We all know when we buy a lotto ticket, the chances of winning are pretty remote, but that doesn't stop us having a go and buying a ticket now and then. After all, someone’s got to be the winner and though there are often rollovers, lotteries don’t carry on rolling over forever.
So what can you do to improve your chances of winning when you do play the lottery?
Choose which lotto to play
If you play the UK National Lottery you have an approximate 1 in 13, 983,815 chance of winning and if you play the US Powerball lottery, your chances of winning the jackpot rise to 1 in 175 million. The Daily Irish lotto has actually better odds for you to win – there’s a 1 in 8,145, 060 chance of winning the top tier prize each time you play. Although the jackpots are smaller than on other jackpots mentioned above, the Irish lotto always has a minimum jackpot of €2 million up for grabs; plenty cash enough to radically alter most people’s lives.
Choose your numbers wisely
The key thing to remember is that if you choose numbers that others don’t, you stand more of a chance of keeping that jackpot all to yourself. Numbers worth avoiding are birthday numbers – ie. any numbers that are between 1 and 31 – as everyone tends to choose dates that are special to them so the higher numbers are picked less frequently. There’s nothing to stop you choosing a couple of sequential numbers as there’s no reason that consecutive numbers might be in the draw, but don’t choose a list of numbers like 1,2,3,4,5, 6. Apparently about 10,000 people choose that particular series every week for the UK National Lottery!
Of course, picking numbers carefully won’t actually increase your chances of winning, but if you combine an unusual number selection with a lottery that gives you higher odds of winning, you’re doing the most you can to improve your chances of success.
Good luck! x