would like to feature, please do contact us.
In addition to the weekly prize draw with guaranteed prizes, we run a rollover draw with a jackpot of £25,000 which is not guaranteed to be won every week. The rollover prize has a 5% chance of being won, and if not won, rolls over by £500 each week, up to a maximum of £25,000, at which point it must be won. Should this prize reach the £25,000 mark, then within our software system, make a smile lottery has the ability to set the probability of winning this prize to 100%.
People aged 18 or over and a resident of Great Britain can become a member, including staff, volunteers and supporters of our cause partners. Make a smile Lottery reserves the right to ask for proof of age of any player and claimant of a prize. Please read the full terms and conditions. Make a smile lottery staff cannot play the lottery.
No, sorry. Your lottery membership number is unique to you and automatically generated by our lottery system, which means if you win a prize, you do not need to share it with other members.
When you sign up to the lottery you will receive a welcome email confirming the cause that you have chosen to support, if you don't have an email this will be sent via post.
Please note the welcome email will be sent out the following Thursday, if you do not have an email these will be send via post on the Friday. Once your first payment has been made, you will receive an email with your play numbers and your Play and Save Reward Card.
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Make a smile lottery is just one way to raise money to support your chosen cause; please visit each cause page for external links to each cause’s own website for information on other ways to help.
To self exclude, please click here.
Please visit www.gamcare.org.uk for responsible gambling support and read our commitment to responsible gambling. To self-exclude please visit our self exclusion page.
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