Millionaire hopefuls will be anxiously checking their tickets on Friday as a record-breaking EuroMillions jackpot is up for grabs – a whopping £208million.
After a shock roll-over when no players hit the jackpot on Tuesday, entrants now have another chance to bag the largest Lottery win ever in the UK.
But one question will be on everyone’s lips – is there anything they can do to boost their chances?
Almost every family will have their own beliefs surrounding the EuroMillions and Lotto draws, whether it’s playing rarely-drawn numbers will boost your chances of hitting the jackpot or you’re more likely to be hit by lightning than win.
But is there substance to these beliefs – or are they simply myths? Money Mail investigates.
Some three in five adults play Lottery games regularly and the National Lottery has made more than 7,200 people millionaires since it launched in 1994
Some regions are luckier than others
The Midlands is the luckiest place in the UK based on its number of Lottery millionaires.
The National Lottery has made 1,011 millionaires in the region from its launch in November 1994, according to data up until October last year.
Yet only 195 people in Northern Ireland have won a prize of £1million or more, and just 408 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 begins to introduce winners to one of its Winners’ Advisers, who guide players through their newfound wealth.
Some 6,586 people in the Midlands have won at least £50,000 and 6,032 in south-east England. Yet this plummets to just 975 people in Northern Ireland and 2,290 in Wales.
When it comes to EuroMillions specifically, the UK is one of the luckiest countries based on its number of jackpot winners.
Out of the 172 jackpot winners since September 2016, 46 of them were in the UK, according to independent Lottery data analyst lottery.co.uk.
Some 6,586 people in the Midlands have won at least £50,000 (Nottingham pictured)
France is the next luckiest country with 36 winners while Spain follows closely behind with 33 lucky players.
However, Luxembourg sits at the bottom of the list with just two jackpot winners while Austria has only six.
So should would-be winners move to one of the lucky regions or countries? Not quite.
A National Lottery spokesman says: ‘Certain areas have more National Lottery millionaires, but there are more people in London than the North-East, for example, so after 30 years of millionaire-making you’d expect it.
‘Remember, only around 5 per cent of big winners share their news, so your perception of where the winners are maybe based on just the winners spraying champagne. There are big winners in every corner of the country.’
Tickets bought from shops are better
Many players recall when Lottery tickets could only be bought at a local shop or the Post Office. But now Lotto and Euromillions tickets can be purchased online.
EuroMillions tickets bought on the National Lottery website for £2.50 and players can pick their numbers or enter into a Lucky Dip, which will randomly generate numbers.
Players can also set up a Direct Debit to enter on a rolling basis.
Some players swear that buying a ticket the old-fashioned way improves your chances.
But a Lottery spokesman explains you won’t have a better chance of winning if you buy tickets from a retailer and says the method by which a player buys the ticket has no impact on the draw.
‘Anybody has a chance of winning – the one essential is you have a ticket. Research has shown it is a 50/50 split for big winners between retail and online tickets.
A Lottery spokesman says you won’t have a better chance of winning if you buy tickets from a retailer
Rare numbers boost chances
Some lottery sleuths may rake through numbers that have been drawn least to boost their chances of winning a prize with ‘rare’ numbers.
Players may believe these numbers have a greater chance of being drawn soon.
According to lottery.co.uk, the least drawn EuroMillions numbers are 22 (which has been picked just 65 times as a main ball between 2016 and now) and 40 (drawn 72 times).
It also says the most overdue balls are 26, 11 and 16.
However, picking the least drawn numbers will in reality do nothing to bolster the odds of winning as each draw is an independent event.
A Lottery spokesman says: ‘In theory the same numbers could come up in every single draw repeatedly. That is just as statistically probable as any other set of five main numbers and two lucky star numbers appearing.’
The same set of numbers – 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42 – were drawn in two consecutive rounds of the Bulgarian Lottery in 2009.
There was a one in more than 4 million chance of it happening, but officials ruled it a coincidence.
Fixed picks raise your luck
Many superstitious players have a fixed set of numbers that they use for every draw. Perhaps they are based on children’s birthdays, lucky numbers or memorable dates.
But playing a fixed set of numbers every draw will not increase your odds of winning.
‘The numbers you choose statistically play no role,’ the Lottery spokesman says. ‘However, there are plenty of big winners who will point to lucky numbers that have helped them win big.’
Paying the same fixed set of numbers every draw will not increase your odds of winning
A small prize leads to big win
One anonymous Lottery winner told Money Mail he won a small prize of £1,500 just after the Lottery draws began.
He visited his local Post Office to claim the money and the cashier told him people who win a small amount tend to win again.
Almost two decades passed, but then the same lucky player won just under £2.2million.
Winners of a few thousand pounds may be jumping with joy that a future jackpot win is on the cards. Unfortunately, this idea is a myth. The Lottery spokesman says previous wins have no role in a player’s future chances of winning the Lotto game or EuroMillions.
Lightning strike is more likely
Every Lottery player knows a cynic who says they are more likely to be struck by lightning than win the jackpot.
But the National Lottery says these odds are not comparable.
The odds of being struck by lightning are typically based on previous instances of strikes, whereas the odds of matching all five main numbers and two lucky stars numbers are not based on previous draws.
The odds of being struck by lightning are one in 1.127million, based on figures from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
The National Lottery says the odds of winning the top prize are always the same no matter how big the jackpot or how many players enter
A Lottery spokesman says: ‘The odds of winning the jackpot on EuroMillions reflect the fact you are playing for a colossal jackpot – they are 139,838,160 to 1. But remember that there have been numerous EuroMillions jackpots won in the UK, and there have so far been 19 ticketholders who’ve banked a jackpot of more than £100million.
‘The odds of winning any prize on EuroMillions are 13 to 1, and the game guarantees a UK player will win £1million in every draw with UK Millionaire Maker. This means there are lots of prizes up for grabs – on Tuesday June 3 more than one million prizes were won by UK players. And of course if you don’t have a ticket, you definitely can’t win a prize!’
Always play on a certain day
The EuroMillions draws take place on a Tuesday and Friday.
More people buy a ticket for the Friday draw, but players aren’t more likely to win on a Tuesday than a Friday.
A spokesman for the Lottery insists the odds of winning the jackpot are the same for both draws, they are not based on the number of entries.
‘The odds of winning the jackpot in any EuroMillions draw are the same because they are the odds of matching the seven numbers you choose.’
banked the ticket-holder £11.4 million.’
Lower jackpot improves odds
When there’s a big jackpot on offer, such as the £208million one currently up for grabs, players may rush to enter in the hopes of getting a dream ticket.
Some entrants may think it is a tactical move to play a draw with a lower prize jackpot as fewer people may enter.
But the National Lottery says the odds of winning the top prize are always the same – no matter how big the jackpot or how many players enter. The odds of winning are not dependent on the number of entries.
Players have the exact same odds of matching their numbers for a £100 million jackpot or a £1 million jackpot.
This is because the odds of matching all five main numbers and two lucky star numbers on your ticket with the winning numbers remain the same in each draw and does not change, even if more people enter when there’s a bigger prize on offer.
But if a larger prize fund attracts more players, winners may have to share their jackpot with more people, as there’s a slightly higher chance they have picked the same number set as someone else.
