Best 'system' I've heard: play only when jackpot exceeds £100m, use numbers above 31, avoid patterns. Not because it improves odds, but because it minimizes sharing and limits spending to big prizes worth the terrible odds.

Might be a sobering exercise... or might confirm you're due for a big win any day now (spoiler: you're not).

That said, I still check my 'lucky' numbers from 1995 every week, even though they've never hit more than 3 matches. Some habits die hard!

I've switched to just playing big rollovers now. £10 stake twice a year instead of £2 every week. Same terrible odds, but at least I'm not slowly bleeding money for nothing.

Ironically, if he'd used those numbers just once instead of every week for 15 years, he'd have been £3,000 better off overall!

Question though: does anyone actually know someone who won big with a 'system' versus QuickPick? Would be interesting data.

Spent more mental energy reading this thread than I have on lottery strategy in 10 years of playing!

But the prize-sharing logic is solid - avoid 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 type patterns that thousands pick. Even if odds are identical, your potential payout improves.

Psychological value has worth too. I spend £4/week on lottery vs £50/week on slots at Bet365, so relatively it's cheap entertainment.

It's like trying to strategically choose which raindrop will hit the ground first. The human brain simply cannot accept true randomness.

@sarah_g You mentioned tracking results - have you noticed any genuine patterns or is it just confirmation bias? I keep a spreadsheet but starting to think I'm seeing patterns that aren't really there.

Conclusion: Pick high numbers to avoid sharing if you're playing anyway.

Personally, I think the only 'smart' lottery strategy is buying tickets for rollovers when the expected value improves slightly. Bought 10 lines for that £184m Euromillions rollover - obviously didn't win, but at least the math made more sense.

That said, I use QuickPick for half my numbers and choose the others based on 'hot' numbers from the last 100 draws. Probably nonsense, but it feels more controlled than pure random.

I've been using a system: pick 2-3 numbers from each decade (1-10, 11-20, etc.) and avoid sequences. Won £84 on Lotto Hotpicks last month - not life-changing but better than nothing!

P(winning) = 1/C(49,6) = 1/(49!/(6!(49-6)!)) = 6! × 43! / 49! = 1/13,983,816

For Euromillions: P = 1/(C(50,5) × C(12,2)) = 1/((50!/(5!×45!)) × (12!/(2!×10!))) = 1/139,838,160

No selection method can alter these fundamental probabilities. However, the expected value changes based on prize distribution among winners.

I stick to numbers above 31 and avoid obvious patterns like multiples of 7.

The only 'strategy' that makes sense is avoiding popular number patterns to reduce prize sharing if you win.