Lightning Lotto

Lightning Lotto Live By Evolution Review

The Game in Short

Lightning Lotto is a quick and easy game to get into, played in the following six steps:

1. A minimum of one and a maximum of 500 lottery tickets are bought at your preferred stake.
2. Each of the tickets consists of six randomly chosen numbers. The first five are normal ones that can range from 1 – 25 and the sixth is a powerball number that can range from 1 – 10.
3. Before the draw starts, one or two ‘lightning ball’ numbers are selected on a video screen.
4. If any of your tickets have these lightning ball numbers, those tickets will have their potential payouts boosted by a win multiplier of x2 – x20.
5. The draw begins and six numbered balls are quickly pulled from a lottery machine.
6. During the draw, the three tickets that are most promising for a high payout will be highlighted on your screen.  

That’s it! Now let’s look at the payouts.

Payouts 

The payouts in Lightning Lotto range from 2x to 100,000x and depend on two factors; the number of balls you match and the win multiplier that is attached to your winning ticket.

For instance, if you manage to match all six numbers on your ticket, the initial payout would be 5,000 times the amount you bet. However, if that same ticket qualified for an x5 win multiplier from a lightning ball number, the payout would be 25,000x instead.

While the maximum payout in Lightning Lotto is 100,000 times the amount you bet, it’s important to note that it is also capped at R10 000 000. In other words, if you bought your ticket for R200 and it pays 100 000x, your win would be capped at R10 000 000 even though the “real” payout would be R20 000 000.

RTP (Payout Percentage)

The RTP in Lightning Lotto ranges from 95.31% – 96.08% and is dependent on the amount you buy each ticket for.

For each ticket bought at a maximum of R100, you will play with a maximum RTP of 96.08%. For every Zar above this, the RTP will go down slightly and at the maximum stake of R1 000 it will be at its lowest point of 95.31%.

This is due to the fact that the game has a capped max win. So, whenever you bet more than R200, you would not get paid out everything if you win really big (like 100,000x) as explained above.

When it comes to my opinion about the RTP, I’m happy with it. It’s similar to what you would find in most live dealer games and 96.08% is definitely what I would consider fair.   

Odds

The odds of matching all six numbers in Lightning Lotto are 1 in 531,300.

However, for the maximum payout of 100,000x, the odds are a staggering 1 in 5.6 billion.

This is because in addition to matching all six numbers, the following must also come true:

• Of the 1 – 2 lightning ball numbers that can be selected, 2 must be chosen.
• Both lightning ball numbers must appear on your winning ticket.
• Each of the lightning ball numbers must be given a win multiplier of x10 to make a total win multiplier of x20.

Fun Factor 

I find Lightning Lotto to be a much-needed addition to Evolution Gaming’s platform. In terms of fun, I don’t have that much to say about it though since it’s such a simple game.

I do enjoy it for what it is and I do think that it’s been executed quite well. I especially like the fact that game rounds are as fast-paced as they are as you can fit in about 70 rounds in an hour.

It is a bit of a double-edged sword though as with everything happening so quickly, you can’t really follow the numbers that are picked. This kills a lot of the excitement. Before you realize what numbers you are hoping to get pulled, the game round is already over.

I find the element of the win multipliers (lightning ball numbers) to be a small but neat inclusion. But again, it’s difficult to follow things unless you just play a single ticket or two.

All in all, I think the game is well worth checking out if you like playing the lottery. A positive thing about it being developed by Evolution Gaming is that it’s available on basically all gambling sites in South Africa, leaving you with a ton of great options to try it out.

Strategies

The only strategy in Lightning Lotto that will have any real impact on your long-term winnings is the amount you bet. To play with the game’s highest RTP of 96.08%, you should not purchase a ticket for more than R500.

Another strategy that you may want to apply is to limit your tickets to one or two. Simply to increase the thrill of the game as with more tickets than these, it will be difficult to realize what numbers you are hoping to get pulled. Of course, the downside of this strategy is that you will win a lot less often than if you bought a ton of tickets.

Best Alternatives to Lightning Lotto

If you appreciate the style of game Lightning Lotto is but would like something more innovative, there are three great games that I would recommend:

• Mega Ball
• Vegas Ball Bonanza
• Monopoly Big Baller

These are more like bingo games rather than lotteries, but do share some similarities with numbers being pulled from a lottery machine and having to be matched.