Back when the lottery started in 1994, the odds of drawing all six numbers and claiming the jackpot were a huge 14 million to one. However now the price of a game is £2 and they sneakily stuck an extra ten balls in the drum. This increased your chances of claiming the big prize to an even more intimidating 45,057,474 to one. So how do you win now? Here are some winning tips:

Don’t play with the same numbers
The probability of the 6 numbers coming up are the same every week. Use this tool – http://www.mrgamez.com/lottery-calculator/ to test your numbers. It takes your 6 numbers and runs them past every draw since the lottery began. Would your “lucky numbers” ever have won a jackpot?

Buy a ticket in Romford
1,238 adults in Romford have won a prize of more than £50,000 since the lottery began.

Don’t use the most common numbers
According to the tool we built, the most common numbers (according to the lottery) would of only historically won £1,685.

Don’t think playing with 1 2 3 4 5 6 is a stupid idea
They have the same odds of winning as any combination. Also if you played with these numbers every week since the lottery began, you would have won £1,575. That’s right only £100 less than the most common numbers.

The most overdue numbers mean nothing
Lottery balls don’t have schedules. The odds are the same. Interestingly the current most overdue numbers (45, 49, 7, 24, 20, 3) historically would only have won you £640.

Don’t play with birthdays, unless you are a politician
The lottery now has 59 balls, by playing with birthdays you alienate 28 numbers. However Politician’s have the luckiest numbers. David Cameron, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill, John Major and Neville Chamberlin would have won £3,659,316 based on their birthdays.

Words: The Lottery Calculator