Lotto vs Savings

VS

The other day a random thought crossed my mind - I have a lot of these, but discard most ;-) - "I wonder if I'll be in a better position at the end of 12 months if I put £2 on the lotto each week or if I put it in savings".

Logic, cynicism and probability would suggest simply putting the money in a shitty savings account would result in better, though meagre, returns than playing the lotto, but would it really? That's the thing about the lotto, the draw is purely random and all it takes is 3 numbers or more and you've already beaten the returns you'd get on even the best savings account. Who knows, I could win the jackpot and blow my experiment clean out of the water, but we'll see.

Rather than speculating and virtually playing along and calculating things or discarding the thought as another crazy idea, I decided I'd dive in play along. Why? Well, it would be fun, realistic and who knows, I may just win the jackpot - yes, I know I'm more likely to do/win/see/whatever many other things, but you never now. And we all know the best scientific studies are those in which the researchers take part :-D

Last week I topped up my National Lottery account with £104 and configured it to automatically play the same single row of numbers each Saturday for as long as possible. Recent changes to the lotto mean I can only play 8 weeks in a row before requesting a new ticket, so that's what I've done. I also deposited £104 into a bog-standard savings account which currently has a rather poultry 1.25% gross per annum interest rate, which is slightly better than most savings accounts on the high street. I know I could have gone for one of those savings accounts with a better introductory rate, but I already have this savings account open and I think using it would give a better picture of the outcome the average man on the street would get with his savings.

I've deliberately gone for the Lotto instead of the Euro Millions as I'm not greedy, there are less numbers to get so I'm more likely to win the jackpot and there are less people playing Lotto on a weekly basis so I'm not likely to share my jackpot winnings.

Last night was my first play and I got...

I'm not telling you if or when I win or lose, nor what my numbers are until the very end. I want to be sure this runs for an entire year with as little emotional and external influence as possible, though I can't guarantee this if I win the jackpot.

See you back here in a year's time, and remember... you've got be in it to win it :-D