Buying lottery tickets is easy, but because lotteries in the state-run United States typically pay out only half of the revenue to the winners, there is a bookie profit of around 50 percent. Meanwhile, a woman in Texas won over $1 million on four different occasions. How can you increase your chances of winning? There is no surefire way to consistently win at lottery tickets, but read on to discover how to analyze and make smart buying choices.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Winning Scratch Tickets
Step 1. Use single method
A few years ago, statisticians discovered a statistical game in scratch ticket production, which can double your chances of winning if exploited properly. Basically, scrubbing games work under the assumption of "random," but cannot be produced in a completely random way, because the lottery body needs to keep track of how many winning tickets are in circulation.
Step 2. Purchase the correct ticket
Some "matched style" or "tic-tac-toe" scratch tickets are tagged with some kind of code that you can learn to get to know. Look for a ticket type where you have to match "3 in a row" from the given set of numbers. Usually, the outside of the aluminum layer will be marked with seemingly random numbers that you rub to reveal the numbers on the inside. If, on a given ticket, game room, you get three 100 dollar figures, you win the listed numbers.
This is a game that can be deciphered using a single method. These games are also usually among the cheapest lottery tickets, and have the lowest payouts, so you can buy some to practice
Step 3. Chart the "random" numbers beyond the repeating ones
Find the numbers that mark the playing area and, for each number, count the number of times each number repeats on the ticket. Look closely at the "single number." This number is a "random" number that appears only once on the ticket.
The digits you're looking for won't be the same--this means they'll appear more than once. Remember, you are looking for one that only appears once
Step 4. Mark the number
On a separate sheet of paper, draw the squares on the ticket, filling in the number "1" replacing the random digits in each box where you find a single number. A single group of numbers will signal a winning card 60-90% each time.
Step 5. Look for groups
Depending on the rules of the game you are playing, you may need to look for three numbers in the given place, or three in a row, but usually cards that display this abnormality are statistically more likely to be winners.
60% may not sound like a lot, but the average scratch card has a 30% chance of winning, so you've doubled your chances. Among large groups of tickets, this can result in significant gains
Step 6. Develop this technique
Experiment with other scratch tickets looking for repetitions in "random" numbers. They all work on the same principle, and you may be able to find anomalies that you can exploit in certain games. Buy a cheap ticket and study the ticket to see what you can get.
Method 2 of 2: Win the game of powerball
Step 1. Find the expected value
This is a great idea for any lottery game you are considering playing. The expected value refers to the probability of a single outcome, assuming all outcomes are equally possible. Here, the expected value calculates the value of the ticket, if the game is held fairly so that the income earned on the losing ticket will equal the profit of the winner.
In other words, it assumes the powerball lottery works like a fantasy soccer team: five people bet five dollars, the winner gets 25 dollars
Step 2. Determine the probability of each possible "win"
This will depend on the specific game of powerball or numbers you are playing. If it's a six-digit number you choose, there are nine possibilities for each position and six different positions. Since each output is probably the same, you need to calculate the permutations. Alternatively, all odds will be listed in the rules of the game.
Step 3. Multiply the odds by the payout for that win
It is very unlikely that you will add together to determine the expected value. Doing this will result in a negative value. In general, for every two dollars you invest in a powerball ticket, you can expect 93 cents back.
Calculate for each non-cash gift taking its cash value into account, and convert the annuity (annual distribution of prize money) into a round amount for the purposes of this calculation
Step 4. Purchase tickets that increase the expected value
In particular, promotions that add a probability percentage to the prize list will make tickets a worthwhile purchase.
An example for this section is the promotion of the Missouri Lottery in Daily Pick 3. Normally a player has a 1/1000 chance of winning a $600 prize, making a $1 ticket worth only 60 cents. This promotion is to draw the second winning combination on a randomly selected day of the week. Initially, this draw was to determine whether the upcoming bonus that day held six white balls and one orange, but on the last day of the week, all six white balls were discarded, leaving only the orange ball and ensuring a double draw on the final day. This doubles the value of the tickets and converts them from an expected 40 percent loss to a 20 percent revenue. See table 1 below for how the expected values differ in the week
Step 5. Look for the progressive jackpot
A bigger jackpot increases the payout and therefore the value of a ticket. The value of a large progressive jackpot is very sensitive to the exact rules of the game, so be sure to understand the rules.
- The Massachusetts Lottery imposed a buy-in limit after it was discovered that their Cash Win-fail game had a positive expected value after the jackpot rolled to increase payouts at lower prize levels.
- In the Mella Millions multi-country lottery, the jackpot is divided equally among all winners matching all numbers. If the player can confirm that he doesn't need to split the jackpot, Mega Millions becomes a smart bet whenever the jackpot exceeds about $420 million, but this calculation does not include the probability of the jackpot being split. It has been theorized that the frenzy of buying tickets as the jackpot increases increases the likelihood of multiple winners sufficiently that the jackpot can never grow large enough to award a ticket with a positive expected value.
Step 6. Consider the tax implications
In the United States, winning bets are taxed, but losing bets are only subtracted from winning wins. This legal asymmetry can affect the calculation. A double draw promotion that results in a player profit of 20 percent before tax considerations is only profitable after tax, given that players can buy the hundreds of tickets needed to cover a significant fraction of the 1000 outputs.
Play this system too:
How to Play: Choose any 9 numbers from 1 -40 and replace the numbers consecutively with the numbers below.
9 digit system
124578 134679 234589
8 digit system
123567 124568 134578
234678
Tables
| Day | White Ball | Orange Ball | Second withdrawal possibility | Expected profit/loss per ticket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | N/A | N/A | 0 | -$0.40 |
| 1 | 6 | 1 | 0.143 | -$0.31 |
| 2 | 5 | 1 | 0.167 | -$0.30 |
| 3 | 4 | 1 | 0.200 | -$0.28 |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.250 | -$0.25 |
| 5 | 2 | 1 | 0.333 | -$0.20 |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | -$0.10 |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 1.000 | +$0.20 |
