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Lottery gurus, including probability expert David Hodge, explain why it is better to play as a group, and why to avoid “overdue” numbers
EVERYONE wants to win the lottery – but what if we told you the secret to scooping the giant £131million Euromillions jackpot tonight?
Lottery experts have exclusively shared their ultimate tips with Sun readers on how to boost your chances of walking away with the entire mega prize up for grabs.
Maths whizz David Hodge, a lecturer in statistics and data analytics at the University of Glasgow, and Simon Horne, from The National Lottery operator Allwyn UK, share their winning formulae.
Plus Lottery Guy, who has been dishing out winning tips on his blog since 2004, shares how he helps players win big.
Millions of us buy a Euromillions ticket each week, which means there is fierce competition for the top £131million jackpot prize up for grabs tonight.
There have been huge jackpots available recently – a record-breaking £208million prize that was won by a lucky Irish ticket holder last month.
You pick five numbers from 1-50 and two lucky stars from 1-12, or you can choose a lucky dip – which is when the numbers are randomly selected for you.
If you’re lucky enough to have the winning ticket tonight, you’ll instantly become richer than the likes of superstars Daniel Radcliffe, Dua Lipa and tennis ace Andy Murray.
From picking your lucky numbers to joining a syndicate, there’s a heap of practical ways to boost your chances of getting richer overnight.
Of course, the only real way of increasing your chances of winning is to buy more tickets.
Make sure you gamble responsibly. Only gamble with money you can afford to lose, and set a money limit before playing.
If you need advice, visit gamcare.org.uk or GambleAware.org.
Do you have a set of numbers you stick to religiously, but have noticed they just aren’t working for you?
Keep an eye on how often your numbers are being drawn, and if they’re not coming up as often as you would like, you can try a different tactic.
The National Lottery app stores all your tickets from draws you have entered.
The app is free to download from either the App Store on iPhone, or the Google Play Store on Android devices.
That means you can go back in and check your most profitable numbers.
Make a spreadsheet of how often your lucky numbers are being drawn, and every three months, see whether it’s worth keeping them or ditching them for alternatives.
Timing matters when it comes to buying your ticket, said Simon.
If you leave it to the last minute, then there’s a risk that you run out of time to buy yours.
You need to buy your ticket before 7:30pm tonight – otherwise you’ll miss out.
“My main advice is not to leave it too late – don’t rush into the newsagents or load up your app at 7:25pm,” he said.
“You might not be able to upload money onto your online account, or buy your ticket, in time, and you could miss the draw.”
You must pick five main numbers between 1-50 for your EuroMillions ticket and two “lucky star” numbers from 1-12.
It may be tempting to pick your and your loved one’s birthday dates as your main numbers with the hope they bring you luck.
But Lottery Guy said it’s best to avoid this tactic.
This is because there will be lots of people picking birthday dates too. Birthday dates are numbers between 1-31.
There’s a greater chance of having to split the pot between other players if you’re lucky enough to hold the winning ticket.
He says: “Avoiding these numbers doesn’t increase your chance of winning, but if you do win, you’re much less likely to split the prize with other winners.
Adrian Bayford became one of the UK's biggest Euromillions winners in 2012 when he scooped the £148.6 million jackpot.
The former postman celebrated his gigantic win by ordering Domino’s pizza for him and his then-wife, Gillian.
Speaking about the win at the time, Gillian said: ” “I checked the numbers on my phone, the TV, the internet — and we just looked at each other and giggled.”
Adrian and his wife divorced just 15 months after their win, with Gillian later saying the money had come between her and her family.
Adrian has splashed his winnings on various ventures since.
He purchased a Grade II listed estate, Horseheath Lodge, in Cambridgeshire for £6.5million, complete with luxurious amenities.
In 2020, he bought two estates in Scotland — he paid £1.1million for one in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, and days later splashed out 1.35million on another plush pad just 12 miles away.
He has also previously run small businesses on his estate, including a record shop, a pub, and even organised a music festival dubbed a ‘mini Glastonbury’ on his Cambridge Estate since 2017.
In 2023, he began renting out a cottage on his property as an Airbnb for £110 a night, and the following year began renting out a farmhouse on the 189-acre estate for extra cash.
Adrian planted grape vines in 2024, aiming to produce sparkling wine. His vineyard is roughly the size of six football pitches.
Together with his fiancée Tracey Biles, he has been growing his own food in a new kitchen garden, as well as creating a large carp pond and raising goats and pigs.
You have to be in it to win it, so if you want the chance of scooping a jackpot, you must buy a ticket.
But certain days are better than others to play.
Lottery Guy said Tuesday is actually the best day to buy a ticket rather than Friday.
He said: “With EuroMillions, Friday is the much more popular day, so you’ve got more competition on a Friday.
“Consider focusing on the Tuesday draw if you want to keep more of that jackpot for yourself.”
YOU'VE got to be in it to win it.
Every time you buy a ticket the odds of winning increase.
But WARNING – only spend what you can afford. At the end of the day, it’s down to luck.
This is why some people prefer to be part of a syndicate, where multiple tickets are bought.
While this means you’ll have to share the pot, the odds become more favourable each ticket you buy.
Probability pro David Hodge said the key to playing the Euromillions is to pick numbers that other players will not.
That’s because, statistically, each number has an equal chance of being drawn, so there is no such thing as a “lucky” number.
He tells Sun money: “Any prize could be theoretically shared, so you will want to be the only one who wins if you do win.
“So that means you need your numbers not to be other people’s numbers. That means avoiding number patterns.”
Picking “boring numbers” – those which do not stand out in any way – is a good tactic, he said.
These are numbers that have been drawn out an average number of times in the Euromillions draws.
So 37, 24, and 13, which has been drawn a mediocre 91 times, could be a good option, as well as 32, which has been drawn 90 times.
“Pick the ones that look boring and that people won’t be interested in,” David adds.
Likewise, don’t pick “overdue” numbers – which are the numbers drawn the least number of times in Euromillions games.
David says picking these numbers is a common tactic players follow.
Again, that means that if you win, there’s a greater chance of splitting your winnings with other people.
“People might look for numbers that haven’t come up very often, because they think they’re due to come up soon,” said David.
“This is nonsense, because past numbers have no effect on what’s going to happen in the future.”
You might be tempted to pick “weird” number combinations thinking that no one else will.
That’s sequences like:
But picking “weird” combinations is a surprisingly common tactic, says David.
“If you think something is a weird combination, it’s likely that other people will think it’s weird too, and will likely pick that combination too.
“That’s because your brain holds onto anything that fits some kind of pattern.”
The key is to avoid number patterns, he says.
What better way of avoiding number patterns than to pick a lucky dip?
This is when the numbers are randomly selected for you by a computer when you buy a ticket at the till.
David says: “Humans are notoriously bad at picking random numbers.
“So it’s likely that your attempt at picking five truly random numbers will probably fail.
“The key is not to be biased towards any number.”
A lottery syndicate is when a group of people put money into a pot for lottery tickets.
There will be one person in charge – called the syndicate manager – who is in charge of buying tickets and sharing out any winnings out among the group.
The syndicate manager will need to register the group with the National Lottery and list themselves as the person in charge.
Playing with a group could be a good way of boosting your chances of winning, as Simon, from The National Lottery operator Allwyn UK, explains.
He says: “If you join a syndicate of 10 people, then there’s 10 tickets and 10 chances of winning, so there’s clearly a greater chance of winning compared to if you just bought your own ticket.
Simon advises players in a syndicate to draw up a list of terms and conditions that they all must agree to and sign.
He adds: “If there’s any confusion or complications down the line, then you can refer back to the agreement and then everyone knows where they stand.
Of course, the biggest downside to a syndicate is that you will have to split the pot among the whole group equally.
So if you played in a group of 10 people and you won the £131million jackpot, each person would walk away with £13.1 million.
Of course, that’s still big winnings to walk away with, but it’s certainly something to consider.
WHO'S bagged the biggest lottery wins? We reveal the top 10 richest players.
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