It turns out that certain numbers come up in international lotteries way more often that others. While it should be completely random, and each number turn up an equal amount of times, that’s just not the case.
For example, according to new analysis, the number 16 is by far the most commonly drawn in winning lottery combinations, and 18 is the least common over the last year. The number 22 is the second most common number in lottery wins. 46 almost never comes up.
The team over at Jackpot.com, an online gambling site, compared 1,500 winning draws across 15 international lotteries over the past year to see which numbers come up the most (and least) often.
The luckiest numbers:
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16 – drawn 191 times over the past 12 months
22 – drawn 179 times
28 – drawn 167 times
37 – drawn 167 times
6 – drawn 166 times
3 – drawn 164 times
The unluckiest numbers:
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18 – drawn only four times over the past 12 months
46 – drawn five times
40 – drawn six times
41 – drawn seven times
32 – drawn eight times
36 -drawn eight times
Of course you’re still not going to win the lottery. The odds of winning the 6/49 are roughly 1 in 14 million and as for Lotto Max, it’s even worse: 1 in 28.6 million according to MoneySense.
How to win bigger prizes
While playing those luckiest numbers may increase your odds slightly, there actually is a scientific way to increase your prize winnings in the off chance you hit the jackpot. Play numbers over 31.
That is because most people pick their favourite numbers for sentimental reasons. They play loved ones’ birthdays. Since there are only 31 days in a month, far fewer people ever choose numbers higher than that. For that same reason the numbers 1 to 12 are among the most commonly played.
So, while numbers that cannot be calendar dates are not more likely to be drawn than any others, if you happen to win while playing them, you’ll be splitting the prize money with fewer other people.
