DUDLEY is officially becoming a luckier place to live, according to a new league table of National Lottery windfalls.

Over the last two years the DY postcode area has shot up in the UK’s rich rankings, for the most major prizes paid out to residents and for the most National Lottery millionaires.

The DY postcode - which covers Brierley Hill, Dudley, Kingswinford, Stourbridge, Kidderminster, Bewdley, Stourport and Tipton – ranks 31 out of 121 postcodes for prizes of £50,000 or more won per head of population over the past two years.

Since the Lottery launched, the postcode ranks 60th.

Over the past two years it sits in 44th position for the most National Lottery millionaires created, and 58th over all time.

A National Lottery spokesperson said: “Those with a DY address live in a postcode area which has got a great deal luckier recently.

“Across the UK around 30 major prizes are won each week and with more than 3,200 National Lottery millionaires, nearly everyone will have a lucky winner in their neighbourhood.

“Lottery luck can live anywhere and it could be you celebrating if you have a ticket for the next big National Lottery draw.”

It is the first time The National Lottery has analysed various prizes at regular intervals across all the UK's postcode areas, allowing it to pinpoint the nation's luckiest locations and reveal regions where good fortune is rising.

To date the DY postcode area boasts 24 members of the exclusive ‘Millionaires’ Club’ - and181 prizes of £50,000 or more have been paid out in the region.

The area has seen regular wins over the last three years.

In May 2003 Wordsley builders John Radford and Alf Cole scooped the £5.4m Lotto jackpot in a Bank Holiday weekend draw.

Then Dudley couple Josie and Mick Timmins netted a £2,010,267 share of the Lotto jackpot in September 2006 and just a month later Kingswinford grandmother Brenda Portch won a £1,487,099 share in the Lotto’s Wednesday draw.

In June 2010 a syndicate of 15 from The Old Star pub, Brierley Hill, pulled in £1m on the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle.

And in September 2012 Thomas Foden and his daughter Irene Harper, both from Tipton, walked away with £3,909,990 after matching all six numbers in the UK’s first-ever Quadruple Rollover draw.