Lottery slaves and hot numbers

Should you stick to a formula or follow the form? Clifford German goes for variety

Clifford German
Wednesday 31 January 1996 00:02 GMT
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Lottery fever will be down to normal proportions this week after the second double rollover, but if the previous rollover is any guide demand for tickets will not fall below normal and the jackpot should be pounds 10m.

Last week's winners show that the public is not afraid to choose strings of numbers, such as 16 and 17 and 41, 42 and 43, and there are apparently several thousand people who regularly choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and will be bitterly disappointed at having to share the prize if such an unlikely sequence of numbers does come up.

There is no such thing as a winning system, of course, but choosing the same numbers every week is a recipe for total slavery to the lottery, because once you start you cannot stop for fear of missing the jackpot. Whatever the statisticians say, it also looks as if the same numbers do not often come up in consecutive weeks, so you could be reducing your chances if you get two winning numbers this week and repeat all the same numbers the following week.

Random selections may stand as good a chance as any, but most participants like to study form and go for numbers that have not won for a long time or for those that have come up relatively infrequently in the 62 draws to date.

Several numbers overdue for a win have come up in recent weeks but 22 has not won now for 22 weeks, and 9, 14 and 27 have also been waiting longer than they should. Numbers that have so far come up less often than average include 9, 13, 19, 20, 24, 36 and 37, but poor old 39 has only won twice.

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