A FEW weeks ago, I wrote that I thought that the National Lottery draw was fixed. It appears that I upset local bookmaker Richard Duffy, who said he read my letter with disbelief.

In his reply he explained it couldn't be fixed because it was televised live and the numbers were drawn randomly. Aren't horse races televised live - no cheating there then.

Last week's letters brought me an ally in Ray Richardson from Morecambe, who pointed out that Camelot told him that the Lotto draw wasn't actually live.

Surely it is against some Trade Descriptions Act to advertise a lottery draw as being live when it isn't, especially when millions of pounds are placed on it.

Talking to people on the subject has brought up another point. Many people choose dates of relative's birthdays as their numbers for the draw. This limits them to numbers between 1 and 31 to achieve a win so, to produce a rollover, the master computer must take this into account.

Try watching the draw with this in mind. It's amazing that the machine is able to come out with so many numbers above 31 - sometimes there are three or four. I'm with Ray on this one, keep your money in your pocket.

Sean Kelly

Lancaster