We are all suckers for the lottery. Yes, some of us might be of a more pragmatic turn of mind and dismiss the idea of winning the big pot altogether, but none of us would ever actually say no to a winning ticket. And speaking of tickets, one question remains: can you boost your odds of winning the lottery by buying more tickets?
Well, in theory you could but the thing is that it’s not the soundest advice anyone can give you. So, can you really win the lottery if you go on a spending spree? What are your odds of snapping the winning ticket when someone might have already bought it? Let’s find out together.
Crunching the Numbers, Buying Moe Tickets and Winning the Lottery
Eager to win the lottery? Take for example the Super Ball.
There are 292, 201,338 tickets to buy and anyone who tells you that you can beat the house by buying more tickets may need to reconsider. At current lottery prices of $2 to $3 per Super Ball ticket, you would need to spend at least $584,402,676 to make sure that you have every last single ticket. That’s a lot.
Besides, you would never be able to snap the whole lot of tickets and the lucky devil can turn up anywhere after you have spent a small fortune on buying up tickets.
Lotteries in general are also a bit different than raffles, for example. When it comes to lotteries, what you are doing is to pick a sequence of numbers, but this means that someone else can pick up the exact same sequence of numbers.
It’s not even that, but the fact that the sequences are virtually inexhaustible or if not so, they come in the millions, which in turn makes the whole endeavour very random. And while some games, such as the Power Ball, take over 292 million combinations to win, others, such as Mega Millions would break the 300 million threshold easily.
When you consider these numbers, then you logically need to ask yourself if you can realistically expect to win if you buy 100 tickets. As it turns out, your odds of being crushed by a meteorite are far better than drawing the big pot of money.
Despite all of this, you probably still ask yourself – why do some people win? Well, because they simply do. The winning ticket is shipped somewhere or a person just comes up with a random sequence of numbers. To some, those numbers mean something, to others – they are just random. Nobody can tell exactly.
When playing non-raffle games, you are given more control over the outcome of events, as this way, you won’t have your chances of success diminished by the fact that the winning ticket has been shipped elsewhere.
How to Really Boost Your Odds of Winning the Lottery
You can in fact “influence” the odds and make sure you are playing in a manner that would guarantee you the highest chances of success. To get to the point where this is true for you, you will have to consider your own finances. Buying 100 tickets is certainly better than having just the one, but you need to realize that it makes no financial sense unless you can afford to lose the $200 that you need to invest in buying the tickets in the first place. Here are several more tips that would help you sway the odds – as much as this statement can be true – in your favor:
- Trust the numbers repeatedly – Consistency is key. With 290 million combinations to go around, your best chances of hitting the big pile of money is to stick to the same numbers every time. It’s sort of like trying to get rescued in the mountain. You just stay in the same spot and wait for the rescue team to sweep in. If you are playing with multiple tickets, try to diversify the numbers on each ticket to boost you odds. This advice comes straight from the horse’s mouth, Richard Lustig who won the lottery seven times.
- Birthdays are no good – Other than being very unlikely that you were born in a winning year or your loved ones were, if you do enter birthday numbers what you might end up getting is a jackpot that is split by a number of other people. Call it selfish, but you don’t want to split your good fortune with others – at least not on terms that don’t depend on you.
- Play consistently – Your chances increase “dramatically” if you are regular, you will give yourself a better chance of hitting a jackpot. Even then, you should remember that there are roughly 52 weeks in a year and that the Super Ball is twice per week, which means that you can play around 105 combinations a year with a single ticket.
- Don’t break your finances – Unlike securities and even Forex, lotteries have a very shaky ROI. You need to win to get something back and the only way this will work out is to be sure that you can afford to lose what you invest in lottery tickets. Some people are high-flyers and they like the miniscule probability of earning a big pot of cash overnight. Yet, they wouldn’t spend their savings on snapping up as many tickets as they could.
Playing with a cool head is always instrumental to success when it comes to lotteries. Want to win the lottery? Admit to yourself that this is very unlikely first and then play with a level head and the best practices that will get you closer to the ultimate goal of turning a millionaire overnight.
Most Winners Buy ONE Tickets Anyway
Most lottery winners aren’t serious about the lottery in the sense that they devise strategies and crunch odds. Sheer luck is what determines most winners. Some would advice you to quit while you are ahead while others might be a little more encouraging. In any way, no matter how many tickets you end up buying, it’s just the ONE that will help you turn a profit.
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