The Luckiest Numbers to Pick in order to Win the Lottery in the UK

Tue 21 Feb 2023 9.30 Olivia Cole

Since 1994, when the National Lottery was launched, thousands of people in the UK have become multi-millionaires. The first jackpot ever drawn was £5,874,778, certainly a tempting sum, but it was split by seven winners who, in comparison, took home quite modest winnings. Nowadays, jackpots have increased to more than a hundred million pounds for certain games, inspiring more people to buy a ticket and put their faith in a handful of numbers.

Still, the chances of winning the lottery are very slim, and relying on sheer luck may not be the best strategy. Many believe that if they select just the right numbers, fortune will finally smile on them. But is it possible to pick the numbers that will actually win? Probably not, since lotteries are established on a principle of randomness. However, some numbers seem to be drawn surprisingly often, while others rarely bring punters any jackpot wins at all. So, our team at CasinoGuardian decided to sift through hundreds of lottery draws and present our readers with the luckiest (and unluckiest) numbers of the National Lottery.

Methodology

UK Lotto

Lotto, the first lottery game available in the UK under the National Lottery franchise, is by far the most popular in the country. Between 15 and 45 million tickets are sold for each draw on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Players select 6 numbers from a pool of 59, and if all of them match the numbers in the draw, the jackpot is won, while 5 additional prize tiers are paid out for getting as few as 2 numbers right. The jackpot is rolled out up to 5 times, increasing in size each time.

Since the rules changed in 2015, when the number pool was increased from 49 to 59 numbers, the luckiest number in UK Lotto has been 52 – it has been drawn among the main numbers for the jackpot 100 times in the past 7 years. The second most frequently drawn number is 58 (92 times), followed by 39 (91 times). The least common main numbers, on the other hand, are 48 and 9, drawn only 66 and 67 times respectively. The luckiest Bonus Ball is 38 – having been picked 24 times – while the unluckiest one is 35, appearing only 4 times in total.

EuroMillions

EuroMillions was introduced in 2004 as a transnational lottery game, and can now be played in nine different countries, including the UK. It has a minimum guaranteed jackpot of €17 million, which can roll over up to €240 million. Players select 5 numbers out of 50 and add 2 lucky stars from 12 possible stars. There have been several changes to the rules, with the last one increasing the lucky stars ball pool to 12 in 2016.

Between September 27th 2016 and September 20th 2022, the most frequently drawn numbers were 20 and 21 (81 times), 17 (80 times) and 42, which was drawn 78 times. The unluckiest picks were 18, 22, and 40 which were only among the winning numbers 49, 50, and 51 times respectively. When it came to the lucky stars balls, the most frequently drawn were 3 (134 times) and 2 (133 times), while 5 and 10 were the least frequent winners.

Thunderball

With tickets available from £1 and a jackpot of £500,000, Thunderball is one of the most popular lotteries in the UK. The first draw was back in 1999, but since then, the game has changed – in 2010, the ball pool was increased from 34 to 39, and more and bigger prizes were added. Under the current rules, players need to pick 5 numbers from a pool of 39 plus 1 Thunderball, and if all match the balls drawn, they hit the jackpot.

The number most frequently drawn in Thunderball is 30, which landed 316 times between May 12th 2010 and January 7th 2023. The other lucky numbers are 29 (308 times), followed by 18 and 34 (305 times). The least frequent numbers are 12 (258 times) and 35 (259 times). The most common Thunderball numbers are 13 (182 times) and 3 (179 times), while the least common Thunderballs are 9 (135 times) and 2 (148 times).

Set for Life

Kicking off on 18 March 2019, Set for Life is a relatively new lottery and its premise is very different from most lottery-type games – rather than offering a huge jackpot that is paid out instantly, it gives winners £10,000 every month for 30 years. To win this game, players need to select 5 numbers from a pool of 47 and 1 Life Ball out of 10.

The luckiest number in Set for Life is 21, and in all 398 draws it has shown up a total of 57 times. The second most frequent number is 42, which has won 56, followed by the number 40, which has appeared 54 times so far. The least common number is 30 (28 times), followed by 1, 14, and 41 (32 times). Life Balls 7 and 6 have been drawn the most – 50 and 49 times, respectively. The unluckiest Life Ball is 4, appearing a mere 30 times.