# Lottery Tips.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979 "2012-03-27T20:45:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/21 "2012-03-29T16:17:44Z")
I just saw an interview with this guy on one of the “news” channels, and he’s kind of a dick. They anchor pointed out that most experts say the chance of winning is no different whether you pick your own numbers or not, and that if you _do_ win, the chance of sharing the prize is lower with quick-pick numbers. His answer had nothing to do with attempting to refute these valid points. He snarkily replied “How many jackpots have _they_ won?” In fact, I think he used this retort more than once. I kind of stopped listening to the jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/22 "2012-03-29T16:19:25Z")
> [@mkecane](#): > > But if I play the same numbers on 2 tickets, don’t I win double the jackpot? That only seems fair. I’ve known people that actually do this, their reasoning being that if someone else also wins, they’ll get 2/3 instead of 1/2. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/23 "2012-03-29T16:27:11Z")
My theory: decide how much money you really need to win to make a significant impact in your life. Let’s say it’s $100,000. In Michigan, you can play a Fantasy 5 game with a $100,000 top prize and face odds of 1 in 575,757. Why buck the odds of 1 in 175,711,536 to win the Mega Millions when your odds of winning are 305 times better playing Fantasy 5? Those godzilla jackpots draw you into a game that you have incredibly little chance of winning, why bother when you have a much better chance at a life changing win playing the smaller games? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/24 "2012-03-29T16:33:02Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I’ve known people that actually do this, their reasoning being that if someone else also wins, they’ll get 2/3 instead of 1/2. Ages ago, there was a great article in a German magazine about winners of lotteries. One story was about a woman who had asked her granddaughter to go play lottery for her on her way home, as it was snowy and she didn’t want to go outside. She gave the granddaughter the money and off she went. Grandma got to thinking her granddaughter probably spent the money on candy or magazines instead, so she got dressed and went out to play her numbers. Yep. Grandma won the lottery! And yep, granddaughter had indeed bought tickets as well. There were three winning tickets that week, splitting the prize in thirds - and grandma now owned TWO of them. ---
**Author:** ![Sethcrzygy86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Sethcrzygy86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sethcrzygy86)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/25 "2012-03-29T16:36:17Z")
Think of the numbers that are going to win. Then choose those ones ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/26 "2012-03-29T21:06:03Z")
Make sure you pick all of your numbers to be greater than 31 since so many people play birthdays, this will reduce your chances of having to share it. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/27 "2012-03-29T21:28:55Z")
I played my dollar. I didn’t take any of the advice though… The guy in front of me bought 200 tickets! I hope it was an office pool and he wasn’t blowing 200 bucks - he didn’t look like he could afford it. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/28 "2012-03-29T21:42:12Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > Make sure you pick all of your numbers to be greater than 31 since so many people play birthdays, this will reduce your chances of having to share it. But if a large portion of people play above 31, then THAT becomes over-represented as well. AAACK. Quick Pick would be my modus operandi. Too much thinking otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/29 "2012-03-29T22:58:54Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > But if a large portion of people play above 31, then THAT becomes over-represented as well. AAACK… Right, so the best advice is to play 3 numbers 31 or below, and 3 that are 32 or above. People who play birthdays will most like play all 6 numbers at 31 or below. People who are contrarians will pick the 32 and higher numbers. The secret to investing is diversification, my friends! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/30 "2012-03-30T00:01:37Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Spend a few weeks entering every winning lottery number ever into a database. Crunch those numbers until you have two lists: Numbers that hit most often (“hot” numbers) and numbers that hit the least often (“due” numbers). Sell lists of the top 50 numbers on both lists. Cha-ching! Or save yourself time and get the number frequencies off the [California Lottery Website](http://www.calottery.com/play/draw-games/mega-millions/number-frequency) and sell those to folks who don’t know any better. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/31 "2012-03-30T00:32:32Z")
The best way to win this lottery is going to be to buy 172 million tickets, with every possible combination. Or if you want to be thrifty and settle for a little more risk, just buy 86 million tickets for a 50/50 chance of winning. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/32 "2012-03-30T01:02:51Z")
Of course you could go the other way, and spend 540 million dollars on tickets that all have the same number. Then hope you win. And then laugh at the other 2 or 3 people who also won, but will only get a few pennies after the jackpot is split up proportionately. Lotteries can be fun! ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/33 "2012-03-30T01:23:17Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > The best way to win this lottery is going to be to buy 172 million tickets, with every possible combination. Or if you want to be thrifty and settle for a little more risk, just buy 86 million tickets for a 50/50 chance of winning. Hee. I’ve always wondered if that was possible/feasible. I always just assumed that the lottery commission would make you buy each ticket individually if you wanted to do that, thus making it a time/resource sink. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/34 "2012-03-30T06:44:04Z")
The lottery in Thailand (single 6-digit number for grand prize, other numbers for lesser prizes) works differently than America’s Pick-Six, but I can offer a tip for it. Do not pick a number with too many matching digits. If you win, [there is a chance the result will be annulled](http://www.lotterypost.com/news/104195): > [@](#): > > In the lottery draw on June 1, 2001, the first-prize winning number was 113311. Somtrakul, Kittichart and Thongsuk Chanakaree (still at large) took the stage to scoop numbered balls and they went after balls with the number 1, which they had marked. Unfortunately this conflicts with my own lottery strategy, which is to avoid buying from vendors by pretending their numbers aren’t pretty enough. Now they save all their quadruple-digit tickets for me and of course I then have to buy them! :smack: Hmmmm. Checking [the recent grand-prize winners](http://www.ethailottery.com/) I see multiple digits, e.g. 451445 and 648684. Maybe the lottery riggers are back in business and we should hop on their coattails while they remain uncaught. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/35 "2012-03-30T19:58:30Z")
The best way to win is to take your lottery money and put it all on Red. At least then they’re only taking 5% vigorish. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/36 "2012-04-01T20:31:11Z")
[Two](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/31/us-lottery-megamillions-idUSBRE82U00W20120331)of the 3 winners were quick-picks. ---
**Author:** ![what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a5b964/32.png) [@what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/what_do_I_type_here)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979/37 "2012-04-02T03:09:47Z")
This reminds me of something I saw on a poker forum. They had a section for other gambling games and someone was asking for a “strategy” for playing baccarat. Since the game is basically the same as flipping a coin, this made me go :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-tips/616979.md?page=1)