The Lemon Fool

The wife and I were discussing the UK Lottery. It seems to us that when we first started playing many years ago, we "often" got three numbers which earned £10, but nowadays it's increasingly rare.
My thinking is that, as people lose interest in the lottery, the prize money might drop, but the odds of getting the three numbers should be the same.
Are there any other factors I've not thought of, that might influence this seeming drought of winnings?

Lottery wins... Lottery WINS, for Heaven's sake...

The odds have changed over time:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lottery_(United_Kingdom)#October_2013_changes

In the beginning the odds of the big prize were 1:14 million

When they added the extra ten numbers a few years back, that increased the odds to about 1:45 million (what do a few extra numbers matter....)
I imagine the odds for lower prizes have also not worked in your favour.

It belongs to the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. Probably better off putting your money in that

With the extra ten balls your chances of getting 3 correct out of 6 approximately halved
- it was about 1:57 before and it's 1:96 now

C(6,3) * C(43,6) / C(49,6)
vs
C(6,3) * C(53,6) / C(59,6)

where C(n,k) = n! / (k! * (n-k)!)

-sd

Ah! That's the missing information that's so crucial - I hadn't realised they'd added extra balls to the draw. Now I know that, it's obvious why the drought has occurred. Thanks all!