What we can do is help you make the most of your entries and get amongst the minor prizes while increasing your chances of winning more when you win.

The key point about lotteries is that while the winning numbers are NOT predictable, the people picking them ARE! This is why the prizes’ sizes will fluctuate every week even though the odds against winning remain the same.

For example, in lotteries all over the globe,  when the six winning Nos are all fairly evenly spread out between 1 and 31, the payout drops because billions using birth dates don’t go beyond 31 - the maximum days in the month. The same applies to the UK football pools, incidentally: dividends drop when eight or more score draws fall between 1 and 31.

So try to be a little biassed towards the higher Nos because when the higher numbers come up with half or more between 32 and 49, the payout will be higher too. If you are making just a single entry of six Nos, try to pick just three from Nos 1-31 and three from 32-49.

After birthdates, of course, people plump for Lucky Nos, not realising how myth, superstition and sundry mumbo-jumbo have driven people into regarding just a few numbers as “lucky” while other totally respectable and law-abiding numbers never get a look-in.

The Nos most commonly regarded as lucky are  3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 or combinations of them like 21, 27 and 33. When two or more of these come up, Lottery dividends often go down. Avoid Mr. Lucky Numbers - he sounds like an American serial killer. You can only call your numbers lucky AFTER you have won.

More ODD numbers are regarded as lucky than EVEN ones, so it makes sense to include, say, four even Nos and two odd Nos in a group of six if you can. If you must use birthdates or “Lucky” Nos, why not add them together? Make your numbers higher like that and you will raise your returns as well.

Another common practice is to make regular patterns on the boards, using 5, 10, 15, 20, 35 and 40, for example or 1, 7, 17, 27, 37, and 47, or arranging the crosses on the ticket so that they form a rectangle or star or even a Christmas tree.

Don’t! Try to stay eccentric: the outline of your boss’s nose is far less likely to figure on anyone else’s ticket than a square (If your boss’s nose is square, use another part of his anatomy.) On the week when an astonishing 133 people hit the jackpot on the British Lottery, four of the six winning Nos fell symmetrically in one column of numbers on the board.

Any sensible lottery entry will also include at least one pair of CONSECUTIVE Nos (26 & 27, for example, or 14 and 15) - because most people never use consecutives, even though they will occur amongst the winning Nos more than six weeks in every ten.

At the same time, jackpots are often won when there are larger gaps between a couple of the Nos - as in this set: Nos 6, 10, 31, 40, 46 and 47. This is because most people think it best to spread the net, leaving moderate gaps between all six Nos.

In fact the even spread of numbers can be over six times less likely to be the winning pattern than having a concentration of numbers at one point and a large gap some where else.  Our re­search shows that on most weeks there will be a gap of between 11 and 17 between two of the winning Nos.

Another point: people picking numbers at random tend to use more numbers from the inner parts of the block of numbers and pick fer numbers from the outermost top and bottom rows of numbers (1-5 and 46-49 in the UK) or the first and final columns of numbers. Psychologists have explained this preference for “inner” numbers as a subconscious desire to re-enter the womb.

So the Golden Rule of lotteries is this: avoid number patterns that most people favour. That way if your numbers do come up, you’re certain to win more.

Make your entry absolutely unique to you. DON’T allow astrologists, numerologists, psychologists or whateverologists to pick your numbers any more than you’d allow them to pick your nose. Whenever you read a whateverologist, you can bet your bottom dollar or even your bottom that tens of thousands of OTHER readers will be following the same advice.

Be more of a FOX than a SHEEP.

Equally, take no notice of any theory that the machine or the balls are biassed and that therefore some balls are more likely to come out than others. Most state or national lotteries use different machines and different sets of balls each week, so any guy who makes a big deal out of there being heavier paint on some of the balls must be well capable of slapping a coat of emulsion on his own.

In brief, when doing your lottery think C.A.S.H. 

- use some CONSECUTIVE numbers. Astonishingly many people NEVER use consecutives even though they are the type of number pairing MOST likely to occur.

- be ASYMMETRICAL. That sounds complicated but it isn’t. It means that you should avoid making patterns with your numbers.

At least ten thousand people do Nos 1 2 3 4 5 and 6 every draw, and they probably all think they are the only one doing it! Ironically, the set of six consecutive numbers that hold the record in the UK for going longest with one single number is .... 1-6. 

is for SYSTEMS. Use a plan or wheel like one of the 350 on our LottoWinner software (available here soon) and you will become more likely to enjoy the encouragement of multiple minor wins. Plans often have the effect of arranging people’s numbers into more eccentric sets of six that they would choose themselves, too. 

is for Higher Numbers. Remember that when the winning six numbers are low, so are the prizes.

Finally, if you want to discuss any issues raised here, please use the Message Board. In July, 2001, we rewarded one of the most regular and helpful contributors with some special information that helped him win £4,800 with a football bet instead of £1,300 - a handy £3,500 bonus! We like to look after our own.