Dare to Share

It’s a great topic of conversation, and one I’m sure we’ve all on boozy nights at the pub: “What would you do if you won the National Lottery?” “It could be you” is the selling phrase and yes, it could be you but the odds of it actually being you are 14,000,000 to 1 (well actually 13,983,816 to 1 but let’s not quibble over the 16,184 - you’re still pretty unlikely to win the big one). Even the odds of winning the minimum prize of £10 are 57 to 1. That means you’d need to spend £57 to have a good chance of winning £10 in a draw… That’s not great is it?

If you enter the lottery knowing this, and just do it occasionally for a bit of fun, then great but there are thousands of people that genuinely focus on this and believe that one day they will be the one and I hope they do but you should know there’s more chance of getting knocked down by a bus!

So here’s a few ideas of what you could do with that £1 you throw away every week:

1. Piggy Bank: This isn’t a requirement so don’t waste more money on purchasing a nice new Piggy Bank as a jam-jar will do! I know £1 a week isn’t much, or £3.50 a week if you happen to do the Midweek Lottery and Euro Millions draws. You’ll be saving a minimum of £52, over the course of the year or £182 if you enter all three! Just remember though, don’t keep digging into your piggy bank when you’re looking for change as you won’t have anything at the end of the year.
2. Save for a holiday: Yes, this is pretty much the same idea as the first suggestion whereby you save money each week but rather than just saving a single pound coin why not save £5 or even more - I’m sure a lot of you spend that much each week on the lottery anyway. Saving £5 a week will give you £260. Hunt around for a last minute deal on the internet and I’m sure you’ll be able to find something for £260 or less (we’ll discuss Cheap Holidays another time on Dare to Share).
3. Premium Bonds: Now, I realise you can’t add £1 to your Premium Bonds each week but this is a very safe way way of keeping your money and also being in with a chance of winning a £1,000,000 every month (2 draws are made each month so £2m is up for grabs). The odds vary depending on how long you’ve had your Premium Bonds for and the amount you invest (The minimum you can invest is £100 and the maximum is £30,000). There are also numerous other cash prizes each month but the odds of winning the big one aren’t great but then again you won’t be losing anything by having Premium Bonds and you’re free to withdraw your money at any time.
4. Give it to Charity: As you’ll be throwing away your £1 each week anyway surely you’ll feel better in the knowledge that someone will be benefiting from your money? There are numerous charities to choose from and most of them offer some kind of monthly direct debit scheme - usually starting from just £2 a month.
5. Enter another competition: If you’re dead set on the thought of a big win then why not enter another competition whereby you get charged for entering. Channel 5 gives away some fantastic prizes such as cars on Fifth Gear and hundreds of gadgets on The Gadget Show. Now, I’m not saying this is a wise choice - far from it - but the odds of winning one of these competitions is definitely lower than winning big on the National Lottery.

Okay, so I’ve given you a few alternatives rather than wasting your money on the National Lottery but for those that really have to get your weekly fix here’s a few tips on how to increase your odds of winning - or rather increase your chances of winning big if your numbers actually do happen to come up one week. Bear in mind that each number has just as much chance of another number coming up so don’t be precious about the numbers you choose.

1. Don’t select the same numbers every week: Now this is more of a tip than a way to win big but there’s a lot of people that choose the same numbers every week and memorise them. Just think though if you forget to enter one week and you happen to be watching the lottery and each of your numbers get called out - you’ll be absolutely gutted so either don’t choose the same numbers, get yourself a very bad memory or get that guy from Heroes to wipe your memory each week!
2. Avoid numbers such as 5, 7 9 or 13: Lots of people have lucky numbers but when they do they’re generally one of the “classic” numbers. How many times have you entered the lottery and added that Lucky 7 thinking that because it’s lucky you’ll stand more chance of winning? Trust me, you don’t stand any greater chance of winning and the odds of winning big are drastically reduced. Why? Because there’ll be lots of other people thinking exactly the same thing - so if 7 does happen to get drawn, along with the other 5 numbers, then you can be sure there’ll be a lot of winning tickets.
3. Don’t just choose Birthday Numbers: The same reason as above - if you choose numbers between 1 and 31 they’ll be thousands of others that do just the same so if you are lucky enough to win then you may be disappointed at the amount that’s written on the huge comedy cheque you get presented with. Now, I’m not saying choose all numbers over 31 but just don’t choose every single number between 1 and 31.
4. Only play Rollovers and Superdraws: Rather than entering every week, save your pound coins and only enter when there’s a rollover - as you’ll be entering more than one set of numbers, due to the amount of coins you’ve accumulated, you’ll naturally increase the chance of winning and if you do happen to be that lucky 1 in 14,000,000 then you’ll be walking away with big money.
5. Don’t just mark one line of numbers: When you mark off your numbers on the Lottery Slip don’t just go down a line of numbers and mark off all of them - be completely random - this is something a lot of people do so if you do win the chances of you sharing your win with numerous others is fairly high.
6. Just be totally random: Each number stands just as much chance as another number of being drawn - it really does - so just be totally random in your selection and hopefully, even though highly unlikely, one day “it will be you”.

Please, please, please don’t count on it though as I once heard there’s more chance of you being hit by a bus - going into hospital - walking out and getting hit by the very same bus hours later. I’ve no idea how they calculate these kind of odds but wow, that would be unlucky.

With that said there’s a story of someone being struck by lightning (3,000,000 to 1) and then going on to win £1,000,000 in the National Lottery - so yes, anything’s possible.

Good Luck in whatever you decide.