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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
James Andrews

EuroMillions £169million jackpot – 4 ways to boost your chances of winning it all

If your numbers are picked in tonight's EuroMillions, you could instantly become Britain's biggest-ever lottery winner.

That's because the £169million jackpot eclipses the £161 million won by Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs in North Ayrshire, in 2011.

Andy Carter, the senior winners' adviser at The National Lottery, said that Tuesday's draw "must be won".

"If the jackpot is won, it could make the UK's biggest ever winner," he said.

In fact, even if they don't quite come up, you could still end up with a big share of it.

"If the jackpot isn't won on Tuesday, it will roll down into the next prize tier where there is at least one winner," Carter said.

You would instantly be richer than Adele (PA)
An awful lot of money is up for grabs (Getty)

On Friday, for example, three people in the UK had the next highest numbers - if three people win this time could would get more than £50million.

The good news is that while it's not possible to increase your chances of your numbers coming up, you absolutely can boost your chances of no one else picking your numbers.

That means if they do come up, you don't need to share a penny of your winnings with another ticket holder.

Here are the four methods we've found that actually work.

1. Go big

The bigger the numbers the better (Getty)

People pick birthdays. And anniversaries. That means the more numbers over 31 there are in a draw the lower the chances of you sharing your jackpot with anyone else.

For example, on January 17 2017, there were 5 numbers over 31 and no winners. On November 22 all the numbers were under 30 and 4 people won.

Dr John Haigh, emeritus reader in mathematics at the University of Sussex, said players should ensure their selection extended across all numbers up to 50.

He said choosing six numbers entirely at random with a combined total adding up to at least 200, to make the average above 30, mean any prize money would be shared with fewer people.

2. Go ugly

In general, people are tempted to spread out numbers evenly on the form and pick nice lines or patterns. So don't.

Cluster two or three together instead.

3. Go stupid

Trying to be clever could be a big mistake (AFP/Getty Images)

If 1-2-3-4-5, plus 1 and 2 in the Lucky Stars, ever came up (and there's no reason it couldn't) hundreds of people would win the jackpot. All of them thinking they were being clever.

Another common trick is to pick last week's numbers. Again it's an attempt to be clever and so many people do it you're wasting your time.

Oh, and in case you think adding “13” to the mix will help because people don't like it.. You're wrong, it's the 7th most-picked number. (The 10 most picked numbers, in order, are 7, 3, 5, 6, 4, 2, 13, 9, 11, 12)

4. Go online

You might be shocked to fund out how often winning tickets go unclaimed.

Last year alone there were £122.5million of unclaimed prizes. Looking a bit further back, an exceptionally unlucky player left a £63.9million EuroMillions win unclaimed in 2013.

That means if you're going to play, play online . It also means you won't forget one week (when your numbers are BOUND to come up) if you use a direct debit .

You will also be automatically notified of winnings if you forget to check the draw and – even better – there's no way to lose your ticket.

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