The minimum prize levels in EuroMillions require matching any 3 numbers from all numbers drawn from 5/50 Main + 2/9 Lucky Stars.

Play 3 Lucky Stars

The idea of playing 3 LS numbers is to guarantee every line played will contain at least 1 LS match IF you managed to hit 2 LS. Match just 1 LS and every two out of three lines played will have 1 LS match.

The aim here is to maximise the winning potential of all lines played by having a head-start of having 1 or 2 winning numbers should you be lucky enough to match those LS numbers.

There are 3 possible permutations for 3 LS numbers; so the probability of matching both numbers is 3/36 or 1 in 12. Chances for matching 1 only is considerably better. This also means that you will need to play in multiples of 3 lines.

The selection of main numbers should cover as many different numbers as possible; the aim here is to lower the luck barrier in order to match as many (or all) the main numbers drawn, as it will only require 2 matches on a line (assuming you have hit 1 or 2 LS) to achieve the minimum winning prize levels.

Play All Lucky Stars

This idea requires a minimum investment of £72 for playing 36 lines.

You will have a 100% chance of matching both LS numbers on 1 line and matching one LS on 14 lines.

The only luck barrier now is to match at least 2 main balls AND they must fall within the 15 lines containing a winning LS number.

Now consider the average payouts for matching 2+1 and 1+2 of around £6 or £7 only; if you played a wide range of main numbers, the most likely outcome is that you will win 2 or 3 minimum prizes.

I would recommend playing a selection of around 10 numbers. Perhaps a full wheel of 5 from 7 (21 lines) and add another 3 or 4 numbers to the 7 full-wheel numbers to make up to the 36 lines. Matching 2 main numbers within the selection of 10 or 11 numbers will most likely produce multiple winning lines, but it will require 3 matching main numbers to return a profit.

If I have a healthy lottery fund, I will go for the second idea and I will randomly mark 3 LS to go against my 5/7 main number full wheel (to produce fabulous wins if some main numbers drawn landed there!). For the last 18 weeks I have been playing 3 LS with a selection of 11 main numbers; the game-match statistics is not impressive, only 8% win rate.