Major innovation
The National Lottery was, in 1993, the brainchild of Conservative Prime Minister John Major and his colleagues, who drew inspiration from other lotteries across the world.

The Office of the National Lottery (later renamed the National Lottery Commission) was duly formed to regulate the game, and the job of running the lottery was given to Camelot - a company founded for the purpose by shareholders including Cadbury Schweppes and De La Rue.

The first draw took place on 19 November 1994, and soon The National Lottery was being hailed by the government as their "most successful innovation for years". And, as comments by ensuing Labour ministers show, it's one of the few things the two sides can agree on!

EuroMillions
The National Lottery took a big leap forward in 2004 with the launch of EuroMillions - an epic, pan-European lottery involving the UK, France and Spain. That initial trio was swiftly joined by Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Portugal. However, all the money raised by EuroMillions in the UK goes towards UK-based good causes only.

The rules are very simple. You just select five main numbers between one and 50, and then select two "lucky star" numbers between one and nine. After that, it's all down to those balls - which are drawn in Paris.

It could be you!
EuroMillions certainly changed the life of Dolores McNamara, who in 2005 became Europe's biggest single lottery winner when she landed a slightly wonderful £77 million. The mother-of-six from the Republic of Ireland was so stunned, her first response was to leave her house, check into a hotel room and wait until she calmed down!

Meanwhile, the UK's top EuroMillions winner so far is Marion Richardson from Gateshead. She won £16.7 million in 2004 and said the first thing she wanted to do was visit Beverly Hills and re-enact the shopping spree from Pretty Woman.

Giving it away
The National Lottery is arguably the biggest programme of civic and social regeneration since the Victorian era. After all, since the first draw took place more than £19 billion has been raised for good causes across the UK.

This money has gone to everything from museums and public sculptures to dockland renovations and charities catering to every conceivable need. The lottery is also expected to contribute around £1.5 billion to the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

The reason it's been such a success for good causes is that Camelot returns more money to society than just about any lottery operator in the world. Of every pound spent, 50p goes to the prize fund, 28p goes to good causes, 12p goes to the government and 5p goes to retailers who sell tickets. Camelot itself just receives just 4.5p to cover costs, and 0.5p profit.

Staying grounded
It's obviously no small thing to win the lottery, and the effect of a huge financial windfall can be disorientating. For this reason, Camelot organises meetings with financial advisors, lawyers, and counsellors for anyone who wins £500,000 or more.
That said, people have tended to handle themselves pretty well after the shock of a win. A recent study has shown that 92% of winners who were married when they won are still married to the same person. On top of that, more than one in seven winners have given a million or more to family and friends.

Feeling lucky?
The success of The National Lottery triggered a curiosity at Camelot about Britain's attitude to luck. This led to the first British survey on luck being carried out, which revealed that as a nation we certainly believe in the concept.

Brighton was revealed to be the city where people feel the luckiest (the residents of Aberdeen felt the unluckiest!). Yet generally we're anything but a nation of moaners and whingers, with over 66% of Britons saying they consider themselves very lucky. (Although singletons should know that married and cohabiting couples feel happier as a rule!)

Dr Linda Papodopoulos, who led the research, concluded: "For a large proportion of people, luck underscores the decisions they make, and whether they believe to have good luck or bad luck impacts on the kind of life they lead."

In other words - think lucky and the chances are you'll get lucky!