Luck begins at forty

National Lottery

Two more long losing sequences came to an end in last week's Lottery, with both 8 and 20 winning for the first time this year, while a previous long-term loser, 34, came up for the third time in four weeks, making nine wins since the Lottery began.

The forties extended their lead as the most successful decile with two more wins last week. Only 44 and 45 have not come up recently, and their last appearances were only seven and 11 weeks ago respectively.

But 39 now has the double distinction of being the least successful ball, with just two wins, and now shares with 36 the longest running losing sequence with 22 weeks out of the frame.