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We also reveal the psychology behind picking the ‘right’ numbers and how to make your own lottery number picking game
QUIT your job, travel the world, buy a private island… what would you do with £14million?
You’d better get planning, because statistics lottery expert Ben Parker has given us the lowdown on boosting your chances of winning tonight’s massive Euromillions prize.
Ben Parker is a senior lecturer in statistics at Brunel University of London.
He’s previously crunched the numbers on how you can use maths to win at the hit TV show The Traitors – but now he’s given us the inside scoop on tips that many think could increase your chances of winning the entire top prize.
Euromillions is one of the most popular lottery games, so you’ll need all the help picking the winning numbers in the bi-weekly battle against other players.
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.
The jackpot tonight is £14 million. It comes after a lucky UK ticket-holder won the £26million prize on Friday’s draw.
Of course, the only way to increase your chances of winning is to buy more tickets – but only do that if you can afford it.
Make sure you gamble responsibly and only gamble with money you can afford to lose. Set a money limit before playing.
If you need advice, visit gamcare.org.uk or GambleAware.org.
Statistically, each number has an equal chance of being drawn.
That means that there are no numbers which are more likely to help you win.
The trick is to pick numbers that players are least likely to pick.
You don’t want other people picking your numbers, because if you are lucky enough to win in tonight’s game, that will mean you have to split the prize with other players.
“The odds of winning the Euromillions is 140million to one,” said Ben. “It’s really unlikely that you will win, but if you do, you’ll want to make sure you’re the only one getting the prize.”
One of the main ways that you can avoid picking other people’s numbers is to pick numbers on the left of the grid, and avoid those on the right.
That’s because studies show that people naturally gravitate towards the right-hand side.
That’s why retailers often place their higher value items to the right of the store, which is something known in the industry as the “invariant right”.
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.
A common tactic players use to choose their lottery numbers is to pick their “favourite” numbers, Ben said.
These numbers tend to be lower numbers.
He said: “People tend to pick birthdays, or pick 7 if they were born on the seventh month.
“They might pick their children’s birthday or their mum’s birthday, or how old their dog is – people tend to pick these smaller numbers.”
If you want to increase your chances of winning the entire jackpot then you should avoid these smaller numbers.
A good rule of thumb for what counts as a smaller number is one that falls outside birthday dates, which are 1-31.
So, aim for numbers between 32-50, as fewer people will be picking them.
BUILDER Steve Thompson treated his family to a lavish £4.5million estate after scooping the giant £105million EuroMillions lottery jackpot.
Steve bagged the huge win back in 2019, making him richer than Harry Kane and Cheryl Cole.
Neighbours near his imposing 7,000 sq ft farmhouse in Kent include Hollywood actors, rockstars and an IT tycoon.
Steve wanted his kids to have their own rooms because they had to share in their previous three-bed council house.
The dad-of-three and wife Lenka donated £200,000 in a bid to support their hometown, Selsey, in West Sussex. The huge cricket fan also gave a whopping £100k to the local club for a new pavilion.
Steve also invested a chunk of his win with the late Queen’s bank, Coutts & Co.
They reportedly put “tens of millions” into a trust and could be set for another huge windfall in years to come.
Steve said: “The kids have finally got their own bedrooms. It’s a simple thing but it was all they ever wished for.
“I still haven’t got over what happened to us and am honestly still trying to process it still.
“It feels like yesterday we were in our old lives — it will take a little while to adjust.”
When it comes to picking numbers, it is better to choose those that are totally random to increase your chances of being the only player with those numbers, Ben said.
That’s because humans are really good at picking numbers based on a pattern – even if you don’t realise you’re doing it. So it’s better to find another way to do it.
Of course, you can pick a lucky dip to do this for you.
But there are more fun ways to pick random numbers.
Ben suggests picking a random number from your contacts list stored in your phone.
“Pick random phone numbers in your phone book, and look at the last two digits.
“If those two digits are between 32 and 50, then keep it, otherwise pick another random phone number.
Make a game out of picking your numbers randomly – get the kids involved too, as it could be a fun family activity.
Balls with numbers printed on them are drawn randomly from a machine to pick the EuroMillions numbers.
Why not create your own random lottery machine? “You could get a load of ping pong balls, number them, then pick them at random,” he said.
“If you’re worried about the low numbers, don’t include those.”
If you don’t have ping pong balls hanging around the house, why not draw numbers from a hat?
This won’t increase your chances of winning – but it does increase the likelihood of picking random numbers and if you win, you could keep the entire pot.
Everyone is using ChatGPT these days – but should you use it to help pick your lottery numbers?
You might think that using the handy AI tool is a good way of picking random numbers, but Ben warned against it.
He said: “Chat GPT is terrible at maths,” he said. “It would just pick random numbers that have been seen elsewhere on the internet.
“It would probably pick last week’s lucky numbers because it knows those were good – and it will try to please you in some ways.”
OVER the years, there have been some monster lottery wins, with players around the world bagging millions.
Here’s the top five biggest lottery wins in the world:
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