UK Lottery - do you do it?

[VR46]

Can't believe it's been going twenty years now, can remember when it started back in 1994 at a quid a go and was just once a week.

Personally I haven't spent a penny on it since about a month after it started (and I hadn't won), would rather gamble a couple of quid on Liverpool winning that weekend.

Anyway, see poll, how many of you live in hope every Wednesday and Saturday evening?

[importaku]

Seems a fun gamble, yeah the statistics are pretty grim but if you play you still stand a chance. Most i have won so far is ?200 for ?2 a week i'm happy to play can easily waste that on something else like snacks.

[dave heats]

I play it. I've got a direct debit set up online for twice a week, with random lucky dip numbers. Incredibly, I've managed to win ?25 every month for the past 4 months or so.

The excitement you get when you receive an email for National Lottery with the subject "News about your ticket!" is immense. The disappointment when you find out it's not alot of money is even more incredible however.

[kryss]

Used to play it back in high school (!), mum still does. I'm in 3 groups at work for the Canadian ones, including the housekeeping group that gets in $250+ worth of tickets every week yet hasn't hit the jackpot yet.

[BaronSqwelch]

Similar to Mr Heats...have a direct debit for one line in both draws. Don't give it a thought til the occasional "You have won!" mail. Hopefully one day its ?25million not ?25

Lots of people I know cut down or gave up when they doubled the fee to ?2

[speedlolita]

Are you able to just use the same numbers each time? I always considered that the most likely way of winning but I dunno if that is allowed or whatever.

[VR46]

Yeah you can use whatever numbers you want every week, don't have to change them or anything.

[EJG1980]

I'd never ever play with the same numbers, only ever lucky dips / random numbers. Imagine the horror of your numbers coming up on a week where you forgot to buy a ticket!

[Lebowski]

For just 2 pounds a week you could help some of the poorest art gallery owners in London make a living, so don't delay donate today.

Am I bitter that the arts in London takes a massive amount of lottery money with just some bourghrs of london eclipsing what is spent else where take for example Westminster (?393.7m), Lambeth (?171.8m), Camden (?143.2m) and Islington (?122.2m). then look at somewhere like Bradford which you would think needs investment over the 20 years the lotto has been running they have been given (?18.7m)

[Colin]

Won ?60k with a few lads from work on a Friday night draw a few years back, about two weeks before Christmas. Which was nice as all being self employed we don't get holiday pay!

[Asura]

Are you able to just use the same numbers each time? I always considered that the most likely way of winning but I dunno if that is allowed or whatever.

I'd never do that...

I'd never ever play with the same numbers, only ever lucky dips / random numbers. Imagine the horror of your numbers coming up on a week where you forgot to buy a ticket!

... this is why.

Also, using the same numbers each week gives you no more likelihood of winning than using different numbers every week. It's similar to how you'd probably never choose "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6", but they have as much chance of appearing as any other combination (as the order in which the numbers are drawn doesn't factor into it; they just get sorted after drawing).

[dave heats]

Won ?60k with a few lads from work on a Friday night draw a few years back, about two weeks before Christmas. Which was nice as all being self employed we don't get holiday pay!

Christ! We have a forum winner, unless anyone else has had a bigger win?

A mate of mine's family won the full jackpot a few years ago. Never saw them again after....funny that

[Neon Ignition]

Most I've ever won was a tenner. In twenty years I've only heard of two big wins. One was for ?120,000 by a guy I worked with and the other was a man who lived a few doors down from us who won around ?7m. Both utterly wasted it all in quick order. The fall in the jackpot has also killed much interest in it, don't know many who bother with it these days.

[dvdx2]

numerous 3 number wins and two 4 number wins (on netting a measly ?16, the other ?120

[Jamie]

I do it in a syndicate at work, ?1 each a week, and there's about 20 of us, so 10 lucky dips. Apart from the odd 3 numbers we've not won a sausage.