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Mathematics

Mathematicians find 27 tickets that guarantee UK National Lottery win

Buying a specific set of 27 tickets for the UK National Lottery will mathematically guarantee that you win something

By Matthew Sparkes

28 July 2023

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Buying 27 tickets ensures a win in the UK National Lottery

Stephen French/Alamy

You can guarantee a win in every draw of the UK National Lottery by buying just 27 tickets, say a pair of mathematicians – but you won’t necessarily make a profit.

While there are many variations of lottery in the UK, players in the standard “Lotto” choose six numbers from 1 to 59, paying £2 per ticket. Six numbers are randomly drawn and prizes are awarded for tickets matching two or more.

David Cushing and David Stewart at the University of Manchester, UK, claim that despite there…

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