Choose carefully, $23m is at stake

Today's $23 million Big Wednesday draw is the fourth-largest prize in Lotto history. Photo / Dean Purcell

Today's $23 million Big Wednesday draw is the fourth-largest prize in Lotto history.

And while there is no secret way to guarantee hitting the jackpot, a mathematician says you can boost chances of not having to share any cash you do win.

Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Auckland David Scott said: "There's no way of increasing your chances of winning but it's possible to increase your chances of getting more money and not having to share it.

"Avoid the numbers of 1 up to 30, where people choose their birthdays."

Professor Scott said that some mathematicians were working on more complex ways to pick the right numbers.

"There are more sophisticated approaches to picking numbers that other people don't choose because there are combinations people don't choose. It's actually quite hard to pick numbers that other people don't pick.

"You have to examine the patterns of what people pick and what pairs they pick and all that sort of thing."

The statistician said he was regularly approached by Lotto players when big prizes were up for grabs.

"There's always a discussion coming up to some sort of a jackpot and people get excited about it.

"I've had quite a few calls about it from time to time."

The biggest win in New Zealand was $36.9 million in 2009. It went to Masterton sisters Siobhan Logan and Fiona Wilton and two relatives.

More recently a Tuakau family destroyed their couch in excitement after they found out they had won $5.5 million in the Lotto Powerball on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for the family, who have decided to remain anonymous, said the couch caved in after a zealous "man hug" between two brothers in the family.

"The boys were a bit too boisterous for my sister's old couch - so it now has a few broken slats and a decided lean. However, my sister knows I am good for a new one," she joked.

The family collected their win yesterday in Wellington.