How to pick lottery numbers and win: 8 ways to increase your chances

Some people use family birthdays, others use lucky numbers, while some players swear by a fail-safe number-picking “system".

But whatever your method, picking the right numbers could change your life although, frustratingly there are almost as many ways of choosing lottery numbers as there are chances of winning it.

The first thing to realise is that the odds are very much stacked against you.

The chance of winning the National Lottery jackpot is 1 in 45,057,474, according to the Lotto website, while there is a 1 in 7,509,579 chance of getting five numbers plus the bonus ball. To win the Euromillions jackpot there is a one in 1 in 139,838,160 of all your numbers being drawn. But is there a way...