Our latest research reveals the luckiest towns and cities in the UK, based on good weather, the number of lottery winners and the number of famous residents.
Luck plays a bigger role in our lives than we might think, whether it’s dodging a downpour, stumbling upon the perfect job, or even winning the lottery. But could the city that you live in be the secret to living a luckier life?
The team here at online casino Betway have conducted a study to find out which UK cities have luck on their side, ranking them based on the sunshine levels, lottery wins, quality of life score, and even the number of famous residents.
Where are the luckiest towns and cities in the UK?
The whole idea of luck stems from chance, that things happen out of our control. But some places seem to fare better than others when it comes to being lucky. We used the metrics to find out which towns and cities come out on top as the luckiest places to live.
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The Top 10 Luckiest Places in the UK |
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|
Rank |
Location |
Hours of sunshine per year |
Postcode lottery wins per 10,000 people |
No. of famous people* |
No. of famous people per 10,000 people |
Quality of life score |
|
1 |
Portsmouth |
1,713 |
42 |
314 |
16 |
173 |
|
2 |
Newcastle upon Tyne |
1,335 |
35 |
667 |
22 |
194 |
|
3 |
Norwich |
1,526 |
33 |
233 |
11 |
193 |
|
4 |
Aberdeen |
1,311 |
25 |
380 |
19 |
204 |
|
5 |
Ipswich |
1,555 |
31 |
190 |
11 |
n/a |
|
6 |
Swansea |
1,352 |
27 |
533 |
18 |
187 |
|
7 |
Southampton |
1,560 |
21 |
410 |
17 |
178 |
|
8 |
Edinburgh |
1,106 |
16 |
1,440 |
31 |
195 |
|
9 |
Glasgow |
962 |
16 |
2,304 |
39 |
190 |
|
10 |
Cardiff |
1,398 |
18 |
665 |
15 |
185 |
*Famous faces include actors, actresses, musicians and sportspeople.
Taking the crown for the luckiest city in the UK is the coastal town of Portsmouth. But what factors make its residents lucky to live there? Well, with as many as 42 postcode lottery wins per 10,000 people in the city, Portsmouth comes out on top with the highest number of lucky winners in the country.
It’s also the luckiest city in terms of the weather too–the city is treated to a glorious 1,713 hours of sunshine per year, more than anywhere else in the UK. While the rest of the country might be reaching for their umbrellas, Portsmouth residents are more likely to be soaking up the rays along the scenic southern seafront.
In second place, Newcastle upon Tyne has the second highest ratio of postcode lottery winners per 10,000 people and a high quality of life score of 194. Despite being up north, the city has 1,335 hours of annual sunshine per year, slightly higher than the average of all locations analysed (1,295). It has also been home to 667 famous residents, or 22 per 10,000 capita, suggesting a decent chance of making it in the big time.
In third place, Norwich stands out as a particularly lucky city. Not only does it experience 1,526 hours of sunshine a year, but it also has a high quality of life score at 193. Add to that 33 postcode lottery wins and 11 famous faces per 10,000, and you’ve got a city that’s truly on the up and up when it comes to fortunate cities.
Aberdeen comes in fourth place with an incredibly high quality of life score (204) and a healthy number of postcode lottery wins per 10,000 residents (25). Compared to its Scottish neighbours in the top 10 ranking, Aberdeen has a much higher number of annual sunshine hours per year at 1,311 compared to 962 in Glasgow and 1,106 in Edinburgh.
Ipswich comes in fifth with 1,555 hours of glorious sunshine per year, the third highest in the top 10, as well as 31 postcode lottery winners per 10,000 residents.
Meanwhile, London comes in last place out of the 40 locations analysed with just three postcode lottery wins and eight celebrities per 10,000 residents. London is followed by Dudley, Wolverhampton, Luton and Mansfield as the unluckiest locations in the UK.
The 20 locations with the most lottery wins
|
Rank |
Location |
No. of postcode lottery wins per 10,000 people |
|
1 |
Portsmouth |
42 |
|
2 |
Newcastle upon Tyne |
35 |
|
3 |
Norwich |
33 |
|
4 |
Ipswich |
31 |
|
5 |
Manchester |
29 |
|
6 |
Swansea |
27 |
|
7 |
Northampton |
25 |
|
Aberdeen |
25 |
|
|
8 |
Reading |
22 |
|
Plymouth |
22 |
|
|
9 |
Derby |
21 |
|
Southampton |
21 |
|
|
10 |
Walsall |
20 |
|
11 |
Milton Keynes |
19 |
|
Sheffield |
19 |
|
|
Coventry |
19 |
|
|
12 |
Cardiff |
18 |
|
Dudley |
18 |
|
|
13 |
Stoke-on-Trent |
17 |
|
14 |
Edinburgh |
16 |
Portsmouth isn’t just the luckiest city in the UK overall, but if you live in the city, your chances of hitting a jackpot are higher than anywhere else in the country! The seaside city boasts 42 postcode lottery winners per 10,000 people. While the odds are still slim, they’re better here than anywhere else, so you might just be in for a cash windfall!
Following closely behind is Newcastle, where 35 in every 10,000 people strike lucky, making it the second most fortunate city in terms of winnings. Norwich takes third place with 33 winners per 10,000 people, while Ipswich (31 winners) and Manchester (29 winners) round out the top five.
Is there a reason behind these winning streaks? Not really–luck is, by nature, random. But for those living in these locations, it certainly seems to be on their side.
Methodology
To find out the UK’s luckiest cities, we created a seedlist of 40 major UK towns and cities, then ranked them based on the following metrics:
● Sunshine hours per year – weatherapi.com
● Number of postcode lottery wins – lottery.co.uk
● Quality of life score – https://www.numbeo.com
● Number of famous people – We used wikepedia.org to work out how many actors, musicians and sportspeople come from each city.
