Three alternatives to the Lottery - would you try them?

The changes to the National Lottery in the UK have put plenty of people off - as the odds of winning have become so remote that you've a better chance of being killed by your trousers than scooping the jackpot. Is has led plenty of people to wonder whether there may be a better alternative.

Hunting around for a different lottery to play isn't always straightforward. In some cases, other countries don't allow you to buy tickets for their lottery unless you are in the country at the time - and even then you'd have to pick the prize up in person too. In other cases, overseas players are banned altogether.

You do, however, have three other options.

1. Bet on the outcome of an overseas lottery

The most famous company in this space is Lottoland.co.uk. It doesn't sell official lottery tickets, instead it lets you place a bet on a particular set of numbers coming up. The odds are the same as if you played the game itself, the prizes are the same, and the jackpots are the same too. Smaller prizes are paid out by the money Lottoland makes from taking the bets, while larger prizes are separately underwritten by insurance companies.

Because the company brings together so many international lotteries to bet on, it lets you compare them before you place a bet. Many of them, for example, ask you to pick 6 numbers out of 45 or out of 49, so you can compare the jackpots of each lottery with the same odds, to see which one has the best potential payout.

2. Gamble on Premium Bonds instead

This is the only gambling you can do in which you are always guaranteed to get your stake back. Your odds of winning a small prize are higher than winning one on the National Lottery (one in 26,000), although the odds of a big win are far lower. But the fact that you get your money back makes them a far better bet for most people.

If you don't win anything, the value of your investment will be eroded by inflation, but a one-time investment will get you an entry into the draw every single time, and even if you never win a penny, you'll still end up far better off than if you spent the lot on lottery tickets and lost.

3. Enter the free Postcode Lottery

Here you just have to sign up with your postcode. Then, every day, you'll get an email reminder to pop onto the site and see if you have won the main draw or any of the other smaller draws. At the moment the jackpot for the main draw is £200, but this rolls over on any day that it's not claimed, and has been as high as £800 in the past. The website founder has pledged to increase the prize as more people sign up.

Entering doesn't cost anything, because the prizes are paid for by the advertisers you see every time you check the site. As an added bonus, the site won't sell your details onto any third parties either, so there really is no cost involved in having a flutter.

But what do you think? Are you wedded to the National Lottery? Are you hunting for an alternative, or would you rather invest your time and money in something more rewarding? Let us know in the comments.