While winning the lottery caps most of our expectations, the chances of it coming to fruition are incredibly small.
Some people can go their entire lives without matching a single number - while others bag a consolation fiver here and there, or a free lucky dip.
But others have been really lucky and won mega millions on the National Lottery's draws - but how much is skill and how much is down to complete luck?
The Mirror reports that according to gaming expert Francisc Csiki from online casinos comparison service CasinoAlpha there are things you can do to boost your chances of winning big – from being careful with the numbers you pick, to which lottery you enter.
So which UK lottery should you enter if you want to have the best chances of winning?
Francisc said: "For your best chances of success, the People’s Postcode draw is the go-to game," adding: "Participants can play in daily, biweekly, and monthly draws, with jackpots of £1,000, £30,000, and £7.9m. The daily draw awards the money to one winner in 20 postcodes, and the Saturday and Sunday draws provide the award to a player in one postcode.
"The monthly draw money is spread among one postcode area’s participants."
He continued, however: "Receiving a return for entering the raffle does not mean you will necessarily break even."
Instead, if your aim is just to win big, the EuroMillions is your best friend – but that doesn't mean you're likely to win. Francisc said: "EuroMillions provides the biggest jackpot, but choosing the winning numbers is unlikely.
"This is generally the case for all options: a high maximum prize is counter-balanced by low odds. For the EuroMillions, for example, there is a 1 in 139,838,160 chance of winning the jackpot but a one in 13 chance of winning any amount of pay-out."
So how do you boost your chances of winning? Francisc has said although you could be tempted to use special dates or numbers when choosing – you shouldn't. He said: "The argument is simple.
"While you may think these numbers to be very personal to you, there is a big chance that you share your lucky numbers with thousands of other players. Additionally, lucky numbers, dates of birth or other such combinations usually cover a small range of possibilities.
"You are essentially lowering your likelihood of getting the right match alone."
One good tip is to pick double digits higher than 31, as they will not be included in those who pick birthday numbers. He also pointed to two numbers that are more likely to come up in a lottery draw according to Arin Zargarian’s 2020 paper on the statistical analysis of Powerball winning numbers – 21 and 23.
What's the most you've ever won on the National Lottery? Let us know in the comments section.
Read next:
