People's Postcode Lottery: How were winners of £16.9million prize selected in Sussex - and how much will they win each

With 718 people picking up a cheque, it meant about one in ten residents of Goring-by-Sea, Worthing, won.

Twelve neighbours in the full winning postcode – BN12 4TR, Ardingly Drive – won £379,062 for every ticket played with. Jason Donovan, a People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador, surprised some winners on their doorstep with the good news.

The announcement was made during the Coronation Street advert break on Friday evening (December 16). It comes after ITV and People’s Postcode Lottery teamed up for a new on-air partnership.

How does it work?

According to its website, People's Postcode Lottery is a subscription lottery which raises money for charities. It costs £10 a month to play and there are guaranteed winners every day. People play with their chosen postcode and are automatically entered into all draws. There’s no need to remember to buy your ticket every week as you sign up once and pay monthly in advance to play in all draws.

A minimum of 33 per cent of ticket sales goes directly to charities and players of People’s Postcode Lottery have helped raise more than £1 billion to date for thousands of good causes across Britain and internationally.

What are the prizes?

Your ticket to enter the competition is based on your postcode. Only playing postcodes are entered into the draws.

If your postcode gets lucky, every player in your postcode wins.

A spokesperson said: “There are winning postcodes announced every single day for different prizes. Every Saturday and Sunday, winning postcodes are announced where players each win £30,000. Every month, players in one postcode sector share an incredible £3 million or more.

If you win, you don't need to claim your prize – the money is paid into your bank account within 28 days.

How are winners selected?

The People's Postcode Lottery said winning postcodes are selected via random draws using software, which has been ‘certified by a Gambling Commission-approved testing house’.

"The software uses a random number generator to pick out winning postcodes from the postcodes players have bought a ticket to enter,” an explainer on the website read.

"Twenty draws are conducted each month with an independent adjudicator present, usually on the first Wednesday of the month. The winning postcodes are then announced on a daily basis as shown in the Prize Draw Calendar. Only playing postcodes (or, for the Postcode Millions, valid tickets) are entered into our draws. So, there's always a guaranteed winner for every prize.”

For all prizes except the monthly Postcode Millions, playing postcodes enter each draw once. These prizes aren't shared, and each winning ticket claims the full advertised prize.

If you are playing with more than one ticket in the same winning postcode, you win the prize amount for each ticket you play with.

"So, if your postcode wins a £30,000 Street Prize, and you play with two tickets, you'd win £60,000. Playing with three tickets? You’d win £90,000!”

For the Postcode Millions prize, the prize money is split between players in the full winning postcode and the surrounding postcode sector – or ,’occasionally’, the larger postcode district.

All tickets play, and a single winning ticket is selected to determine the full winning postcode. The maximum prize per ticket in the Postcode Millions is 10 per cent of the draw proceeds, up to £500,000.

For more information on People’s Postcode Lottery, visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk.