Is There a Strategy for Winning the Lottery?

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Lotteries first appeared back in the 15th century, or so it seems; and since the 1960s, they have been getting ever more popular in developed countries. They usually have low odds; but this doesn’t really matter much. For the majority of people who want to hit a lottery prize, the kind of stakes at issue is less significant than the actual possibility of winning the game!

This may seem insane, but 21% of Americans consider lotteries as a means of improving their well-being, even if they know the odds of winning are low. The chances of getting the jackpot in the biggest lottery in history of the US (Powerball) is 1 out of almost 300 million, with smaller prizes also having unfavorable odds (1 out of more than 700,000 for $10,000). But even so, what matters to most of those who are out there chasing their luck is the large payouts: the Powerball’s record $365 million jackpot never fails to attract crowds of eager gamblers! So you can easily see what the fuss is about, and the degree to which people are obsessed with the idea of making a fortune by predicting the right numbers watching the vast body of lottery movies out there.

Advice for Lottery Winners

The first thing you need to know is that there are no reliable methods for winning. Even with exceptional math skills, you can only calculate the odds and probabilities, but you won’t have anything to do with these in order to get a jackpot. Indeed, a lottery is hardly even a game: you’re not playing against anybody, and there are no particular processes you have to get acquainted with apart from buying a ticket, crossing the numbers, and waiting for the results.

Googling a few tips, you’ll come across many articles that say you should not play at all, and that this is the only guarantee you won’t lose money. This is not the best strategy if you do want to have fun, though: play the lottery to feel the rush, but don’t expect any artificial strategies to work for you!

Playing Wisely

It has now become clear that betting strategies won’t help you win; however, they can increase your chances of not losing very much. Richard Lustig, a seven-time winner of the state-sponsored lotteries, has shared some tips from his own experience:

• It makes sense to buy new tickets after winning money in the lottery. (In other words, don’t waste any small amounts you’ve earned; just reinvest them instead!)
• Setting a strict budget is important.
• You should only ever play with a minimum of 10 tickets.
• Your numbers should never be limited to meaningful dates. (This restricts your choices, as there are fewer days in a month than numbers on a lottery ticket).
• Smaller lotteries are better. (Don’t go for the most famous ones, and always check your odds!)

Another lottery genius, Stefan Mandel, recommends applying a math-driven approach:

• Calculate all the combinations, and compare the number with the jackpot. (Choose a lottery in which the prize is no less than three times over the number of possible combinations).
• Attract investors to pay for each combination. (This process is pretty energy-consuming; only do it if you are ready to go all the way!)
• Print out tickets with every combination. (However, this is illegal at the moment!)

Mandel managed to win $1.3 million, and after paying all the investors who helped him, he ended up with a pretty decent amount of $97,000.

Taxes Can Eat Up Lottery Earnings

Don’t expect to cash out all the money you’ve won. About 30% of your winnings will be taken by federal and state taxes, which makes the lottery a game with a negative expected value. There’s always the risk your feelings of rampant excitement will supplant the more rational approach you want to be taking here; but it’s important to stay calm!

Falling for So-Called Strategies

Even though many mathematicians have thoroughly explained the lottery odds and the odds of winnings aren’t very promising, people tend to believe that some schemes can guarantee them huge payouts. Some even go so far as to buy some tools claimed to bring lottery winnings. So here are some betting systems people are often mistrustful of:

• Numerology. (Some people somehow still stick to their personal lucky numbers, no matter how many times they are told that those numbers have nothing to do with what the odds of winning are. But if it’s fun and exciting for them, just leave them be!)
• Imagination techniques. (As ridiculous as it sounds, there are some theories out there about how you can win by just imagining it; unfortunately, this is just wishful thinking!)
• Magic square (Some people just pick the numbers based on a specific area of the ticket).
• Frequency analysis. (Probably the only method that actually has some logic behind it: analyzing the winning draws that have been made throughout the years, you can try and reveal the most common and uncommon numbers!)

Actual Tricks

There are several ways of increasing your chances of winning the lottery. One of them is, in many ways, rather like Mandel’s scheme with the investors (as mentioned above). I.e., you can join some lottery pools. Your family, friends, or colleagues can team up to win a jackpot. There are many stories of successful lottery pools; there even was an incident with a whole village investing 20 euros and winning 400 thousand each!

Also, you can increase a possible payout by picking rare numbers. This won’t impact your winning odds even a little bit; but if you do finally strike it lucky, you’ll certainly end up hitting it big; because with the same numbers, you’ll have to split the prize with all the other people who’ve picked them.

A couple more things: always double-check the numbers, and don’t underestimate the importance of second chance games!