By Todd Northrop
In the category of 'better late than never', UK National Lottery operator Camelot has forwarded a copy of the Millionaire Map to Lottery Post for review.
Happily, this reporter can verify that the numbers of millionaires reported by the lottery in their previous statements accurately mirrors the information displayed on the Millionaire Map, although the public may be skeptical of the ability to locate 'lucky stores' based on the rough geography depicted in the map.
A UK National Lottery spokesman stated that "everyone wants to know where is the luckiest shop, village, city and so on," but it appears that the Millionaire Map will not be quite enough to sate that desire.
That's because sales of UK Lottery tickets are broken into just 11 different geographic areas, which does not appear to be detailed enough to pinpoint the number of millionaires in particular villages and shops.
Additionally, the map does not present the population-to-millionaires ratios that the lottery spokesman referred to, so the public can only view the raw millionaire count for each region.
Does the Millionaire Map provide a tool for lottery players to decide where to play the game, or not?
Is the lottery taking a step in the right direction by releasing this information?
Let us know in the comments section.
UK National Lottery Millionaire Map
(Click to display full-size in gallery)
I'm glad they were thoughtful enough to not pinpoint actual locations of the winners. This is a an interesting regional representation of the statistical data. Being familiar with population densities, this is an accurate map. It stands to reason that the London region would have the largest amount of millionaires. Was surprised at the number in the Scotland region....
I want Scottdale to be on the millionaire lottery winners map here in the USA!
what I need is a map of where I can pick up 'winners'
go there, buy the tickets and win
"Does the Millionaire Map provide a tool for lottery players to decide where to play the game, or not?
No, not really. It's too general and basically what most people would surmise on their own.
Is the lottery taking a step in the right direction by releasing this information?
Only if it takes it a step further and breaks the map down into its components and provides a larger, more detailed look at where the Jackpot winning tickets were sold. Not so far as to detail addresses necessarily but maybe separate and distinct pinpoints in the areas or neighborhoods they were sold.
I would love to see that done on a state by state basis in the US too.
Yeah, right.
That'll be happening - right after The Dragon Lady eats my liver with fava beans.
Hmm, no. It's useful for marketing because sites write stories about it. I'd be willing to bet the graphic didn't actually exist until people started asking for it, then the marketing department blundered into another chance for news coverage :-)
I've always found the concept of lucky stores quite bizarre though - surely the only people who are lucky are the ones who actually won, and the store that sold the ticket who get to enjoy a boost in sales (due to superstitious nonsense).