SEKRETO SA PAGKAPANALO NILA SA LOTTO... IBINUNYAG NA!

The odds are against punters who use family birthdays to pick their lottery numbers. Statistics show four of the seven most frequently drawn numbers have been higher than 31 - the number of birth days in the longest months. The top seven numbers to pop up in the 1758 draws since the National Lottery launch in 1994 have been: 38, 23, 31, 25, 43, 33 and 44. And the worst number to put on your lotto ticket is 13 - which has been unlucky for everybody. Number 13 has only been drawn 203 times.

But top number 38 has proved a winner on 290 occasions - nearly 45 per cent more often than unlucky 13. National Lottery spokesman Simon Horne said yesterday: “More people do tend to play numbers under 31 - and particularly under 12 - because they use dates like the day and month of a birthday which is important to them. “We’ve had lots of winners who have used birthdays and at the end of the day it’s a lottery - if you have some lucky numbers then stick to them.

“1,2,3,4,5 and 6 have as much chance of coming up as any other combination. “But the stat that always gets me is that 13 is the least drawn ball - that’s amazing.” Since the lottery was launched 18 years ago 3,000 millionaires have won £8.5billion - the average jackpot payout is £2.8million.

Reasons to choose the top seven lotto numbers

38: Number of games in a Premier League football season. A snub nose revolver. Represents unnatural bravery in Norse mythology.

23: David Beckham’s shirt number for Real Madrid and LA Galaxy. Basketball star Michael Jordan wore the same number.

31: Justin Timberlake, John Terry, Jake Gyllenhaal, Beyonce Knowles, Christina Aguilera and Serena Williams are all aged 31.

25: England’s slowest motorway and the number of years celebrated by a silver wedding anniversary.

43: Name of a song by Level 42 and a Spanish liquor which contains 43 different herbs and spices. Michael Schumacher and Helen Christensen are both 43.

33: Believed to be the age of Jesus when he was crucified. Number of revolutions per minute of an LP record.

44: Barak Obama is the 44th US President. The United Kingdom’s international dialling code.


Top seven lotto numbers

Number Total drawn Main ball Bonus Ball % frequency

38 290 241 49 16%
23 280 242 38 15%
31 279 231 48 15%
25 278 234 44 15%
43 273 232 41 15%
33 273 234 39 15%
44 272 242 30 15%

Bottom seven lotto numbers

15 238 201 37 13%
36 238 204 34 13%
21 235 190 45 13%
16 223 194 29 12%
41 222 190 32 12%
20 221 172 49 12%
13 203 186 17 11%