How to Choose Your Lottery Numbers
A quick look at a simple way that you should choose your lottery numbers.
Many different countries run lotteries where buying a ticket could make you a millionaire if you have the luck of winning the jackpot. In the UK there is the National Lottery which has been running since 1994 where the player picks 6 numbers from 1-49 and win prizes depending on how many numbers they match, tickets costing £1 each. Matching 3 numbers will guarantee the player £10, matching 4 or 5 numbers will win more money, depending on how many other people also match the same amount of numbers. If a player matches all 6 balls they will win the Jackpot (shared between however many other people who match 6 numbers) but usually this will result in the winner becoming a millionaire.
It is true that any of the 49 balls have as much chance of coming out of the machine as any others do, but if you want to maximise your potential winnings you still have to choose your numbers carefully. One week in 1995 the numbers drawn in the National Lottery were 7,17, 23, 32, 38 and 42. Imagine you saw those numbers come out, looked at your ticket and found that you had matched all 6 balls, pound signs would be flying in front of your eyes. You would think you would have become a millionaire. In that week, however, there were a total of 133 people who had picked those numbers. If only one person had won they would have received nearly £16 million, but as it was they each won only £120,000 (a decent amount of money but it would not make you rich).
Researchers at Southampton University, in 1998, worked out that the most commonly chosen set of numbers was 7, 17, 23, 32, 40 and 42, while the least commonly chosen set is 26, 34, 44, 46, 47 and 49. Choosing the first set of numbers may see you winning less if you won the jackpot than if you chose the latter set. Well depends on how many other people have also chosen those numbers.
So how should you chose your lottery numbers? Well the best way to do it is to chose the numbers randomly but this causes a problem for many people . The reason for that is people, when choosing numbers, tend not to go for any consecutive numbers which means that they are not picking a truly random selection. It has been worked out that roughly 50% of all National Lottery draws contain at least one set of consecutive numbers and yet most people tend to avoid them.
At the end of the day, if you want to choose your Lottery numbers randomly, the best thing to do is not do it yourself, let the National Lottery’s Lucky Dip machine pick them for you (and then blame it when you win nothing.).
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15 Comments
Dendro Azures, posted this comment on Jan 14th, 2009
Argh!! Why didn’t I read this before I bought my ticket last night!
Good article.
Joni Keith, posted this comment on Jan 14th, 2009
Yay, I’m glad to hear that one set of consecutive numbers is a good idea. My regular selection includes 11 and 12 and I’ve always wondered if that was what was keeping me from becoming a millionaire 
Another great article.
Lisa Clayton Williams, posted this comment on Jan 14th, 2009
Have to show this one to my dad….he loves playing the lottery!
Great article!
seashell66, posted this comment on Jan 15th, 2009
Very informative!
Anna Ski, posted this comment on Jan 17th, 2009
I play every week without fail! But seldom do I win, that is big.
Once I came close in 1997. I had four plus powerball in the Powerball draw.
It was a second division prize of $4,500.00AUD which paid off all of my outstanding credit card debt, having $2,000.00 left to spend.
That went too, but I didn’t regret spending it.
If I had one more number I would’ve won a cool $1,000,000.00!!!
But fate has other plans for me.
Then in 2004, my hubby won $9,000.00 but had to split 50/50 as it was shared with his best mate.
So I do believe that one day, one way or another, if you persist then you will gain a chance in winning.
Otherwise, good luck to all that try!!!
Tusaani, posted this comment on Jan 17th, 2009
If I win, I’ll track you down and give you a good portion : )
Denise Kawaii, posted this comment on Jan 18th, 2009
Armed with this knowlege and a crisp $1 bill, I am confident that some day I might possibly maybe have a chance at winning
JP Seabury, posted this comment on Jan 31st, 2009
I know the “Law of Random” means that “any of the 49 balls have as much chance of coming out of the machine as any others do” … but doesn’t the “Law of Average” mean that if one number comes out this draw, it is less likely to come out in the next draw?
Imagine if there was a lottery based on the flipping of a coin: heads you win, tails you loose. You put your money on heads, knowing that you only have a 50/50 chance of winning.
Tails. You lose.
So the next week, you bet heads … because how likely is it that coin will flip tails two weeks in a row?
Tails. You lose again.
So the next week, you bet heads … because it’s now because the law of average shows that if you flip a coin often enough, it will come out heads 50% of the time.
Heads, you win!
Take the same logic and apply it to a 49 number lottery system. If you track all the winning numbers, you’ll also be determine which numbers have appeared the least number of times. Aren’t those numbers more likely to appear during the next drawing?
Doesn’t the Law of Average go against the Law of Random? I think I was absent that day in math class, because I just don’t get it.
Alistair Briggs, posted this comment on Jan 31st, 2009
Eh ‘If you track all the winning numbers, you’ll also be determine which numbers have appeared the least number of times. Aren’t those numbers more likely to appear during the next drawing?’ Well no!!
You use the coin to illustrate your outcome but with a coin there is only the two options not 49 (ok ignoring the fact that it could actually end up on its side). Two possible outcomes thus the law of averages count.
So then it could be true that ONE ball is more likely to come out the machine if it has not done so in a while. But the chance of the 6 balls that have come out the least to all come out at the same time is the exact same as any 6 balls from the 49.
If you were playing roulette would you continue to keep putting your money on the same number because you haven’t won on that number so it must be more likely to come up soon?????? No of course you wouldnt. And the simple reason for that is because, although all numbers have an equal chance of being hit it doesn’t mean that after 49 draws every single ball will have come out. Or after 490 draws every ball will have come out 10 times, or even after 4,900,000 that every single ball will have come out 490,000 times.
And of course the law of average goes against the law of random.
For example, on average everybody may break a bone in their body once in their life BUT that doesn’t mean you would definetly at some point break a bone.
Glynis Smy, posted this comment on Apr 14th, 2009
I will never win as I don’t do the lottery! An interesting insight, maybe I will try it.
Vertjaars, posted this comment on Apr 14th, 2009
I don’t play the lottery, but if I did, for the reasons in this article, I would pick 1 2 3 4 5 6.
Plus it would be AWESOME to win. Everyone would be pissed.
Juancav, posted this comment on Apr 14th, 2009
Must try this-
Luffy12, posted this comment on Apr 15th, 2009
my friend did all of that but no luck
SZM, posted this comment on Apr 15th, 2009
Gambling is forbidden (haram).
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cardy, posted this comment on Jan 14th, 2009
will have to give that a go let you know if i win lol good job.