The news that Ilford's residents are living in Britain's luckiest town came as no surprise.

The lottery is popular and residents enjoy the occasional game of bingo but the council says it is by no means a "mini Las Vegas".

Yet for winning the Lottery jackpot the town, which sits between greater London and Essex, boasts the best odds in Britain.

It has just a multi-million pound facelift that will transform it over 30 years and the council says it has had a surge of interest from developers.

Ilford is the birthplace of Noel Edmonds

"This comes as no surprise to us, we know Ilford is a lucky place," said a council spokeswoman.

While the multi-cultural town has its areas of deprivation, it can cater for its home-grown millionaires.

It is just down the road from 'Millionaire's Row' in Chigwell, made famous by the sitcom Birds of a Feather.

But whether it benefits from its 10 home-grown jackpot millionaires is a mystery.

Only one ever went public - nursery nurse Esther Tracey who won �1.3m jackpot back in 1995.

Lucky streak

Ilford postmaster Manmohan Lamba, from the Goodmayes Post Office in Green Lane was not surprised to hear about the town's lucky streak.

He won �950 by matching five numbers himself and says the Post Office regularly pays out �7,000 cheques to Thunderball winners.

"We have a hard core of people who come in regularly with certain numbers," he said.

"I heard a few weeks ago that two or three people in Dagenham had won."

Lottery draw days on Saturdays and Wednesdays are the busiest.

But those hoping to avoid the queues are advised that Ilford's senior citizens play on a Monday, when they go to cash their pensions.