The internet is a wonderful thing. You can now do all sorts of things from the comfort of your own home when you used to have to go to a shop or put something in the post.
I now rent my DVDs online and they arrive through the post and I get my weekly groceries delivered to my door having ordered them from my list of favorites online.
The internet makes things convenient. So when I forgot to buy my lottery ticket again and missed out on a small prize Wholesale Basketball Jerseys China , I turned to the internet for help. I was surprised at what I found!
There was as I expected the ability to purchase lottery tickets online from the UK's National Lottery website. Great! No longer did I have to fiddle around with cash or get soaked in the rain going to the shop.
In fact they take care of it all - take the money from your bank account for the subscriptions automatically so that you never miss a draw, check your numbers for you without fail and pay you any winnings!
Paying you your winnings probably doesn't sound like a big deal - but since the UK National Lottery began in 1994, unclaimed prizes have accumulated to more than ?650 million [$1.17 billion]!
Checking that your numbers have won is probably the most useful service of all - because if you don't claim it you don't get it!
Then a few months ago I found the next step on - an online lottery syndicate system!
Sure - the official national lottery website offers a syndicate management tool - but not like this one.
I looked at it rather sceptically as anyone with an economics degree might! But I went through the numbers to check anyway. I was impressed.
They operate syndicates with 49 members in each. Then they do something clever - they fix one of the six numbers so that each of the 49 numbers is covered and then with 5 other randomly generated numbers they create 44 separate lines.
This is clever - it means that there are 44 entries and effectively the syndicate only has to match 5 of the 6 lottery draw numbers to win the jackpot - because the sixth ball will always match.
But it's cleverer than that because the syndicate also wins more than the jackpot - another of the 44 lines will win 5 plus the bonus ball and then of course the other 42 lines also win by matching 5 numbers! Add all those multiple wins together and divide by the number in the syndicate and you win more than you would have done if you played solo!
In fact your odds of winning increases by 702% in the UK National Lottery Lotto draw!
And they have done the same trick with the EuroMillions draw. If you are not familiar with this it is as big as many of the multi-state lotteries in the USA. Why? Because 9 countries in Europe are all playing it! And more want to join in!
It is the biggest tax-free lump-sum national lottery in the world! If you were watching the news earlier in 2006 you will have seen that it rose to an incredible ?125m rollover (yes - that's in GBP not dollars or euros!)
Being a part on this lottery syndicate increases your chances of winning by a staggering 3600%! Increasing the odds of winning any prize to 1 in 10 and it means you can win a prize by matching just one ball!
So next time you are waiting in line to buy your lottery ticket, running the risk of losing it, or forgetting to check whether you've won Wholesale New Nike NBA Jerseys , think about how the internet can make it simpler for you.
If you join the right syndicate, it could boost your chances of winning as well!
Copyright 2006 Andy Gray Author's Resource Box
Andy Gray is a businessman and Lotto player. Find out more about syndicates and boosting your chances of winning at Boost Your Chances You can even play a new Grab A Grand game for free.
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by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's must-see ancient site Gobeklitepe is getting ready to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List with a new roof protection.
Located in the southeastern Turkish province of Sanliurfa and close to the traditions and mythical Garden of Eden Wholesale New NBA Jerseys , 18 km from Sanliurfa's city center, Gobeklitepe was first discovered in 1963 during surface survey of researchers from Istanbul and Chicago Universities. Works have been continuing in the ancient settlement for 54 years.
Gobeklitepe has been well-hidden beneath mounds of mud and debris. Numerous animal skeletons have been unearthed leading international researchers to believe the temple was used for animal sacrifice.
On site, T-shaped pillars weigh between 40 and 60 tones each and the pillars run from 3 to 6 meters high. Near perfect rendering of bulls Wholesale Nike NBA Jerseys , foxes and cranes leap from the stone while one may observe with fascination relief sculptures of crocodiles, boats and lions.
Considered by many international organizations as the world's oldest temple dating back to 12,000 years ago Wholesale NBA Jerseys Online , Gobeklitepe entered the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List five years ago. The site is expected to enter the permanent list next year.
Final preparations for the UNESCO nomination are continuing in Gobeklitepe. Works to establish a nearly 4,000-sq. meter steel roof is being finished to provide a better and sturdy protection for the ancient site.
Sanliurfa Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Aydin Aslan said to the Anadolu Agency that Gobeklitepe was a huge excavation site that changed the world's archaeology history to a great extent, adding that excavations were continuing non-stop in the region.
The city is home to the world's oldest temple Wholesale NBA Jerseys Free Shipping , which is believed to be twice as old as the Stonehenge and the Pyramids.