There is no scientific certainty in the way most people pick their lottery numbers. Some people pick numbers based on their personal life events, like birthdays or ages. Other people pick randomly (or think they do) in the hope that one week they will get lucky and win it all.

To win the jackpot, the lottery’s biggest prize, you generally have to match all the numbers and the special additional ball. There may be six or seven balls altogether, but when you consider they are drawn from up to 60 numbers, the number of combinations possible runs into the tens of millions – and there’s no way you’d buy millions of lottery tickets to cover every possible combination, is there?

That’s why, when you buy the average of one or two lines in your lottery game the chance of you winning the jackpot is infinitesimally slim, but the chances of winning a secondary prize, by picking fewer winning numbers, is slightly higher.

When you choose, consider the two styles mentioned here, completely random and completely planned. The “planned” picks are best for people who believe in luck. They take numbers from birthdays, house numbers, important dates, anniversaries etc. as winning numbers, because they believe numbers associated with happy events or happy places will bring them luck. Some people do more research and look at the numbers that are most commonly drawn in their lotto, and them play them.

What if you prefer a more free-spirited, random approach? One thing you could try is play slip art. You could attempt to make your own unique pattern of marks on the play slip. Instead of choosing numbers in a straight line or on the diagonal, you could look for some pattern that appeals to you. Of course, you can let machines provide the randomness for you. In the UK and the USA people can rely on machines to pick their numbers. In the UK this is known as the lucky dip. In the USA, it’s quick pick.

It’s also possible just for fun to use online random number generators. Plenty of plenty of websites that will generate random numbers for you. Many of them have a specific lotto function. Or maybe just for grins, you could try a raffle at home. Use play balls yourself to simulate your own small lottery! Invite your friends! The advantage of the random approach is, if people have to think up their own numbers, the result is not really so random after all. Everyone is preconditioned to pick numbers that mean something, or that are seen as being lucky, and avoiding numbers seen as unlucky, whether we are consciously aware of them or not.

Some people swear by choosing randomly. They claim their chances are increased because most people tend to pick in similar ways. For example, the number 7 is always favored and seen as a lucky number. So is the number 3. If you are playing in an Asian neighborhood, of course, your unlucky number is 4 and your power number is likely to be 8. Numbers that are multiples of 3 or 7 are also very popular. Choosing randomly will get you rarer combinations. And if any of your numbers hit the jackpot, you will take home a bigger prize.

One more thing to consider when you pick your numbers is whether you will play them over again or change them every time you play. There are people who think that keeping your numbers once you have picked them means that eventually they will be drawn. The fact is, eventually, at least one or two of them will be. In this line of logic, if you are continually changing your entry, you can’t determine whether you are getting any closer to a win. If you play the same numbers every time, you might have a way of measuring how close your ship is to sailing in.

After saying all this, keep this one thing in mind: There just is no way to make your numbers magically appear in the jackpot draw-if only there were! So why not just have fun? Use your gut instincts, or use a computer, use any method you like. The whole point of the lottery is that anyone can win it, and why shouldn’t it be you?

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