Anyone looking to increase their chances of winning the People’s Postcode Lottery should move to the Outer Hebrides according to a new study.
The HS postcode has been named not just the luckiest in Scotland, but also in the UK, based on winning statistics data from the People’s Postcode Lottery since January 2011.
The research by SolitaireBliss studied postcode data from lottery.co.uk to determine the luckiest places in Scotland, based on how many People’s Postcode Lottery wins have occurred per 100,000 people in each area.
With 34 total wins, the HS postcode area has the highest number of wins per 100,000 people, 122.9, which is 130% higher than the UK national average and 72% higher than Scotland’s national average.
Couple this with one of the smallest populations and you have an even better chance of winning a bigger prize.
Just over 100 residents of Berneray and North Uist in the Outer Hebrides were the recent subjects of a Channel 4 documentary after scooping a £3 million postcode lottery jackpot in 2020.
Closer to the central belt, Perth (PH) was named in second place with 99.32 wins per 100,000, 86% above the UK national average and 39% higher than Scotland’s average.
Perth has 164 total wins compared to an estimated population of 165,118.
In April 2021, an 82-year-old granddad from Perth, Bob, won £30,000 for postcode PH2.
Galashiels (TD) in the Borders comes in third overall, due to having 89.66 wins per 100,000, 68% higher than the UK average and 25% above Scotland’s national average, based on 101 wins to an estimated 112,644 population.
The luckiest postcodes in Scotland:
Rank |
Postcode |
Area |
Population (est.) |
Wins |
Wins per 100,000 |
1 |
HS |
Outer Hebrides |
27,663 |
34 |
122.9 |
2 |
PH |
Perth |
165,118 |
164 |
99.32 |
3 |
TD |
Galashiels |
112,644 |
101 |
89.66 |
4 |
IV |
Inverness |
228,056 |
197 |
86.38 |
5 |
DG |
Dumfries |
151,139 |
128 |
84.69 |
6 |
KA |
Kilmarnock |
370,877 |
304 |
81.96 |
7 |
DD |
Dundee |
280,568 |
223 |
79.48 |
8 |
KW |
Kirkwall |
53,132 |
41 |
77.16 |
9 |
PA |
Paisley |
321,350 |
227 |
70.63 |
While Dumfries (DG) ranked in fifth place, earning its spot due to having 84.69 wins per 100,000 people, 59% greater than the UK national average and 18% above Scotland’s average, based on 128 wins with an estimated population of 151,139.
Kilmarnock, Dundee, Kirkwall and Paisley make up the rest of the top list, while Scotland itself, with six postcodes in the UK top ten, ranks as the luckiest country in the UK to win the Postcode Lottery.
Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson from SolitaireBliss said: “Postcodelottery.co.uk claims that over two-thirds of Great Britain’s postcodes are playing. Winners are announced every day, so why do some areas have greater luck than others?
"Some reasons for this can be due to the number of players registered for each postcode, so nine entries for one postcode will have greater chances of winning the Postcode Millions prize than a single person entering their postcode alone.
"This does not apply for any other prizes though, so for those postcode sectors that have greater than average luck when it comes to winning the £30,000 prize, it is likely that there are more individual postcodes registered in the area than usually seen elsewhere in the UK. You have to be in it to win it.”
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