About 60 percent of lottery winners who claimed more than 10 million yen in prizes last year were players who have been buying lottery tickets longer than 10 years, according to a survey by Mizuho Bank.

People in their 50s who have been buying lottery tickets for more than 10 years, and who have blood type A -- the most common in Japan -- seem to have the most luck, the survey found.

Among males, company employees with first names starting with T and surnames beginning with K, and whose star sign is Aquarius, are the luckiest. Among females, housewives with the initials M and K and born under the sign of Pisces are the luckiest.

The bank, which runs a number of lottery services, surveyed 1,368 winners who came to collect their prizes.

Of the 1,368 winners, 780 said they have been buying lottery tickets for more than 10 years, but there were 38 people who won more than 10 million yen the first time they bought a lottery ticket.

Of these lucky 38, 22 were women.

About 56 percent of the lucky winners said they only buy tickets a few times a year.

Asked how they would use their winnings, 41 percent said they would save them.

Some 55 percent said their lifestyles would not change as a result of winning big.