Weekly Prize Draw

For almost three decades, our lottery pricing has remained the same. At the same time, the cost of providing our specialist care has increased significantly.

Most of us will be aware of the financial challenges being faced by hospices across the country. We are actively advocating for fair government funding for hospices, but we must also look at other ways of safeguarding our care for future generations. We hope the changes to the Weekly Prize Draw will help to continue providing sustainable funding for hospice care in Somerset while bringing the same joy and excitement that the draw always has.

It now costs more than £15m every year to run the hospice and deliver our vital services, and most of this is raised by our community – generous people like you. Income from the Weekly Prize Draw continues to be one of the few regular and sustainable income streams that the hospice relies on. In 2025, our lottery community raised a phenomenal £395,249 enabling us to continue providing free, compassionate hospice care for patients and families in Somerset.

This is why, after careful consideration, we felt the time was right to increase the standard pricing of our Weekly Prize Draw.

If you are a Weekly Prize Draw member and win a prize, there is no need to make a claim; we’ll automatically post a cheque to your home address. We might telephone to check we have your correct details and let you know you’ve won, but we will never contact you by text message or ask you to provide your bank details.

If you purchased a ticket in a shop, remember to check your numbers every week! All winning numbers will be advertised on the St Margaret’s website and via our 31 shops, where players can learn if they own the winning ticket(s) for that week.

Single ticket winners will need to contact the Lottery Office on 01823 365620, where your ticket and details will be verified. Once verified you will be sent a cheque sent by post.

Prizes must be claimed within 6 months of the draw date, after which the prize will be treated as a charity donation.

From 1 September 2026, each entry will cost £2* for 2 chances, per draw, increasing your impact on patient care, as well as your chances of winning a prize.

*Players pay a monthly subscription of £8.68. This is because sometimes there will be five weeks in a month and the additional £0.68p per entry is to build up credit to cover the fifth week on these five-week months.

We understand that this cost increase will come at a difficult time for some members. If you decide not to increase your payment but wish to remain a member, you will continue to be entered into the weekly draw when you have at least £2 credit in your account.

If you pay £4.34, you will get two chances in two draws per month, depending on when your payment goes into your account. If your payment goes in on the first day of the month you will be entered into the first two draws of the month.

If members are in credit at the time of cancellation, their unique draw number will continue to be entered into the appropriate number of draws until the credit expires. If your credit expires before the next bonus draw, you will not be entered.

Unfortunately, no. You still have a chance of winning our top prize of £1,000 every week, and up to £10,000 through our rollover prize – that doesn’t change. We will also have 25 weekly runner-up prizes of 5x £25 and 20x £10.

The Bonus Draw has been introduced as a benefit for players now paying £2 a week.

From 1 September 2026, everyone with £2 credit will be assigned two chances in the draw. As a Weekly Prize Draw member, you will be entered into the draw upon receipt of your payment, and then every draw if you have sufficient credit in your account. Our lottery software randomly produces the outcome of the draw using a Random Number Generator and a winning number can only be selected once in the same draw.

All prizes are guaranteed to be won each week except for the rollover prize. When we run the draw for our 2nd prize (rollover), our lottery software reduces the likelihood of winning that prize. If the rollover is not won the prize money is rolled over to the next draw and the 2^nd prize increases by £250. If the rollover reaches £10,000, we guarantee the prize will be won in that week’s draw.

Bonus Draw – Up to twice a year, we will run two separate draws with a guaranteed prize of £5,000 for all our players on a minimum of £2 per week. Our lottery software randomly produces the outcome of the draw using a Random Number Generator to select the winning number.

Over the next five years, we hope to raise the income from the lottery by £500,000.

Although we always try to minimise the costs associated in sending out multiple letters, some players may have multiple Direct Debit schedules (paying different amounts on different frequencies or dates) or may have multiple game numbers paid for by different methods. For this reason, we are obliged to send more than one letter.

Please be assured we do as much work as we can to minimise multiple letters being sent out to the same players.

You can cancel your membership at any time by calling the  Weekly Prize Draw  Office on  01823 365620 or by using the contact form at the bottom of the page. If you still have credit on your account,  you will be entered into the draw until your credit expires, after which the membership will be cancelled.

We are aware that players who think they may have a problem with gambling might wish to self-exclude from the Weekly Prize Draw or our ad hoc raffles. Players wishing to self-exclude will be unable to re-join or receive any related marketing for a period of at least 6 months.

If you wish to be excluded or talk to us about what this means, contact Kim Gaylard, Committed Giving Manager  by calling 01823 365620 or by using the contact form at the bottom of the page.

You can also download our Self-Exclusion Form here.

Please see our Self Exclusion Policy here.

Yes, we have fundraisers working throughout Somerset promoting our Weekly Prize Draw and they might knock on your door, or you might see them working in or outside a local shop or at an event.  Our fundraisers will always have an identification badge, and their clothes will normally have our logo.

Visit our fundraisers page to find out where they will be this week:

Meet our lottery fundraisers

You must be over 18 years of age to play. This is a legal requirement. In our shops we have a Think 25 policy so if you are fortunate to look younger, you may get asked to provide identification to verify your age.

Our software will automatically assign two chances to each ticket, if you win, you’ll be identified by your unique ticket number. So, hold on to your ticket and remember to check your number every week!