Gary and Sue Ingrams from New Addington in Croydon banked £129,601 in the EuroMillions draw on Tuesday 16th June and told the press that they had picked their numbers based on their children’s ages. With most people choosing to have babies within a few years of each other, this approach could limit you to a narrow range of balls if you were to follow the Ingrams’ lead. Even so, Gary and Sue managed to match all five main numbers and are now looking forward to an early retirement.
The huge amount of people who use memorable dates for their lottery tickets preclude themselves from jackpot wins if a number greater than 31 is drawn and tend to have to share their prize with more fellow players if they do strike it lucky, diminishing their payout.
Similarly, picking numbers with obvious patterns could see you having to split the cash with a greater number of people. It was estimated in 1998, during research by a supercomputer into maximising jackpots, that over 10,000 Lotto ticket holders a week chose the combination 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, which had as much chance of being drawn as any other, but certainly wouldn’t see you become a millionaire. On Saturday 14th January 1995, the winning UK Lotto numbers all came from the central column of the lottery slip, meaning that a massive 133 players divided a £16.2 million jackpot, with each receiving just £122,510.
You might be best off picking a truly random selection for tonight’s EuroMillions draw and, if you need a little help, the EuroMillions Number Generator will do the hard work for you. For the more mystically-inclined, you can read about how your dreams can help with your selections at the Just For Fun section.
EuroMillions tickets for tonight’s £28 million draw are on sale now online or from authorised retailers in any of the participating countries. Sales close at 7:30pm BST (8:30pm CEST). Good luck!