National Lottery: Lotto winners outraged as five matching numbers wins them £15

Ticketholders with five matching numbers in Wednesday's draw won less than those who matched only three

(Getty Images)

It must have seemed like an impossible dream - matching five numbers in the National Lottery, despite all the odds.

But thousands of people have been left bitterly disappointed after discovering that their good fortune had turned into a distinctly average win... of just £15.

Lotto ticketholders in Wednesday's draw with five numbers in fact won less money than those who only matched three, in a bizarre turn Camelot have blamed on the nuances of, well, it being "a lottery".

114,232 people matched just three balls, bringing them a slightly more substantial £25.

Twitter users vented their frustrations on social media, branding the results a "joke" and renaming the competition the "national lottery robbery".

The National Lottery organisers said that more than 4,000 players in fact matched five out of the six balls, compared to 7,879 ticketholders with four numbers, who won £51.

It admitted it was an “extremely rare” situation but said: “It is a lottery at the end of the day."

A Camelot spokesperson said: “We had an unprecedented 4,082 Match 5 winners tonight.

“This is because five of the six main numbers drawn was a multiple of seven - 07, 14, 21, 35 and 42 - and clearly this is a popular set of numbers.

“To put it into context, the four Lotto draws before this one had 55, 36, 61 and 38 Match 5 winners - so over 4,000 Match 5 winners is highly unusual.

“It is a lottery at the end of the day, and is down to the numbers drawn and the number of people who match with those numbers. As a result, we do sometimes see unusual situations like this.”

The winning Lotto numbers were 14, 21, 42, 35, 07, 41 and the bonus number was 43.

But nobody scooped the mid-week jackpot, which means Saturday's grand prize will total an estimated £28.2 million.