Five ways to boost your chance of winning the biggest ever EuroMillions jackpot tonight
A record breaking jackpot of £168 million is up for grabs tonight and here's how to improve your chances
THE EuroMillions jackpot has be rolling on since September 1 and has now reached a whopping £168 million.
After no one claimed the top prize on Tuesday's draw, you now have another chance of winning the pot of money on Friday.
If the top prize draw is won by a single ticket holder then it would be the biggest ever EuroMillions winner in the UK and Europe.
Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs in North Ayreshire in Scotland, are the current record holders after scooping £161 million in 2011.
In fact, if you won the full prize tonight, it would put you straight at joint 672nd on the Sunday Times Rich List, ahead of Sir Tom Jones and F1 driver Lewis Hamilton.
But with a huge number of people from all over Europe expected to enter the lucky draw, how do you make sure that you stand out?
Here are a handful of ways you can increase your chances of getting your numbers picked.
And remember, you've got until 7:30pm tonight to buy your ticket and choose your lucky numbers before the lottery balls are drawn.
Up sticks and move house
Okay, so this one may seem a little drastic, especially as people from all nine participating countries have scooped the big prize at least once (and it's unlikely the numbers are affected by where you live).
But it's interesting that France has had the most success when it comes to the scooping the EuroMillions Jackpot, with 87 winners.
Not far behind and in second place is Spain with 82 jackpot winners and the UK is in third place, with 68 winners.
UK prize winners have scooped five EuroMillions jackpots this year. The biggest win - a hefty £87 million - was claimed by an anonymous ticket holder.
Only two jackpots have been won by players who live in Luxembourg.
Other European countries taking part in EuroMillions include Austria, Belgium, the Irish Republic, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland.
Split the difference and join a syndicate
It's common sense that if you enter the lottery more than once then you increase your chances of winning. But At £2.50 a go, this can turn into a very expensive gamble.
You could join forces with friends or family to make a syndicate and enter the lottery together.
A syndicate is a group of people who pool their lottery entries together and agree to split the winnings if they scoop a prize.
For example, if there are six of you and you buy a ticket each, then you've got six times the chances of you winning.
And if you won the EuroMillions tonight and split £168 million equally among your syndicate, you'd take home £27,833,333 each.
Back in 2012, a syndicate of 12 Stagecoach bus drivers won £38 million in the lottery draw and picked up £3 million each.
Play high numbers to help you win big
Okay, so this trick won't actually give you any more chances of winning the prize but it does mean you could win more money.
So how does that work? To play the EuroMillions, you have to choose five numbers from one to 50.
Many studies show that most people play numbers based on special dates, like birthdays and anniversaries.
Who are the biggest UK EuroMillions winners?
Since it began in 2004, 91 ticket holders have won the EuroMilllions jackpot or a share of the jackpot prize. Here are the top five biggest UK scoops:
- £161m - Colin and Christine Weir, Largs, North Ayrshire - July 12th, 2011
- £148m - Gillian and Adrian Bayford, Havervill, Suffolk - August 10th, 2012
- £113m - Anonymous - October 8th, 2010
- £107m - Neil Trotter, London - March 14th, 2014
- £93m - Anonymous - June 12th, 2015
That means that by picking numbers over 31, you'll decrease the chances of having to split the prize with someone else who also chose the winning numbers.
Choose the winning numbers
Although there is no mathematical significance, certain numbers do come up more often than others in lottery draws.
Since the EuroMillions began in February 2004, number 50 has been drawn 122 times, ball 44 121 times and number 19 has been drawn 119 times.
Number 46 looks like it might be the unluckiest number, having only been drawn 75 times.
Set up a direct debit and don't miss a week
If you want any chance of becoming a multimillionaire overnight then you have to enter the competition.
The EuroMillions takes place every Tuesday and Friday evening and you can enter via a kiosk at your local newsagents or supermarket.
But it can be easy to forget to enter before the big money draw.
You can make sure you don't miss out by setting up a direct debit via the EuroMillions website.
This way, you will automatically be entered into the competition up to twice a week. You will be billed for this every month.
You can choose the set of numbers you'd like to enter or you can choose the Lucky Dip option where they will be generated randomly.
Players must be 16 or over and it costs £2.50 per entry.
LOTTO ANGER National Lottery punters fuming over jackpot rollovers with no winner for FIVE draws
To date, 91 UK ticket holders have won the EuroMillions jackpot or a share of the jackpot prize, and in total, British EuroMillions players have won in excess of £7.3 billion.
Andy Carter, The National Lottery’s senior winners’ adviser, said: “Don’t leave it late and risk missing out on getting a ticket.
“Get online or visit a retailer to ensure you are in with a chance well before the draw closes. This extraordinary sum would be life-changing for the winner.
“We are poised to support them from the moment they claim. We have champagne on ice ready to celebrate if they set a new record win.”
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