We all want to know how to win the lottery.
Winning the lottery is the dream for many of us. It’s a great way to make money without a job! Having a ton of cash to spend on whatever you want and of course, the financial security that comes along with a lottery win is why players bought more than [$83 billion in tickets in 2019]
While the lottery sure is popular, your chance of winning it is pretty slim.
In fact, the odds of winning a Powerball is roughly 1 in 292.2 million and your odds of winning Mega Millions are roughly 1 in 302.5 million.
Tips on How to Win the Lottery
Here are some simple tips to help you win the lottery.
1. Purchase more tickets
If there ever was a “key to winning the lottery“, that would be it!
To win in gambling, you have to obviously)
The more tickets you have, the more chances you have of winning the lottery. It’s that simple. But, if you buy multiple tickets, you’ll be spending more cash upfront. And there’s no guarantee you’ll get any of that cash back. But it definitely improves your odds of winning the lottery.
2. Start a lottery syndicate/pool
Like I said above, buying more tickets improves your chances of winning the lottery. But it can get expensive. A good alternative is to join a lottery pool. This allows you to get more entries without spending more money.
So you improve your odds without having to part with the extra cash. Of course, you have to share your winnings, but sharing millions of dollars is still better than not winning at all!
3. Most winning lottery numbers
Whether or not the stats on previous draws can help you to win in the future is questionable. But looking back on the stats could help you to choose the winning numbers.
According to statistics from LottoNumbers.com, the most commonly drawn numbers for the Mega Millions lottery between 2017 and 2020 are:
- 10 – Drawn 28 times
- 17 – Drawn 28 times
- 31 – Drawn 28 times
- 48 – Drawn 28 times
- 70 – Drawn 28 times
- 14 – Drawn 27 times
- 62 – Drawn 27 times
- 4 – Drawn 25 times
- 8 – Drawn 25 times
- 11 – Drawn 25 times
- 28 – Drawn 25 times
- 43 – Drawn 25 times
- 24 – Drawn 24 times
- 34 – Drawn 24 times
- 42 – Drawn 24 times
- 1 – Drawn 23 times
- 60 – Drawn 23 times
- 3 – Drawn 22 times
The site also reports that the drawn numbers for the Powerball lottery(Most Common Powerball Numbers) between 2015 and 2020 are:
- 23 – Drawn 52 times
- 32 – Drawn 52 times
- 64 – Drawn 47 times
- 69 – Drawn 46 times
- 61 – Drawn 45 times
- 68 – Drawn 44 times
- 41 – Drawn 43 times
- 59 – Drawn 43 times
- 3 – Drawn 42 times
- 12 – Drawn 42 times
- 28 – Drawn 42 times
- 63 – Drawn 42 times
- 53 – Drawn 41 times
- 21 – Drawn 40 times
- 56 – Drawn 40 times
- 62 – Drawn 40 times
- 20 – Drawn 39 times
- 57 – Drawn 39 times
So depending on which lottery you’re doing, you could choose some of those numbers.
Keep in mind that LottoNumbers.com also has lists of common numbers for other lottery games, so it’s definitely worth having a browse of the site’s stats.
4. Don’t choose consecutive numbers
So, don’t go with 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 for example.
If, for example, you’re playing a lotto with 5 numbers where the numbers go up to 55, then make sure the total numbers fall between 104 and 176, as studies show that 70% of jackpots have numbers that fall in this range.
5. Don’t choose numbers from the same group or ending with a similar digit
Another tip for increasing your odds is to avoid choosing numbers that end with a similar digit or that fall in the same number group.
6. Choose rarer numbers
You may have to split your winnings if you do win the lottery. If you want to keep more of the pot for yourself, then try to choose rarer numbers.
These rarer numbers can increase your chances of getting a higher payout, rather than your chances of winning.
You could look up some stats to find out which numbers are chosen least often.
According to one paper, the twelve most unpopular lotto numbers for a lottery between 1 and 80 are 32, 29, 10, 30, 40, 39, 48, 12, 42, 41, 38, and 18.
These numbers are chosen 15 percent to 30 percent less often than other numbers.
7. Don’t miss out on a lottery win
More often than you’d think, people forget to check their numbers and don’t realize that they’ve actually won!
Billions of dollars in lottery prizes go unclaimed each year.
So don’t be one of those people who forgets and has money sitting there to claim. Always double-check your lottery tickets so you don’t miss a win.
Keep your ticket safe and then set a reminder to check your ticket on the drawing date.
8. Check tickets you find
I have read many stories of people who win the lottery scratch off by simply picking up scratch cards on the ground and having it checked in a convenient store.
You can do the same with lottery tickets. The odds of winning may not be in your favor, but it doesn’t cost you anything to check the tickets you find.
Someone else’s lost ticket might be your win! Sometimes people throw out what they think is a losing ticket, but in fact, they just didn’t bother to check the numbers, they misread the ticket, or they checked the wrong drawing.
So it’s always worth checking a discarded lottery ticket if you find it.
9. Increase your chances of winning the lottery with second-chance games
Some lotteries offer second-chance drawings on non-winning tickets. So it gives you another chance to win!
Just complete the form on the back of the ticket, send it in, and you’ll have another chance to win money. Don’t give up just because you didn’t win the first time!
10. Play the right games
While there are no lottery winning systems, playing the right games can improve your chances of winning the lottery. The lottery isn’t just one game. Every state has a variety of lottery games, each of which has different odds of winning.
So before you spend money on a ticket, make sure you read the odds of each one, and choose games with better odds to increase your chances of winning.
Also, consider rarer lotto games.
Since Powerball and Mega Millions are national lotteries, lots of people enter them, meaning you often end up splitting a jackpot. This lowers the value of your prize.
- Secure your winning ticket
The last thing you want to do is lose a winning lottery ticket.
To make sure you keep your lottery win secure, sign your ticket on the back. This can help to prove it’s yours if it gets lost or stolen.
Also, I remember hearing of a cashier nearby who pretended a customer’s lottery ticket was a losing one, when in fact it was a winning one. Sadly, there are unscrupulous clerks who will pocket your ticket and tell you it was a losing one.
Final Thoughts
So never give your ticket to a clerk and ask if you’ve won. Check the ticket yourself beforehand to see if you’re a winner. Then you can verify the ticket yourself. You can easily check online or in newspapers for the winning numbers.
Also, if you decide to cash a lottery ticket by mail, make copies of both sides of the ticket in case it gets lost on the way.
Good Luck!
While there’s no winning formula I can give you to increase your chances of winning the lottery, there are tips you can try like choosing commonly drawn numbers and joining a lottery pool that can help you to increase your odds.
So follow our tips on how to win the lottery and let us know if you have any tips of your own in the comments section below.