Households across the UK have been obsessed with the National Lottery draw for 30 years, hoping their lucky numbers will come out on top on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.
About three in five adults regularly play lottery games and the National Lottery has made more than 7,200 people millionaires since it was founded in 1994.
Almost every family has their own views on the game, whether it’s playing rarely drawn numbers that make you more likely to hit the jackpot, or that you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than wins.
But is there substance to these beliefs – or are they just myths?
Geldpost investigates.
National obsession: Around three in five adults regularly play lottery games and the National Lottery has made more than 7,200 people millionaires since its inception in 1994
Some regions are luckier than others
The Midlands is one of the happiest places in Britain based on the number of lottery millionaires.
The National Lottery has made 934 millionaires in the region from its launch in November 1994 to March 2023.
Yet only 174 people in Northern Ireland have won a prize of £1 million or more, and only 389 people in Wales.
The regional differences are just as stark when it comes to winners of £50,000 or more – the prize value at which the National Lottery starts introducing winners to one of its winners advisors, who guide players through newfound wealth.
Some 6,377 people in the Midlands have won at least £50,000, compared to 5,859 in the south east of England. Yet this number drops to just 916 people in Northern Ireland and 2,235 in Wales.
So should potential winners move to one of these lucky areas? Not quite.
A National Lottery spokesperson said: ‘Certain areas have more National Lottery millionaires, but for example there are more people in London than in the North East, so after thirty years of making millionaires you would expect that.
‘Keep in mind that only about 5 percent of big winners share their news, so your perception of where the winners are may be based on the fact that only the winners are spraying champagne. There are big winners in every corner of the country.’
Tickets bought in stores are better
Many players remember the time when tickets could only be purchased at a local store or post office.
But in 2003, the National Lottery started offering online access to its draws. Online tickets can be purchased on the National Lottery website for £2 from 6am to 11pm. Players can choose their numbers or take part in a Lucky Dip, which randomly generates numbers. Players can also set up a direct debit that can be entered on an ongoing basis.
Lucky Chance: Some players swear that buying a ticket the old-fashioned way at a store increases your chances
Some players swear that buying a ticket the old-fashioned way will increase your chances.
But a lottery spokesperson explains that you won’t have a better chance of winning if you buy tickets from a retailer, saying the way a player buys the ticket has no effect on the draw.
‘Everyone has a chance to win; the only thing that is essential is that you have a ticket. Research has shown that among the big winners there is a 50:50 split between retail and online tickets.’
Rare numbers increase the chances
Some lottery sleuths may sift through the least drawn numbers to increase their chances of winning a prize with ‘rare’ numbers.
Players may think that these numbers have a higher chance of being drawn soon. The numbers 23, 30 and 57 were drawn the least this year, because they were only drawn twice as main or bonus balls.
In reality, this will not increase the chances of winning as each draw is an independent event.
The National Lottery says: ‘In theory, the same numbers can appear repeatedly in each draw. That is statistically as likely as any other set of six numbers that appear.”
The same set of numbers – 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42 – was drawn in two consecutive rounds of the Bulgarian Lottery in 2009.
There was a one in more than four million chance of this happening, but officials ruled it a coincidence.
Fixed choices increase your happiness
Many superstitious players have a fixed set of numbers that they use for each draw. Perhaps they are based on children’s birthdays, lucky numbers or memorable dates.
But if you play a fixed set of numbers on every draw, you won’t increase your chances of winning.
“The numbers you choose do not matter statistically,” says the Lottery spokesperson. ‘However, there are plenty of big winners who will point to lucky numbers that helped them make big profits.’
Superstition: Paying the same fixed set of numbers on every draw does not increase your chances of winning
A small prize leads to a big victory
An anonymous lottery winner told Money Mail he won a small prize of £1,500 just after the lottery draws started.
He visited his local post office to collect the money and the cashier told him that people who win a small amount often win again.
Nearly twenty years passed, but then the same lucky player won just under £2.2 million.
Winners of a few thousand pounds may be happy that there is a future jackpot win on the horizon. Unfortunately, this idea is a myth. The Lottery spokesperson says past wins play no role in a player’s future chances of winning the Lottery.
Lightning strike is more likely
Every lottery player knows a cynic who says they are more likely to be struck by lightning than to win the jackpot.
But the National Lottery says these odds are not comparable.
The probability of being struck by lightning is generally based on previous instances of strike, while the probability of matching all six numbers is not based on previous draws.
The chance of being struck by lightning is one in 1.127 million, based on figures from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
A lottery spokesperson said: ‘If you buy one line of six numbers for the next Lotto draw you have a one in 45 million chance of winning the jackpot – that’s because there are just over 45 million combinations of six numbers between one and 59.
‘To match three numbers and win £30, that’s one in 96. But if you don’t have a ticket you have no chance.’
Lots of luck: The National Lottery says the chance of winning the top prize is always the same – no matter how big the jackpot is or how many players participate
Always play on Wednesdays
The lottery was launched with a Saturday lotto draw and introduced a Wednesday draw in 1997.
More people buy tickets for the Saturday draw, but players are no more likely to win on Wednesday than on Saturday.
A Lottery spokesperson emphasizes that the chance of winning the jackpot is the same for both draws.
‘The chances of winning the jackpot in every Lotto draw are the same because these are the chances of matching six numbers from the 59 balls.
On Saturday June 8, one ticket equaled six and that one in 45 million chance earned the ticket holder £11.4 million.”
A lower jackpot improves the odds
When a big jackpot is on offer, such as the £15 million that was up for grabs in mid-May, players may rush to join in the hope of securing a dream ticket.
Lotto fans may think that entering a draw with a lower jackpot is a tactical move because fewer people can participate.
But the National Lottery says the chances of winning the top prize are always the same, no matter how big the jackpot is or how many players participate.
Players have exactly the same odds of matching their numbers for a £100 million jackpot or a £1 million jackpot.
‘This is because the chance of all six numbers on your ticket matching the winning numbers remains the same in each draw and does not change, even if more people enter if a larger prize is on offer.
But if a larger prize fund attracts more players, the winners may have to share their jackpot with more people because they are slightly more likely to have picked the same number as someone else.
l.evans@dailymail.co.uk
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