Lottery Strategies
Study the game, especially the odds of winning.
Decide how much you can afford to spend. Remember, never play more than you can afford to lose. Buying lottery tickets is NOT an investment.
If you are going to buy more than one ticket per draw, the ideal time is when the expected return is higher than the cost of the ticket. For example, you may want to buy an extra ticket(s) next time the Lotto 6/49 jackpot is at least $14 milion, i.e., greater than the 13,983,816 odds. If the jackpot is greater than or equal to the odds per dollar bet without attracting too many competing buyers, the maximum net expected payoff can be well in excess of the ticket price. These "fair bets" are rare occurrences, with the big US lotteries like Powerball never having produced a fair bet. Players should react to big expected returns instead of just big jackpots.
Beware of spending any money on lottery software and other so-called "systems."
Avoid buying tickets through unauthorized and illegal sellers such as on the Internet. Avoid lottery pools that charge you administration fees.
Picking Numbers
Avoid commonly played combinations since if you win, there will be a lot more winners to split the prize with. Combinations such as the following will probably be played by others in a 6/49-type lottery:
The infamous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Patterns on the play slip, e.g., vertical, diagonal or horizontal columns; corners.
All numbers chosen are between 1 and 31, i.e., birthdays.
Based on frequency analysis, e.g., six most frequently or least frequently drawn numbers, the six numbers that haven't been drawn the longest.
Recently drawn combinations.
Six-number combinations given in lottery newsgroups, software, or "psychic" phone lines.
7 is probably the most popular number.
Numbers that may be the most popular: 7, 9 and 11.
You are allowed to cancel your ticket purchase. For example, if you get a Quick Pick with a lot of popular numbers, you can keep exchanging it until you get a Quick Pick with more unpopular numbers.
Select infrequently chosen numbers. By playing rarer combinations, a ticket buyer can earn an expected return on the parimutuel prizes above the average expected payout. If you do win, there will be less people to share with in the prize pools. Possible examples are:
Choose numbers ALL above 31.
People seem to avoid consecutive numbers.
Use a Quick Pick or your own pseudo-random number generator to generate a combination with all numbers between 32-49.
Study the game, especially the odds of winning.
Decide how much you can afford to spend. Remember, never play more than you can afford to lose. Buying lottery tickets is NOT an investment.
If you are going to buy more than one ticket per draw, the ideal time is when the expected return is higher than the cost of the ticket. For example, you may want to buy an extra ticket(s) next time the Lotto 6/49 jackpot is at least $14 milion, i.e., greater than the 13,983,816 odds. If the jackpot is greater than or equal to the odds per dollar bet without attracting too many competing buyers, the maximum net expected payoff can be well in excess of the ticket price. These "fair bets" are rare occurrences, with the big US lotteries like Powerball never having produced a fair bet. Players should react to big expected returns instead of just big jackpots.
Beware of spending any money on lottery software and other so-called "systems."
Avoid buying tickets through unauthorized and illegal sellers such as on the Internet. Avoid lottery pools that charge you administration fees.
Picking Numbers
Avoid commonly played combinations since if you win, there will be a lot more winners to split the prize with. Combinations such as the following will probably be played by others in a 6/49-type lottery:
The infamous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Patterns on the play slip, e.g., vertical, diagonal or horizontal columns; corners.
All numbers chosen are between 1 and 31, i.e., birthdays.
Based on frequency analysis, e.g., six most frequently or least frequently drawn numbers, the six numbers that haven't been drawn the longest.
Recently drawn combinations.
Six-number combinations given in lottery newsgroups, software, or "psychic" phone lines.
7 is probably the most popular number.
Numbers that may be the most popular: 7, 9 and 11.
You are allowed to cancel your ticket purchase. For example, if you get a Quick Pick with a lot of popular numbers, you can keep exchanging it until you get a Quick Pick with more unpopular numbers.
Select infrequently chosen numbers. By playing rarer combinations, a ticket buyer can earn an expected return on the parimutuel prizes above the average expected payout. If you do win, there will be less people to share with in the prize pools. Possible examples are:
Choose numbers ALL above 31.
People seem to avoid consecutive numbers.
Use a Quick Pick or your own pseudo-random number generator to generate a combination with all numbers between 32-49.