The Reverse Lottery - playing for free
Select six numbers that you would have put on the Lottery had you believed in magic. Just write them down, don't buy a ticket. Then watch the live draw and feel the adrenalin as you flirt with the slim chance you could be missing out on thousands or millions! Oh no, 18, I had that! Oh shit, 24, another one like this and I could have had ten quid! You get all the excitement of the "it could be be me" without the bothersome spending of perfectly good Kit Kat money on useless bits of paper.
( the ghost of last tuesday, Sun 13 Feb 2011, 13:44, 5 replies)

Then take up cutting yourself
when your numbers actually come up.
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Sun 13 Feb 2011, 13:47, closed)

I did this recently...
One morning I woke exactly at 4:44 - Thought, that must mean something.
The next day, I but random items in the staff shop, it comes to £1.47. I had exactly £1.47 in my hand, and it was all I had in change - Thought this must mean something.

Then watching Saturday's lottery "for a laugh" and the numbers 4, 7, 14, and 44 all come in. 4 numbers would probably have given me a couple of hundred, I'm not sure, as I'm not well up on the idiot tax scheme.

To be fair, I would not have broken 1.47 into 14 & 7, I would probably have chosen 1 and 47, but that's still a tenner missed out on.
( Piper Alpha is being a grumpy northerm bastard on:, Sun 13 Feb 2011, 16:09, closed)

Assuming you mean Saturday 22nd January, you would only have gotten three numbers (4 - 14 - 18 - 24 - 41 - 44 was the draw). Even if you had gotten an extra number (perhaps 41) then you would have gotten a grand total of £44, making a profit of £43 in total, a good return on investment but not anything worth crying over.

Or am I overthinking this?
(johnson, Sun 13 Feb 2011, 21:54, closed)

Assuming everyone in the UK took up this system, using just one set of numbers each, you'd average around 4 people per draw feeling like hanging themselves because they would have won the jackpot if only they'd played, plus another 50 or so cursing themselves for missing out on 5 + the bonus ball.

My system, which combines the thrill of possibly winning big, with low cost of playing, is to buy one set of numbers for one Saturday jackpot (preferably a rollover, for the extra thrill) and set it aside for five months. Then check your numbers and either revel in your new millionaire lifestyle or curse softly and purchase another ticket next Saturday that you'll check in another five months.

Or have I overthought this?
(johnson, Sun 13 Feb 2011, 21:46, closed)

you could enhance this
by imagining that you've been not-playing those same numbers every week for a year. every week: £52!
( spacefish bong!, Sun 13 Feb 2011, 22:01, closed)