Lucky UK Lotto, Set For Life and Thunderball numbers

UK Lotto

Six from 59, the largest single pool of any six-number game here, and therefore the longest odds of them. There are 45,057,474 ways to choose 6 numbers from 59, and a line covers exactly one of them, which is the whole arithmetic behind the 1 in 45,057,474.

Set For Life

Five from 47 plus a Life Ball from 10. The top prize is paid monthly for thirty years rather than as a lump sum. There are 1,533,939 ways to fill the 5 main numbers, and each must also land the right Life Ball, one of 10 possibilities, from a separate pool, which multiplies out to the 1 in 15,339,390.

Thunderball

Five from 39 plus a Thunderball from 14. A small jackpot and much the best odds of the three UK games here. There are 575,757 ways to fill the 5 main numbers, and each must also land the right Thunderball, one of 14 possibilities, from a separate pool, which multiplies out to the 1 in 8,060,598.

UK Lotto: All the ways this can pay

The same counting that gives the jackpot figure gives every tier below it: ways to match exactly that many numbers, divided into the total number of possible draws.

Read as: one line, that exact match. Whether it pays anything is the operator's rule, not arithmetic.

Set For Life: All the ways this can pay

The same counting that gives the jackpot figure gives every tier below it: ways to match exactly that many numbers, divided into the total number of possible draws.

Read as: one line, that exact match. Whether it pays anything is the operator's rule, not arithmetic.

Thunderball: All the ways this can pay

The same counting that gives the jackpot figure gives every tier below it: ways to match exactly that many numbers, divided into the total number of possible draws.

Read as: one line, that exact match. Whether it pays anything is the operator's rule, not arithmetic.

UK Lotto

UK Lotto draws from 59 numbers. The calendar reaches 31 of them, about 53 per cent of the board, and leaves 28 that no birthday can produce. A slip filled from memory almost always stays under 32, because that is where the calendar stops. Lines built entirely from calendar numbers make up 1.6 per cent of the possible lines, and a far larger share of the tickets people fill in by hand. The high numbers are not luckier. They are lonelier, and that is the whole of the effect.

Set For Life

16 of the 47 numbers on a Set For Life form are above 31, which puts them outside every birthday, anniversary and door number in play. Dates cannot reach past 31, so every line built from one crowds into the same stretch of the board. Lines built entirely from calendar numbers make up 11.1 per cent of the possible lines, and a far larger share of the tickets people fill in by hand. A line reaching above 31 wins no more often. It is held by fewer people when it does. The Life Ball pool stops at 10, so that one sits inside calendar range whatever you do with the main numbers.

Thunderball

8 of the 39 numbers on a Thunderball form are above 31, which puts them outside every birthday, anniversary and door number in play. Dates cannot reach past 31, so every line built from one crowds into the same stretch of the board. Lines built entirely from calendar numbers make up 29.5 per cent of the possible lines, and a far larger share of the tickets people fill in by hand. The high numbers are not luckier. They are lonelier, and that is the whole of the effect. The Thunderball pool stops at 14, so that one sits inside calendar range whatever you do with the main numbers.