Winning the lottery is one of the most common daydreams for people all over the world, and with good reason—winning the jackpot can change your life. As such, lotto players are always looking for the best ways to increase their odds of winning and choose the right numbers. In this article, we’ll give an overview of the different types of lottery strategies that you can use to become the next big winner—we hope!
HOW DO PEOPLE CHOOSE THEIR NUMBERS?
Playing the same set of lucky numbers every week is a popular lottery strategy. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, there are many different techniques for choosing lucky numbers.
Some lotto players choose numbers that have personal significance, such as birthdays of friends and family members. Others take lucky numbers from tradition or particular cultures, like the lucky number three or seven.
Other players take a more spiritual approach to choosing their lucky numbers, looking to numerology or their daily horoscope to pick out which combination might be right for them. Discovering the best way to pick lucky numbers is a great way to add some fun to playing the lottery.
HOT AND COLD NUMBERS
Choosing your lines based on hot and cold numbers is a lotto strategy that uses data from past draws. To do this, sit down and look at the numbers from a set amount of previous weeks. Track which numbers have occurred the most often recently to find hot numbers, and then identify those that have appeared the least often—those are cold numbers. In other words, the most common numbers are considered the hottest numbers, while the least common ones are considered the coldest. Check out the most common Powerball numbers for an example.
People who use this strategy recommend choosing a mixture of hot and cold numbers to create your lines. You can also throw in some overdue numbers, which are numbers that have not appeared in the most recent weeks.
LOTTERY ADVICE BOOKS
Many lottery players are always searching for the secret method that will help them win the jackpot, and enterprising authors have noticed. Searching online for books on winning the lottery will yield a lot of results, but these books are not all equal.
When looking for a lottery advice book, reading a few reviews before buying is crucial, as there are a lot of scams out there. Some books on the market are written by past lottery winners, such as Eddie Coronado’s How to Win the Lottery With the Law of Attraction. As the title implies, this book offers advice on how to manifest a fortune with positive thinking and gives insight into how Coronado did this.
Another popular book lotto advice book is Lotto: How to Wheel a Fortuneby lottery expert Gail Howard. Howard spent decades giving advice to lottery players and writing books about her Balanced Wheels system of lottery wheeling (more on that below). She published seven books about her lotto strategy, some of which are still popular among lottery players.
On the notorious side of things is a book titled Lotto Dominator. This book makes all sorts of wild claims, but the truth is that most of it is complete fluff that won't bring you any closer to winning. On top of that, it also often contradicts its own advice. Definitely stay away from this one and any other products associated with it.
LOTTERY WHEELING
Lottery wheeling is a strategy that is based on a branch of mathematics called combinatorial design. It focuses on choosing a subset of numbers and then purchasing all of the possible combinations of these numbers.
There are three different types of wheels: full wheels, abbreviated wheels, and key wheels. Full wheels include every possible combination of a given set of numbers. Abbreviated wheels are more economical when it comes to buying tickets, but they do not cover all combinations within a set. Key wheels focus on a specific number to include in your set.
Lottery wheels still cannot guarantee that you’ll win a jackpot, but they offer guarantees of smaller prizes if at least some of your numbers are drawn. Gail Howard’s Balanced Wheels system is based on abbreviated wheels and has helped many lotto players win prizes both big and small.
RAINBOW METHOD
The LotoRainbow method is a system developed by Renato Gianella, a Brazilian mathematician. It combines probability, colour-coding, math, historical lotto data, and logic to help players choose their numbers.
This system is based on the Law of Large Numbers, which theorizes that performing an experiment many times should yield average results that are similar to the expected results. Based on past lottery draws, sets of numbers are assigned colours that correspond to their probability of being drawn.
Coloured templates are then created for specific lottery games, and players must choose numbers for these draws that follow the colour pattern laid out in the template.
PLAYING LOW ODDS
One strategy that can help increase your odds of winning the lottery is simple but effective: play lottery draws with lower odds. There is a lot of variation in odds between draws. For instance, the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, while the odds of winning Italy MillionDAY are 1 in 3,478,761. That means your odds are about ONE HUNDRED times better if you buy tickets for Italy MillionDay instead of Mega Millions.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you’ll start winning jackpots if you switch lotteries, but it does mean you'll have much better chances. Not sure where to start? Here are the best lotteries in the world.
BUYING MORE TICKETS
This is another lotto strategy that is easy to follow, so long as you can afford it. Since every single ticket and number combination has equal odds of being drawn, the only real way of increasing your odds is by buying more tickets.
If you’re determined to win the jackpot, there is a way to do so—you could buy every possible combination of numbers available. Of course, that’s not a viable solution, so the next best thing is buying as many tickets for one draw as your budget allows. That might mean participating in fewer draws per year but buying more tickets per draw.
LOTTERY SYNDICATES
While buying more tickets is well and good, not everyone can afford to purchase large quantities of tickets on their own. That’s where lottery syndicates come in.
A lottery syndicate is a group of people who pool their money to purchase more tickets. This method of playing is also called a lottery pool or group play. It can not only help increase your odds but can also be a more economical way of playing. For instance, it is much better to purchase 50 tickets and split the cost between 50 people than it is to purchase 50 tickets on your own.
Of course, finding and organizing 50 trustworthy people could become quite a challenge itself, but luckily many of the best online lottery sites offer syndicates. Since the sites take care of all the coordinating and terms and conditions, it’s now easier than ever to play the lottery as a part of a group.
LOTTERY PREDICTION SOFTWARE
The best lottery prediction software applications take the guesswork out of choosing lottery numbers. Though they’re similar to the Quick Pick option in that you’ll end up with a set of numbers, these applications don’t just spit out random numbers.
Lottery prediction software provides numbers based on unique mathematical algorithms that are supposedly able to give you a winning combination. The algorithm used differs by application, as each software has a different philosophy behind its numbers.
For example, the software Beat Lottery uses previous draws along with other lottery data to determine your numbers. However, one of the most popular lottery prediction software available is Gail Howard’s Smart Luck, which is based on her Balanced Wheels system. It gives you access to charts and graphs of past draws so that you can find trends that will help you win. This software requires that you do a bit more of the work, but it guides you as you learn to analyze data to determine which numbers are most likely to be drawn.
In many cases, lottery prediction software takes other lotto strategies that are on this list and automates the process of choosing numbers. They also have varying degrees of credibility, and you should beware of any software that offers a 100% guarantee that it can help you win. It won’t.
DREAMS
Dreams are one of the most commonplace things that science still can’t fully explain. Some people feel enough of a connection to their dreams that they try to interpret them and see how they apply to their everyday life. Some people even use their dreams to pick their lottery numbers.
If you’re lucky enough to dream of a set of lottery numbers, then maybe those are the numbers that are going to change your life. This lottery strategy certainly worked for Canada Lotto 6/49 winner Mary Wollens, whose dream about winning the lottery with her numbers won her $16 million.
However, you can also buy tickets based on your dreams even if you dream of a single number. For example, if you dream of a single number—let’s say six—you can buy a line using numbers and number pairs that add up to six. One line could look like this: 6, 15, 24, 33, 42, and 51. Using a little creativity, there are a lot of fun ways you can use your dream numbers to come up with lottery combinations!
SUPERSTITIONS
Whether or not we understand the meaning behind superstitions, many lotto players use them to help them pick their numbers. Some superstitions could be as small as going to the same store to buy tickets for every draw or carrying around a charm or talisman every time you purchase a set of lines.
Others might require some extra observation. If you’re in tune with nature, maybe buy an additional ticket next time there’s a full moon or a blue moon. Or, next time you find yourself stuck in traffic, write down the numbers on the license plate in front of you and use those on your next ticket.
Whether you’re genuinely superstitious or you’re just looking for a new way to choose numbers, this can be a fun strategy to apply when playing the lottery.
FORTUNE COOKIES
It might seem hard to believe that anyone would actually win using the numbers they found in a fortune cookie, but try telling that to Charles W. Jackson, Jr., who won a $233 million US Powerball prize in June 2019, or Richard Davis, who won $10 million in the Florida Lottoback in August 2015. Their stories, as with many lottery stories, show that truth is often stranger than fiction.
PRAYERS
Prayer is a powerful force in many religions, particularly Christianity. In Christianity, one name for the Lord is Jehovah Jireh, which roughly translates to “the Lord, my provider.”
If you’re going through a rough time financially, then beseeching the Lord through prayer and asking Him to provide for you might be the thing that finally gets you that big win you need. If you’d like to get more technical and specific, check out these prayers for winning the lottery.
CONCLUSION
Playing the lottery is supposed to provide fun and entertainment, and what better way to enjoy yourself than to try out different lotto strategies. While the quick pick vs. choosing your own numbers debate rages on, each of the strategies above can not only help you win but also add an extra element of fun to buying tickets. For more ways to improve your chances of winning, check out the most common lottery myths and make sure you understand which are fact and which are fiction.
FAQ - frequently asked questions
What is the best lotto strategy?
Proponents of different strategies will all tell you that their method for winning the lottery is the best, but in reality this is often not the case. While some of the mathematical systems can certainly help you win smaller prizes, the best lottery strategy (and the only one that is guaranteed to help you win) is to 1) play the lotteries that have the best odds and 2) buy as many lines as you can for individual draws. And the best and cheapest way to do that is to play through a lottery syndicate.
Which lottery has the best odds?
The lotteries with the best odds include Polish Mini Lotto, Italy MillionDAY, Austria Lotto 6, and Canada Lotto 6/49. Because winning their jackpots and secondary prizes is significantly easier compared to the biggest lottery games, these games also happen to be some of our personal favourites.
Does tracking hot and cold lottery numbers actually work?
Again, different people will tell you different things, and some people believe that hot numbers are the ones to go after since, after all, they are the most common numbers. However, others will tell you that cold numbers are what's important they haven't been chosen in a while and are "overdue." In reality, all numbers have a 100% equal chance of being drawn, so whatever patterns hot and cold numbers seem to suggest is just a coincidence that should be taken with a grain of salt.
Why are some lottery books and systems so expensive?
Aside from a few lottery books and systems that actually have something of value to say, many are mostly fluff if not totally bogus and useless. And the ones that have exorbitant prices, like Lotto Dominator, are generally among the worst lottery scams of all.
Is it better to play the same lottery numbers every week or different ones?
Since all lotteries are games of chance, all numbers have an equal chance of winning. As such, the same percentage of people have won incredible jackpots using the same numbers every week as have people trying new numbers, quick picks, lottery software, books, and systems.
Can lottery numbers be predicted?
Yes and no. While winning lottery numbers have often been predicted by mediums like dreams, fortune cookies, software, systems, and analyzing hot/cold numbers, these were always just incredible—or possibly supernatural, if you're into that kind of thing—coincidences. As far as accurately and consistently predicting winning numbers, however, that has never been done because the lottery is a game of chance‚ meaning anything can happen.
