Will the Year 2013 Be Lucky?

Edinburgh's Hogmanay organisers have adopted a defiantly contrarian stance with its "Be Lucky!" slogan for its 2013 Hogmanay celebrations.

The number 13 is supposedly the unluckiest number of them all. It's the number that sends a tingle down the superstitious spine.

However, organisers of Edinburgh's Hogmanay have turned that on its head: tickets for the three-day New Year festival in Edinburgh went on sale on Friday 13th April.

Edinburgh's Hogmanay (this year's logo is pictured above) has also promised the first 10 ticket buyers who land on a 13 will get event tickets for free.

All this play on the superstitious reminded me of a recent statistic.

What has been the unluckiest number in the National Lottery Lotto?

Take a guess.

Yes, 13.

And by a fair margin.

In total, the number 13 has been drawn 198 times. The next number above it is the number 41 with 211 draws.

When you think that the number 38, the most frequently drawn number, has had 285 draws, it makes you wonder.