Size of The Prize

    
When the jackpot gets large, more people enter the draw by buying tickets.  As this jackpot continues to grow, more and more people take the plunge, and buy the tickets.

The jackpot grows very fast at that point, and it can take an hour or more to buy a ticket.  This is what happens every so often on the PowerBall Lottery.  Every Lottery becomes relatively huge every once in a while.  The higher the odds, the bigger the jackpot will ultimately climb to.

Then, there is El Gordo, the Spanish MEGA-Lottery.   This is simply held twice each year, and is the largest prize fund of them all.  There are many gigantic prizes up for grabs - first place here is about $13,000,000.00 in cash, with no local taxes!  Look at our description of this lottery by clicking on the El Gordo link on the left.  

The size of the jackpot really does matter.  The odds are astronomical that your numbers will ever be chosen, but someone does indeed end up winning these things.  Buying lottery tickets becomes a long-shot dream of independence and wealth - especially when the jackpot is truly huge.  Sometimes the first prizes can be well over $100,000,000.00 in cash, all at once.  Sometimes, these winnings are even tax free in the country that holds the lottery.

If you can actually stand to not buy any tickets for a short period of time, save your money while the jackpot is small.  When the jackpot gets big, go back in.   When the jackpot is huge, buy as many extra tickets as you didn't buy when the jackpot was small.  This way, if you do win, it will be very significant indeed.
  

    Frequency

If your local lottery is held daily, you probably won't be playing every single day.  Conversely, if your only lottery available is something like El Gordo, which is held only twice each year, you'll want to participate in both drawings.

The frequency of the draw is important only if it is extreme, as in the above two situations.   Generally, drawings are held twice each week, although there are also lotteries that are drawn only once each week, and once each quarter.

Most lotteries offer two draws each week.  By the way, the non-US ones usually have larger first, second, and third prizes, and are completely tax free in that country.  The prize levels can get huge over time.  The best thing about many of these lotteries is that the second and third prize amounts can be significant.  Notice, for example, the Canadian 6/49 second tier prize of over $693,000.00 in May of 1999.
 

    Previous Results

   
The scientist in all of us realizes that the drawing of the actual lottery numbers is a random event.   That is, the outcome of any one draw has absolutely nothing to do with anything else that has ever gone on.

However, short term patterns do happen often.  The trick is to identify which pattern is valid at what point.  While this might seem somewhat akin to divining water, we can still get far better odds of winning than simply choosing a few computer- generated or special-interest numbers on your tickets. 

You can get these better odds by analyzing the previous numbers drawn, while filtering out 'inappropriate' numbers and combinations.  These subjects are considered in our other sections - see our Site Links, on the left of each page.

Lowering the odds is what it is all about.   Remember, if there was really an accurate way of predicting these lottery numbers, the lotteries would be out of business.  Our main purpose is to lessen the huge odds by playing smart. 

    Wheeling a Set of Numbers

  
When you 'wheel', or combine, a set of numbers into your entries, the wheeling software will pick your combinations based upon a heuristic formula that will maximize your winnings up to a specific level.

Using this tool, you can play your favorite, or even predicted, set of 24 numbers, and be sure that you will have a certain result if the winning numbers are within your set of 24 numbers.  Or 30 numbers.  Or 14 numbers.  It is up to you.

The wheeled entries are spectacularly effective when the 6 winning numbers are wholly or partially within your big set of numbers.  There can be many winners within your entries.  If you go through the effort of generating your numbers, processing them in a wheeling software package, and then generating the entry slips, you'll generally enter these same slips each week.

Sooner or later ...
     

    Pools and Clubs

Lottery Pools and Lottery Ticket Clubs can yield great results.  Did you know that fully 40% of all lottery wins are by a lottery club or pool?  This can be potent stuff.

The best way of doing this is with your friends and/or co-workers.  This is the way that some truly monumental jackpots have been won.  A lottery pool can yield great results.  You cover much more of the possibilities for the same amount of money.  Any of us would rather have 5% of $30,000,000, rather than 100% of nothing.

Just beware when you join a pool.  Make sure that the rules for the pool are understood, and that everyone knows exactly what percentage of the winnings they are due should the pool's numbers be drawn.