I’m a mathematician – my lottery ticket trick is a ‘guaranteed way to win cash’ but I never bother to play
EARLIER this year, math experts David Cushing and David Stewart worked out a way to guarantee they could win lottery money.
The mathematicians based their theory on the UK lottery game called Lotto, which involves choosing six random numbers from 1 to 59.
Their theory can technically be applied to other similar lottery games around the world.
Both researchers are from the University of Manchester.
They used geometry to work out that buying 27 tickets while choosing specific numbers guarantees you a win.
This may seem life-changing but the win won’t necessarily be big every time.
Lotto is the National Lottery’s flagship game in England.
Players select six different numbers between 1 and 59.
They can win a prize if they match at least two of the six drawn numbers.
The experts devised a sequence of numbers which meant 27 tickets would guarantee a cash prize, according to their research.
The study stated: “The minimum number of tickets of size six which are needed to match at least two balls on any draw of size six is precisely 27.”
Any less than 27 tickets could result in a loss.
Dr Stewart explained: “Fundamentally there is a tension which comes from the fact that there are only 156 entries on 26 tickets.
“This means a lot of numbers can’t appear a lot of times.
“Eventually you see that you’ll be able to find six numbers that don’t appear on any ticket together.
“In graph theory terms, we end up proving the existence of an independent set of size six.”
Usually, the theory does not guarantee a jackpot win and some players may just end up with a lucky dip prize.
Ultimately, you could end up spending over £50 ($64) on the 27 tickets and receive a much smaller prize.
The two researchers even reportedly told the New Scientist that they chose not to play the lottery.
WINNING NUMBERS
These are the numbers the maths experts say you should choose to win at the National Lottery every time:
- 1,2,3,4,5,6
- 1,2,3,4,7,8
- 1,2,5,6,7,8
- 9,10,11,12,13,14
- 9,10,11,15,16,17
- 12,13,14,15,16,17
- 18,19,20,21,26,27
- 18,19,22,23,30,31
- 18,19,24,25,28,29
- 20,21,22,23,28,29
- 20,21,24,25,30,31
- 22,23,24,25,26,27
- 26,27,28,29,30,31
- 32,33,34,35,40,41
- 32,33,36,37,44,45
- 32,33,38,39,42,43
- 34,35,36,37,42,43
- 34,35,38,39,44,45
- 36,37,38,39,40,41
- 40,41,42,43,44,45
- 46,47,48,49,54,55
- 46,47,50,51,58,59
- 46,47,52,53,56,57
- 48,49,50,51,56,57
- 48,49,52,53,58,59
- 50,51,52,53,54,55
- 54,55,56,57,58,59