Lotto Betting Strategy

admin  4/3/2022
76 Comments

It is all in never-deceiving mathematics!
By Ion Saliu, Founder of Gambling Mathematics, Lottery Software Science

LottoStrategies.com - Lottery Winning Strategies,Powerball,Mega Millions,california lottery,florida lottery,texas lottery,Prizes, Winning Numbers Statistics, Jackpots. 2 days ago  So far, the record Irish Lotto bet win in the UK was, 50-year-old Mr Logan from the North East who scooped £5.1million. A quick pick bet was all it took to turn Mr Logan into a Lottoland multi.

I. The Best Strategy for Lottery, Gambling Is Founded on Mathematics
II. The Best Strategy in Casino Gambling, Blackjack, Roulette
III. The Best Strategy in Sports Betting, Football, Soccer Pools
IV. The Best Strategy in Horse Racing, Longshot Trifectas
V. The Best Lottery Strategy, Unusual Filter Settings
VI. Conclusion

1. The Mathematical Foundation of Gambling, Lottery Strategies

  • Axiomatic ones, ever since I opened this Web site, I've been asked, indeed attacked at times, if “is there possibly any strategy to win those cases of so-called absolutely-random events?”
  • Actually, everything is random to begin with. The differences are created by different probabilities, different degrees of certainty that lead to various degrees of randomness.
  • I cool-headedly explain in this article that the best strategy for gambling and lottery is a reality and it is based on mathematics. My theory and software in lottery, gambling, sports betting, horse racing, blackjack, roulette, etc. may be the only honest and no-nonsense example. There might be a few other cases, but I am not fully aware of.
  • If one does an extensive search on the topic of this article, one gets lists of thousands upon thousands of authors, developers, vendors of systems and software for gambling and lottery. My assessment is that most of the attacks I been served by Cyber World have been authored by developers, vendors I just referred to. To be sure, I have received also honest negative opinions and questions from honest people who do not develop systems and/or software in my field.

Since I've recently (2015) received further questions and some expressions of doubt, I decided to write this article. I addressed these issues before, in one form or another. I did it at this very website, in my forums between 1999 and 2014. I also presented the foundation of my theories and software in lottery and gambling in various forums and newsgroups between 1998 and 2014. I also made presentations in the social media (Facebook, Twitter) from 2009 and ongoing (as of 2015). This article summarizes in one place my theories on strategies in gambling and lottery.

I do not offer detailed how-to, however. The overwhelming majority of requests target very detailed information on how to use my lottery software to develop strategies for just about any lottery game in the world! Who can possibly carry out such a task?! It is unspeakably crazy to even ask me for such 'favors'! I will only present in this piece of writing the mathematical foundation. Mathematics never lies, never deceives, never cheats.

Lotto betting strategy games

On the other hand, what I see on the Internet is the lack of mathematical foundation of various lottery or gambling systems, software. I am hated by some in the gambling community just for raising the issue of mathematics. Blackjack card counting community, the most notorious example, hates the guts in me for exposing the lack of mathematical foundation of counting cards at blackjack. Curse me as much as you want, but mathematics does not validate the strategy of blackjack card-counting.

One can only see long sales pitches and no concrete information on all sites dedicated to the topics of this material. (Sure, I have visited but a low percentage — but sufficient to say that proof to the contrary to what I say is very hard to find.) Several fragments separated by 'Buy Now' buttons — not one single sentence about what the system is founded on!

And here is the best strategy in gambling, lottery. The mathematical foundation is known all over the world now as Fundamental Formula of Gambling (FFG). I introduced it in 1997 on one of the very first pages of SALIU.COM: Fundamental Formula of Gambling: Theory of Probability, Mathematics, Degree of Certainty, Chance. I made a more detailed mathematical presentation on a later page: Mathematics of Fundamental Formula of Gambling, Logarithms, God.

  • The degree of certainty DC rises exponentially with the increase in the number of trials N while the probability p is always the same or constant.
  • DC = 1 – (1 – p) ^ N

2. The Best Casino Gambling Strategies: Blackjack Roulette, etc.

The best strategy in casino gambling is the most innate to FFG. Despite what the fallacious gambler's fallacy proclaims, reality proves that the winning chance grows exponentially with the increase in the number of trials. Mathematics is not to be denied.

There are losing streaks and there are winning streaks — that's undeniable mathematics. The casinos and many gambling authors, however, grossly disregard probability theory. They established a 'law' that 'assures' very long losing streaks for the player — but never for the gambling establishment. If there is honesty, things should closely resemble the calculations of my probability software Streaks. There should be also a reversed gambler's fallacy, Lady Chance says — the player too will win indefinitely! What? Can to be AND not to be 'live' simultaneously? The truth is always in between, for there is no extreme (absolute certainty or absolute nothingness).

There is a popular freebie at this website: online random generator for a wide variety of games. Most pages here have this entry in the footer: Odds, Generator. Take the famous game of roulette, where long streaks occur and they are the stuff the legends are made of. Run the roulette generator as many times as you want.

We talk here sane lifespans. You'll never witness indefinite streaks of any kind. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the streaks fall within one standard deviation from the norm (the probability calculated by mathematics). Contrast that to the opinion of a gambling authority and casino consultant who wrote to me in strong terms that getting 200 Heads/Tails in a row was equal to getting just 1 Heads/Tails! Another gambling author (hidden behind a nickname) posted against me to the extent that losing 1000 consecutive blackjack hands was matter-of-factish! It would take the lifespan of the Universe for such events to occur…

And thus, the best casino gambling strategy is based on streaks. There is a gambling science and I call it the mathematics of streaks. I have applied it since the 1990s to the chagrin of casino executives, casino consultants, sore gambling authors. To my shock, even a chairman showed hostile reaction in my oldest forum! 'Why do you all bother?' has always been my question. Don't you have that 'shield' called the gambler's fallacy?! I've never bothered you or anyone else for that fallacy... or anything else, for that matter.

The worst situation for me occurred in the more tolerant Atlantic City: I was banned by a casino pit boss. I mean, I was physically prevented from gambling at a blackjack table. I wasn't even a card counter — it was obvious to everybody at the table, the dealer included. Instead of watching closely the cards facing up on the table, I was checking first the streaks in a plain notebook (paper). I also experienced hostile reaction at two roulette tables during the same gambling and researching action described in the link above.

  • I detail the blackjack strategy based on streaks on this Web page: The Best Casino Gambling Systems: Blackjack, Roulette, Limited Martingale Betting, Progressions.
    • This report analyzes software-generated streaks: Blackjack Streaks, Software, Probability of Consecutive Losses / Wins, Stats.
  • The streak-based gambling system is also applicable to baccarat.
  • I detail the roulette strategy based on streaks on this Web page: The Best-Ever Roulette Strategy, Systems based on mathematics of progressions and free-for-all.
  • I detail the craps strategy based on streaks on this Web page: Craps Strategy, Systems Based on Fundamental Formula of Gambling.
  • See a real-life case of my Mental Blackjack System based on streaks beat the house (casino) very consistently: The Best Blackjack Strategy, System Tested with the Best Blackjack Software. The screenshots cannot be faked and you can replicate the results with a free Windows 10 app from the Store.
  • I made a disclaimer on my webpages and in public forums regarding my gambling strategies and systems based on streaks.
  • I do trust my streaks-based gambling system to the maximum, however. Only the streaks are backed by mathematical formulas. Every streak-length occurs as calculated by theory of probability: with a degree of certainty within a number of trials (e.g. BJ hands or roulette spins).
  • I made such a disclaimer only to extinguish potential fire by casinos and/or gambling authors (especially blackjack card-counting 'bishops' or 'gurus'). They have always attacked and threatened me, especially because of the Fundamental Formula of Gambling.
  • Without a disclaimer, they would have invented situations of huge losses caused by my streak-theory gambling systems, strategies! In truth, a few of them have tried to threaten me that way. I would receive emails or read posts in forums, especially mine, that him gambler, or even her gambler, encountered indefinitely long losing streaks! As if I were a mathematical idiot and faint at heart! Not to mention there is NO sane way to verify casino gambling data... just their virulent 'figures'...

The probability software that calculates the streaks and their length — based on probability formulas — is the most hated piece of software in the gambling business: Streaks.

3. The Best Strategy in Sports Betting, Football, Soccer Pools

Sport betting is where I started in this field of gambling mathematics. It happened in my teenage years. Communist régimes only allowed football (soccer) prognostication and lottery games. There is absolutely no doubt that I was the first to apply the results of previous games to predicting future games. I made the sport betting strategy public at my website in 2000 while in USA. Nobody else has done anything similar before that date. All strategies or software applicable to sports as in my predicting methods appeared a few years after I published my theory.

1) The fundamentals of my sports betting strategy are the most effective statistics-wise. It is based on the cold fact that the teams play differently at home compared to away. Therefore, the best sports-prediction strategy should pit the home record of the home team against the away record of the visiting team. Just for starters.

  • I present in great detail how the best sports betting strategy works, the soccer flavor: Software to Generate Full 1X2 Systems for Football Soccer Pools.
  • I present in great detail how the best sports betting strategy works, the American football flavor: Sports Prognosticating or Betting for NFL American Football, Excel Sport Bet Spreadsheet.

Lotto Betting Tips

2) The theory of streaks still applies. Since there is no absolute certainty, there will always be losing streaks and winning streaks. Increasing the bet is required after losing streaks, when the degree of certainty is higher. Also, the teams have their own streaks, including how in many games they cause upsets or surprises.

4. The Best Strategy in Horse Racing, Longshot Trifectas

1) My first horse racing strategy started with the streaks theory. I tracked the races at three horse tracks. I recorded 6 winning trifectas. I played by excluding the horse numbers that had come out in the same position. I did hit the winning trifecta immediately, but that is not expected to happen very often. The payout, however, covers the losing situations. Again, after certain-length losing streaks, an increase in the bet is applied.

2) The best horse racing strategy, however, is a mixture of lotto and pick (daily) lotteries as played in the United States. The first software I developed was for lotto (jackpot) games, and then for pick lotteries. That made my move to horse racing software so much easier. The software is mainly for trifectas (top 3 finishers) and, in a more limited scope, for superfectas (top 4 finishers).

There are off-track wagering (OTW) facilities all across USA. There are also plenty of horse-racing websites. The results at a large number of horse tracks are available for free in most cases. The best strategy for horse racing records the results of races that have at least 9 horses (for acceptable trifecta payouts). I discard of trifecta results with numbers larger than 10. The user is made aware of that detail in my software.

  • The best feature in horse betting is high trifecta payouts when longshots win. There are fewer longshot trifectas than regular trifectas (when the favorites are in top 3 finishers, but no longshots).

It is a laborious process, but worth it. I record results from previous days from several horse tracks with good payout record. I shuffle the results, as everything is random. That's the data file I use in conjunction with a much larger file of randomly generated trifectas. I run my software with filters (restrictions that reduce the amount of outcomes). I get an output file consisting of trifectas that have not come out in the races I had recorded in the database. Longshot trifectas do come out and they do pay off!

A bankroll of $5000 is sufficient. This best strategy is played at a OTW. The data recording is laborious and patience is also required. The strategy requires a few days of play, if not winning. When a trifecta hits, it is crossed out on the printout.

3) I have never found handicapping to be an acceptable horse racing strategy. The favorites do NOT win as in coin tossing. The best betting horse race, the Kentucky Derby, shows that the favorite has won around 1 in 5 of all races. I thoroughly tracked races across North America for one day. The non-favorites won 169 horse races out of 272 or 62.13% of the time. The payouts were significantly higher than in the races when the favorites won.

Handicapping requires a big bankroll, as the favorites do not win 1 in 3 races. Therefore progressions like Martingale are required. It is disappointing when the favorite wins and the payout is really low.

5. The Best Lottery Strategy, Unusual Filter Levels

Lottery is the hardest of them all gambling events because of the high odds or probabilities. Yet, I had my first American success in the mid-1980s. My lotto strategy was based on frequency of numbers and pairing. We hit 4 of 6 two consecutive drawings. It made me buy a personal computer before I even owned a car! It was a discontinued (cheap!) Atari 800XL with 64 KB of RAM. I knew only software could handle lottery. That's how I became a self-made computer programmer. In fact, I founded the lottery programmer science.

Filtering (imposing filters or restrictions) — that was the name of the game. Lottery cannot be handled in the same manner as gambling, where the odds are much lower and the bet is usually one outcome (e.g. a blackjack hand). I knew that groups of lottery numbers would repeat within a certain range of drawings, while other groups would not come out in various ranges of draws. Those groups define the lottery filters, lottery filtering, reduction: my discovery.

My personal computer didn't offer me the 'luxury' that I have acquired in later years: More and more powerful computers — and more affordable. Nonetheless, it was in the 1985-1987 that I won the lottery most frequently than ever. I played in a group. I let my Atari generate 6/40 lotto combinations that passed the restrictions (filters) imposed by my quite small program. The computer would run for days and nights continuously. The combinations were randomly generated and consisted of 12 unsorted numbers. I would choose the last combonation generated by the computer. Then, I applied my by-now-famous 12-number lotto wheel, converting the combinations to 6-number tickets.

My decision was to change the 12-number lotto combination after each lottery drawing. The big event did happen: The lotto jackpot occurrence. I know exactly it was a Friday in February 1986. I had no car. One of the fellows in our lottery group gave me a ride to groceries every Friday. But before that, we would stop by a lottery agent and play our tickets. And his son had nothing better to do on February 12, 1986 but visit his father! So, my colleague said he did not have time to wait for me to wheel and fill out the lotto tickets for that drawing. We decided to play the previous combinations again. Had we played the new lotto combinations, we would have hit a 3-million dollar jackpot! The 'American Tragedy' reads: History of Lottery, Experience, First Lotto Software, Systems, Strategies.

I was affected because I know how hard it is to hit the lotto jackpot just once. The repeats are even harder, given the huge odds. Just one jackpot is a life-changing experience like few others. But, looking at the bright side, that unfortunate event stimulated me a lot. I improved my software by orders of magnitude. I created software in different fields, especially probability theory, statistics, combinatorial mathematics, random number generating...

The first lottery strategy I derived from the Fundamental Formula of Gambling (FFG) is presented on one of the earliest pages of my website: Lottery Software, Lottery Strategies, Lotto Systems. Each lottery combination has an equal probability p as the rest, but the combinations appear with different frequencies. The FFG median and standard deviation are the key factors in the biased appearance. The lotto numbers tend to repeat more often when their running skip is less than or equal to the probability median. The probability median or FFG median are calculated by the FFG for the degree of certainty DC = 50%.

Many more lottery strategies followed, including for the pick or digit lotteries. There are numerous lottery strategies at this Web site, spread over numerous pages. Luckily, this site has a competent search facility, plus a well-organized content directory, plus a comprehensive sitemap. All are listed in the footer of this page and all Web pages of this site.

  • The best lottery strategy is based on unusually high or unusually low filters. Such filter settings occur less frequently, but eliminate a huge amount of lotto combinations. Worth repeating, winning the lotto jackpot is a life-changing experience.
  • The software should have a function that checks the lottery strategy in the past. That is, how many times the strategy hit in any range of lotto drawings. Also importantly, the strategy checking program should show the skips or misses between hits of the strategy and calculate the median of skips or skip median. According to the Federal Formula of Gambling, everything repeats more often under the FFG median. Playing only lotto numbers with current (running) skips under the FFG medianincreases chances to hit lotto jackpots sevenfold.
  • The skips of the lottery strategy are very useful to the player: He or she can skip a number of lottery drawings. By not playing a number of drawings, the lotto player can save real money. By contrast, the casino gambler must play every hand or spins in order to stay at the table. But, instead of skipping, the casino gambler plays the minimum bet, then increases the bet when the FFG says the degree of certainty is higher.
  • A real-life example of the type of lottery strategy just presented can be read here: 'The Start Is the Hardest Part' in playingLottery Strategies, Lotto Systems.instead of skipping, the casino gambler plays the minimum bet, then increases the bet when the FFG indicates that the degree of certainty is higher.
  • Another real-life example of a pick-4 lottery strategy based on frequency groups shows a profit of about $40,000 in 3 months' time: Lottery Strategy, Systems, Software Based on Lotto Number Frequency.
  • Want more? My software and strategies, systems beat even a ridiculously tough lotto game: Euromillions. I generated and I posted 10 Euromillion combinations in the oldest lottery forum of the Internet. The 10-line set won prizes in almost half the draws since publication. Take that... I mean, read this, please: Euromillions Strategies, Systems, Software, Winning Numbers.
  • There is another very popular question. 'Is it better to play one ticket in every lottery drawing, or wait a number of drawings and play an amount equal to the draws you skipped?' Most people opine that it makes no difference. It might not make a noticeable difference in cases of just one ticket played in just one year in lotto games with huge odds.
  • Mathematically, however, the chance (degree of certainty) is better if skipping lottery drawings and playing more tickets more rarely. See the presentation and the formulas: Formulas, Software to Calculate Lottery, Lotto Odds, Hypergeometric Distribution Probability (the 'Multum in parvo' section). In games like roulette or dice rolling, the gain is over 30% when playing multum in parvo (more in less).
  • I have tested extensively playing randomly-selected 1–2 combinations. The more one plays, the more one loses. By contrast, playing multiple sets of combinations generated by lottery strategies (also skipping drawings as per the skip chart of the strategy) leads to profits. Granted, there is a very, very low percentage of players who win just by playing 1–2 tickets every drawing, for some length of time. Some of them even claim they won the very first time they played the lottery!
  • Given the enormity of the lottery phenomenon, a lot has to be written about it from the scientific viewpoint. I have written a lot about lottery myself. I only offer an abbreviated list of my Web pages on the topic of lottery strategy.
  • Filters in Lottery Software, Lotto Software.
  • Lotto Strategy: Sums, Odd Even, Low High Numbers.
  • Lottery Skip Systems: Lotto, Powerball, Mega Millions, Euromillions, Horse Racing, Roulette, Football.
  • Theory, Analysis of Deltas in Lotto, Lottery Software, Strategy, Systems.
  • Lotto, Lottery Software, Excel Spreadsheets: Programming, Strategies.
  • Filters, Restrictions, Elimination, Reduction in Lotto, Lottery Software.
  • Step-By-Step Guide to Lotto, Lottery Filters in Software.
  • Pick-3 Lottery Strategy Software, System, Method, Play Pairs.
  • Vertical or Positional Filters in Lottery Software.
  • MDI Editor Lotto Is the Best Lotto Lottery Software; You Be Judge.
  • Lottery Mathematics, Lotto Mathematics, Math, Maths: Probability, Appearance, Repeat, Affinity, Number Affiliation, Lotto Wheels, Lottery Systems, Strategies.
  • Lottery, Software, Systems, Science, Mathematics.
  • Neural Networking, Artificial Intelligence AI, Axiomatic Intelligence AxI in Lottery: Strategies, Systems, Software.
  • Bookie Lottery, Good Odds, Payouts, Special Software.
  • Lottery Numbers: Loss, Cost, Drawings, House Advantage, Edge
    • Playing random lottery numbers or favorite numbers guarantees losses because of the house edge. Only lottery strategies, systems, special software can win with consistency and make a profit.

6. Conclusions

Axiomatic one, you just heard my long answer to the question raised at the beginning of this dissertation. I don't ask anybody to take me at my word. This is about mathematics. Everything mathematical can be verified or disproved. It has nothing to do with emotions, feelings, likes or dislikes, love or hate.

I do not encourage you to apply my theories and strategies, either. You are the only one who can decide what works for you. It is not a disclaimer, because I can tell you some. Many people have communicated with me and they informed me that they won using my ideas.

I can also attest that I am the first winner of my theory and strategies and systems and software. I have documented as much as I've been able to. I have also been as open as anyone. Not to mention that my theories and strategies have been available to read, even scrutinize, by everybody FREELY. My software was offered for free as well for a long period of my career – some programs still free.

How to win lottery strategy

Speaking of free: My site offers the best random generator for a multitude of lottery games, roulette, horse racing, sports. The outcomes are also optimized (for most lotto games). That online random number generator alone does improve the odds of winning and does create a larger number of winning players. It is undeniably mathematical. Since many, many less frequent outcomes are eliminated, there are fewer combinations to choose from; therefore there is a higher winning chance for a larger number of players.

Also, the generator allows for repeating the process very easily. The mathematics is: The chance to win in fewer trials is lower. The more combinations are generated, the higher the degree of certainty to hit big wins. The player doesn't pay anything while repeating the random process. The player saved money by not playing a large number of outcomes that would have lost anyway.

And here is one more rub: 'Why don't I win BIG?' There is no absolute guarantee. I always stress that absolute certainty is absolute absurdity. I'm talking now about honest people. It is not guaranteed that my theories, strategies, systems, software will make everybody a winner. But they are guaranteed to create more winners; therefore, everybody has a better chance to become a serious winner. And there is that Sword of Damocles hanging above my head forever it seems like... threats of withholdings due to abusive application of law. They take everything from the bank, although gambling winnings require costs in real money!

As for those who hate me and attack me and denigrate me — they always wanted badly to do what I have done. We have the same interests. But them googoos have been incapable of doing, mainly because of bad emotions — envy, jealousy turned into hatred. Meanwhile, I have succeeded in our common interests because I do not care about the negative reactions of others. Or, should I say, I pay attention to other people's reactions towards yours truly — but I am not deterred by others' mouth-foaming, or fall ecstatic when praise hits my eardrums! Besides, I hate nobody because of their achievements. If they are wrong, I say so honestly, mainly based on mathematics, without starting wildfires...

Is There A Strategic Way To Win The Lottery

'I received a phone call
From one who claimed was tall.
Then, he cursed me even worse
For my gambling on the horse.'

Best of luck from Parpaluck (Ion Saliu's royalty-name)!

  • Take a tour of the software download site.

Lotto Betting Strategy

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The odds of winning the lottery are so bad that it almost seems pointless to worry about lottery strategy or tips. Even if you can double your chances of winning, you’ll still probably spend a lifetime waiting in vain for your big day.

On top of that, strategy-minded people tend to understand just how bad the odds are and therefore don’t bother with the lottery. Sure, they may buy the occasional ticket for fun, but I doubt many of them spend any significant time working through the numbers. There are much better games to apply math for an advantage.

But still, the lottery is fun, lots of people love it and there’s no harm in working out a little strategy. The tips listed on this page are based on math, not on fantasy. It is stunning how much bad advice there is out there regarding the lottery.

The Best Lottery Strategies

If you would rather spend your time learning about lottery tips that actually work, this is the place to begin. I’ll get you started and then let you take it from there.

Focus on Your EV, not on Your Odds

EV is short for expected value. In short, expected value tells you the long-term value of any decision that you make in a game of chance. We can use the old coin flip game to show how expected value works.

Pretend you and a friend have a coin and make a bet. If the coin lands on heads, you win $2 from your friend. If it lands on tails, you owe your friend $1. We can tell right off the bat this is a good bet, but we can use a little math to show why this is a good bet.

All you do is multiply the probability of each outcome by the amount you win or lose, and then sum it up. So with the above game in mind:

$2(0.5) + (-$1)(0.5) = $0.50

This means that over the long run, every flip of the coin is worth $0.50. Another way to look at it is if you play this game twice, you can expect to win one flip and lose one flip. You would win $2 on the winning flip and lose $1 on the losing flip for a total profit of $1. After two flips, this shows that each flip was worth $0.50.

If you have a friend willing to play this game, you should play it for as long as you can. It’s a good bet.

Expected value can also be applied to the lottery. Instead of trying to increase your odds of winning the lottery, try to increase the expected value of each lottery ticket.

The expected value is more useful than the odds of winning. But why is it better to focus on the EV than the odds of winning? Well, look at the claim below:

Learn how to double your odds of winning the lottery!

Want to know how to double your chances of winning? Easy! Just buy two lottery tickets! You have now doubled the odds of winning. Want to triple your chances of winning? Buy three tickets! The point here is to show that expected value is more important than the odds of winning (unless you have some kind of inside knowledge about a fixed lottery).

So how do you increase your EV? Well, I’ll explain one way right now.

Let the Computer Pick Your Numbers for You

Most of the lotteries that I’ve seen allow you to either pick your own numbers or let the computer pick them for you at random. It may seem a little odd, but lottery picks chosen by an RNG (random number generator) will give you a slightly higher expected value.

Lotto Betting System

The reason this holds true is because humans are bad at picking numbers at random. If you ask a classroom full of students to try to simulate the results of 100 coin flips, they’ll give you sequences that are far from random. It is well documented that humans are terrible at simulating randomness.

Now, apply that to the lottery. If you pick your numbers based on important dates, lucky numbers, certain patterns or even based on recent lottery results, you’re going to have a slightly higher chance of splitting your winnings (if you are so lucky to win) with someone else.

When you pick your own lottery numbers, the odds are slightly higher that someone else has picked those same numbers. Thus, you have a slightly higher chance of splitting your prize. This slightly lowers the expected value of your lottery ticket.

No matter how you pick your numbers, the odds of winning the lottery remain the same. It doesn’t matter if you pick all 7s or the numbers 1 through 10. The drawing is perfectly random and it is just as likely to pick all 7s as it is to pick something that looks random.

But here, we’re not worried about the odds of winning. We are only worried about the chances of splitting the prize money. The computer is less likely to pick a “popular” number than you are. As I explained in the above section, we should be more concerned with increasing the EV of each lottery ticket than with increasing the odds of winning.

Pooling Your Resources

Lottery pools are common at workplaces and among groups of friends. A lottery pool is an arrangement in which everyone pools their money together to buy a whole bunch of tickets. If any of those tickets is a winner, the winnings are distributed equally among all members of the pool.

Pooling doesn’t increase your expected value because your potential winnings are reduced. However, it does increase your odds of winning because it allows you to effectively play many more tickets than you would otherwise.

This tip does break from my tip above about focusing on the EV, but it increases your odds enough that it’s worth considering. Your expected value is lower in a pool, but you still have a better chance at winning a life-changing amount of money.

You should approach pools with some caution, though. Things can get ugly if there is no legal agreement in place. If someone wins the big one, it’s up to that person to be honest and pay out the rest of the team. Otherwise, you’ll be in for a big legal battle.

Always Sign Your Tickets

Unsigned lottery tickets are as good as cash. If someone finds your unclaimed winning ticket and cashes it in, you will have a hard time convincing anyone that it was originally your property. Sign your tickets as soon as you get them.

Buy Your Own Tickets

If you’re not a part of an official pool, always buy your own tickets. Don’t send other people to the store to buy them and don’t borrow money from your friends to buy tickets. If you end up winning a big jackpot, other people may feel entitled to a portion of your winnings. Keep it simple and buy your own tickets every time.

Along those same lines, don’t make casual promises to other people. It’s easy to tell people you’ll split the winnings when you know your odds are 1 in 175 million, but it’s a completely different story when you actually beat those odds and win the big one. Save yourself the trouble now. It’s OK to be a little stingy.

Make a Plan for the Big Win

I’m sure you’ve heard all the horror stories about people who have won the lottery only to end up broke and destitute a few years later. Don’t let that happen to you. If you’re an avid lottery player, make a plan now for what you will do if you hit it big.

Don’t just assume that you’ll be smarter than those other suckers before you who won the lottery and then ended up in the poor house. Most lottery winners are not wealthy before they win, so they have little experience handling large amounts of money.

The best thing you can do after a big win is to get in contact with a financial planner, a CPA and a lawyer. Consider these people your team and tell them that you want them to help you preserve your money and make smart decisions going forward.

Set aside some money for the long term and keep it diversified. Keep some of your lottery money in cash, invest some of it in stocks, some in bonds, some in precious metals and so on. Do not get heavily involved in investments with which you have little or no experience.

For example, if you have zero real estate experience, don’t use your lottery money to buy a bunch of apartments in your city.

Learn to Say No

If you win, prepare yourself for the onslaught of people who will be pitching investment ideas and asking favors. Once word gets out that you’re the newest big winner, people will be hitting you up left and right with investment ideas, business plans and other schemes.

Speaking of which, remain anonymous for as long as you can. Most lotteries reveal the winner’s name eventually, but avoid that if possible. Prepare yourself now for the day your name goes public. Learn how to say “no” to people.

Don’t worry about hurt feelings. Other people have no right to tell you what to do with your new winnings. If you try to be nice to everyone, you will quickly run out of money and be unable to help anyone.

Lottery Tips that Don’t Work

There are a lot of bad lottery tips out there. They sound intriguing, they may be fun to try and some people just follow these tips for fun. But unfortunately, the simple truth is that the following lottery tips do not work.

I’ve been bad advice published in books, in major news publications and on TV. Bad lottery advice is more common than good lottery advice. I mention these tips because I think it’s good to understand why bad tips don’t work. Then it becomes easier to see why good tips do work.

Number Tracking

Number tracking is the process of recording the results of your favorite lottery over a period of time. The goal of number tracking is to identify numbers that are either “due” to be hit or numbers that are “hot.”

For example, someone might see that the number 5 hasn’t been called for the first number in six months and decide that 5 is now due to hit. Someone else might notice the same thing and come to the conclusion that 5 is running cold and should be avoided.

The idea that certain outcomes are “due” to hit is common in gambling. It’s based on a fallacy. In a truly random game of chance, past results have absolutely zero effect on future results. It doesn’t matter if you’re flipping a coin, playing the lottery or betting at the roulette table – past results do not influence future results.

This is assuming a truly random game, of course. If the game you’re playing is rigged, number tracking may help you discover a trend. But let me warn you right now: don’t waste your time number tracking the lottery. You would need a HUGE sample size to determine that something as complex as the lottery is biased.

Even going that far is a stretch. The lottery employs talented mathematicians to ensure the games are random and running according to expectations. Basically, for the average person, number tracking is a futile waste of time. Don’t waste your time with this pursuit unless you have some kind of inside information.

Picking the Same Numbers Every Time

Richard Lustig, who has won the lottery 7 times, says that you should pick the same set of numbers every time you play. He doesn’t say why, exactly, but it sounds good so people eat it up. I don’t have anything against the guy, but his advice is dead wrong.

The truth is that your odds are neither better nor worse by picking the same numbers every time. If you want to pick all 7s every single time for 10 years straight, your odds of winning will be just as good as the guy who picks random numbers every single time for 10 years straight.

Mr. Lustig’s advice won’t hurt you, but it also won’t help. The lottery is completely random every single time.

I also wouldn’t advise you to put too much stock on his claim of winning the lottery 7 times. These are not all Mega Millions Powerball wins. If you spend (waste) enough money on lottery tickets, you’re going to win some prizes sometimes. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll be ahead. The lottery is a very profitable business because the odds are stacked against you.

Number picking tips like this one are based on common fallacies. They may sound good in theory, but they are based on nothing more than fantasy. You must assume the lottery is perfectly random until you have mathematic proof that shows otherwise.

Wheeling

The basic idea behind wheeling is to pick a set of numbers that you like and then to get a bunch of tickets that use many different combinations of those numbers. There are all kinds of wheels out there, but they all rely on you buying multiple tickets with certain numbers included in those tickets.

Some people get deadly serious about wheels. Wheeling enthusiasts even have their own terminologies. The problem with wheeling is that it doesn’t give you any advantage whatsoever. The only way in which wheeling helps is by forcing you to buy more tickets. If you play a wheel and buy 10 tickets, you are more likely to win than someone who only plays one ticket.

Wheeling itself doesn’t increase your odds of winning. The fact that you are purchasing multiple tickets is what increases your odds. So in short, wheeling is a waste of time. You can just as easily buy 20 tickets using randomly generated picks.

Thinking Outside the Box

One thing I will not tell you is that it is impossible to increase your odds or even crack the lottery. I can think of at least two people who appear to have cracked different lotteries. And guess what – both of these people are professional statisticians.

First, we have the woman from Texas who has won more than $20 million dollars in four different lotteries. This woman has a PhD from Stanford with a specialty in statistics. Nobody has quite figured out what this woman did exactly, but I would bet my entire life savings that it had nothing to do with dumb luck.

The odds are so astronomically against this woman winning large prizes (key word here is large – these weren’t piddly little $4500 “jackpots”) four times that attributing it to dumb luck is actually a poor guess. She definitely figured something out about each of those lotteries and was able to increase her chances.

Second, we have the geological statistician from Toronto who figured out how to beat a simple scratch card game in his hometown. He figured out that repetitions of certain numbers on a tic-tac-toe style game indicated whether or not a specific card was likely to be a winner. He didn’t get rich, but he did show us that the lottery is not always perfect.

One thing to remember is that there are many different lotteries around the world. These lotteries are all managed by human beings. Human beings are not perfect creatures, and that means mistakes will be made. Think of all the national lotteries, state lotteries, local lotteries, scratch cards and instant win games out there in the world. Those games are not going to be perfectly random every time.

Speaking of which, it is impossible for humans to be perfectly random. Even computer-powered random number generators can never be truly random. They need some kind of input and an algorithm to generate results that appear random. Sometimes, those RNGs are not configured properly and mathematically inclined people are able to crack the secret code behind the lottery.

Also think about this. Many lotteries promise X number of prizes. In a truly random world, you could estimate the number of prizes, but you could never promise exactly X number of prizes. Therefore, the people running the lottery have to maintain some control over “how random” the lottery is.

In fact, there are some lotteries that release enough information that you can figure out if it’s worth buying tickets or not. In this old post, I explain how you can calculate the expected value of some lottery tickets using publicly available information.

Those are just a couple of examples that come to mind right now. As we get this far into lottery strategy, I’m starting to drift into waters that are above my head. The point of this last section is to give you a little nudge away from those silly “expert” tips that you see on TV and to instead think about how the lottery actually works behind the scenes.

Don’t confine yourself to the “box” of using goofy little number picking strategies such as number tracking, horoscopes and lucky numbers. Break out of that box and look into the nuts and bolts of the lottery.