A look at the most common lottery strategies that aren't guaranteed to work
We all know we can’t beat those lottery odds, but still, plenty of players try to come up with ways to beat them. The thing is most of these strategies never actually work.
Below, we look at some of the most common strategies players use, only to lose.
A lot of lottery players pick birthday numbers and numbers with special meaning. You’ve probably done it yourself a few times. It’s a method that produces random numbers, but only using numbers between 1 and 31 (the days of the months) seriously limits your range of play.
What’s more, the more people that use this strategy, the more chance there is of the jackpot being split amongst more winners.
Do a quick internet search and you’ll come across many books and blogs claiming to be expert and comprehensive guides on how to hack the lottery.
If this sounds like you, we need to tell you something. Not a blog or a book can guarantee that you’ll win the next major lottery jackpot. Theirs is absolutely no way you can swing those odds in your favour.
We’re not saying every single lottery strategy book, blog or article is bogus, though. Well, not exactly. It’s just that not all strategies are built around scoring the main jackpot. Some just try to help you with how to win a little something, while others try to help you with picking your numbers.
One particularly popular strategy for picking lottery numbers is using patterns. For instance, creating a design on the playboard when marking the squares. Some of the most common patterns are diagonal lines, vertical lines and horizontal patterns. Some players even try to create a pattern in the shape of their favourite letter.
But it’s a popular strategy, and again that means that even if you do win, it’s sure to reduce your share of the jackpot.
How often have you studied sites to find information on a lottery’s hot numbers? They’re the numbers that are drawn most often or those that have been drawn recently. The belief here is that recent numbers could be lucky numbers.
It’s just not true. Picking hot numbers can hinder your chances of winning.
In fact, if we had to share one important tip with you, it’s this. One of the best ways to pick your lottery numbers is randomly. Just pull numbers that pop out of your head, or make use of the Quick Pick option and let the computer do the work for you.
By picking numbers at random, you’re a lot less likely to share the jackpot with tons of other players.
Fortune cookies, astrological signs and the like are fun. But using them as a way to pick your lottery numbers means plenty of other people might be doing the same thing. So, if you do win, the jackpot prizes are more likely to be divided by the total number of players who have the same numbers in a particular draw.
It’s not a clear-cut answer. When it comes to lottery strategies, you’ve got to think about what you mean by “winning.”
Scooping a massive jackpot is a whole lot different from pocketing a few extra dollars.
Let’s use the Powerball lottery as a perfect example. To win the big jackpot, your odds are 1 in over 292,000,000. But, your odds of winning $4 just for matching the Powerball number is only 1 in 32.
So, it all depends. Do you want to make a few bucks playing? Then a few strategies might help you pick some good numbers.
But if your aim is to hit the jackpot, there is absolutely no way of out-foxing random lottery results.
Find fun lottery facts and tips at Powerball.ca today.