How to win the Lottery

In the UK Lotto you pick 6 numbers and win the lottery jackpot if you get all 6 numbers correct. The chances of winning the jackpot are millions to one against but there is no other way on earth of getting the chance to win millions of pounds for a stake of just £1!

Odds of winning the jackpot in the Lotto Draw

The chances of getting one number from your 6 selections are 6 in 49 (or 6/49), the chances of picking 2 correct numbers are 6/49 multiplied by 5/48 = a one in 78 chance.

If we continue this calculation for all 6 balls, the odds of winning the lotto jackpot are 6/49 x 5/48 x 4/47 x 3/46 x 2/45 x 1/44 which works out at a 1 in 13,983,816 chance of winning the lottery jackpot.

Let's call it a 1 in 14,000,000 chance of winning "a few million pounds"

Odds of winning the jackpot in the Thunderball Draw

This is calculated by: 5/34 x 4/33 x 3/32 x 2/31 x 1/30 x 1/14 = 1 in 3,895,584

More or less a 1 in 3,000,000 chance of winning £250,000

Odds of winning the jackpot in the Daily Play Draw

7/27 x 6/26 x 5/25 x 4/24 x 3/23 x 2/22 x 1/21 = 888,030

A 1 in 900,000 chance of winning £30,000

Odds of winning the jackpot in the Euromillions Draw

5/50 x 4/49 x 3/48 x 2/47 x 1/46 x 2/9 x 1/8 = 76,275,360

A 1 in 76,000,000 chance of winning many millions of pounds

Odds of winning the jackpot in the Dream Number draw

This is calculated in a slightly different way because you have to get your numbers in the exact same order as they are picked by the lottery machine:

1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 = 10,000,000

A 1 in 10,000,000 chance of winning £500,000

Which jackpot are you more likely to win

You can see from the above, that, statistically you have the most chance of winning the jackpot in the Daily Play draw. Of course the Daily Play jackpot is much smaller at £30,000... but that would change most people's life?

For your £1 - which lottery draw gives you the best chance of winning something... anything?

Lotto Draw

Smallest prize is £10 and you have to get 3 numbers:

6/49 x 5/48 x 3/47 = a 1 in 921 chance of winning £10

Thunderball Draw

Smallest prize is £5 and you have to get 1 number plus the Thunderball:

5/34 x 1/14 = a 1 in 95 chance of winning £5

Daily Play Draw

Smallest prize is £5 for 4 correct numbers:

7/27 x 6/26 x 5/25 x 4/24 = a 1 in 501 chance of winning £5

Euromillions Draw

Smallest prizes are less than 10 and you have to get either 2 numbers plus 1 star number or 1 number plus 2 star numbers:

5/50 x 4/49 x 2/9 = a 1 in 551 chance of winning less than £10
or
5/50 x 2/9 x 1/8 = a 1 in 360 chance of winning less than £10

Dream Number Draw

Smallest prize is £2 for getting the first number correct:

1/10 = a 1 in 10 chance of winning £2

Summary of lottery odds

This table shows your chances of winning the different Lottery Draws
	Winning the Jackpot	Winning Anything!
Daily Play	1:900,000	1:500
Thunderball	1:4,000,000	1:95
Dream Number	1:10,000,000	1:10
Lotto	1:14,000,000	1:900
Euromillions	1:76,000,000	1:360

So, the Daily Play draw gives you the best chance of winning the jackpot of £30,000 but the Dream Number draw gives you the best chance of winning anything at all, just £2

Is the Thunderball or Daily Play the best all round bet?

The Thunderball draw gives you the second best chance of winning the jackpot of £250,000 and also the second best chance of winning anything at all... £5

However, the Daily Play gives you the best chances of winning a jackpot - you have the chance of winning £30,000 every day.

How to pick Lottery numbers

As we have said the outcome of any lottery draw is purely down to randon chance, so, there is little chance of being able to predict the correct numbers.

However, BECAUSE it's random chance, over a long enough period of time each ball SHOULD be drawn the same number of times.

If you tossed a coin - you would either get heads or tails. Heads and tails both have the same chance of coming up (50%). If you tossed the coin enough times, heads would come up the same number of times as tails.

The same logic can be applied to a lottery draw. Each ball has an equal chance of being drawn so each ball will end up being drawn the same number of times.

On the official UK National Lottery website there is a page which shows you, for all draws, how often each ball has been drawn. It shows you the balls which have been drawn the most often and the balls which have been drawn the least often.

You could use this "frequency checker" as they call it, to help you in choosing your lottery numbers. In theory, the balls which have been drawn the least number of times have, on average, more chance of being drawn next...?

Winning the lottery - is it fate?

Most people dream about winning the lottery and, we are sure, most people think about all the good they could do... realising goals, helping family, helping friends, helping worthy causes. If you won a HUGE amount of money - think of all the good you can do!

However, anyone who reads the news will know that they are some "un-deserving" people who win the Lottery. People who "shouldn't" win. People who "waste" the money.

Why do these people win... I/we/you could do so much better! Is this "fate"? Destiny?

Numerology and Winning the Lottery

If you believe that it is "fate" leads to each Lottery win then there can be no better way of choosing your numbers than to follow the numerology system.

Using your date of birth, and that of your partners', you can generate 6 numbers which may win the lottery for you:

the day of the month you were born (1-31)
the month of your birth (1-12)
the year of your birth

For the year, you need to add all the digits together, so if you were born in 1962 the number you need is 1+9+6+2= 18.

Some numerologists say that the whole of your date of birth should be added together - so, for example, if you were born on 15/08/1965 a special number for you is 1+5+8+1+9+6+5=35.

If you use this numerology system take your date of birth, take your partner's date of birth, do the calculations, and you should have your 6 numbers. If it is your destiny/fate to win the lottery these numbers should come up... keep playing them.

How to win a BIG Jackpot

As explained above, one of the most common ways of picking numbers for the lottery is by using birthdays of family members - even for those people who don't understand/follow numerology. As a result, most lottery entries contain a lot of numbers from 1 to 31 (days of the month) and 1 to 12 (months of the year).

When any lottery machine picks lots of numbers in these low ranges there tends to be more winners, so the jackpots are shared amongst more winners - the jackpot is therefore lower.

If you want to win a BIG jackpot, make sure that you have picked some numbers beyond the range 1 to 31 - and especially beyond the range 1 to 12 - there will be less people doing so - the jackpot (if you are lucky enough to win it!) will be BIGGER!

How To Win The Lottery