Mathematician reveals best way to win lotto

With odds of one in 300 million, it may seem impossible to win the lottery, but a mathematician has shared some crucial tips.

With odds of one in 300 million, it may seem impossible to win the lottery, but a mathematician has shared tips on how to increase your chances of winning.

Ryan (Skip) Garibaldi, the director of the Center of Communications Research in La Jolla, California, recently spoke to WIRED and provided some valuable insights on what to do and not to do when buying lottery tickets.

First and foremost, Mr Garibaldi warns against picking dates, which is what most people tend to do. Instead, he advises buying tickets with unpopular numbers and purchasing tickets from states that sell the fewest.

Mr Garibaldi also suggests picking sequential numbers, as it helped Richard Lustig win four times in the local Florida lottery for over $1 million each time. While this method won‘t increase your odds of winning, it may help you avoid sharing the jackpot with other winners.

“If you look at the ticket where you pick your numbers, don’t just pick a column of numbers on that ticket, for example, because some people will do that,” Mr Garibaldi said in an interview with WIRED.

For those who prefer scratchies, Mr Garibaldi recommends using the internet to your advantage and checking sites like scratchoff-odds.com to see specific tickets in your state and prizes that have yet to be claimed.

Mr Garibaldi warns against picking dates, which is what most people tend to do. Instead, he advises buying tickets with unpopular numbers and purchasing tickets from states that sell the fewest.

If you’re looking for a game that lets you guess a four-digit number, Mr Garibaldi suggests betting on the six-way box, which bets all the six possible ways of writing a number with two ones in it and two twos in it. While your odds of winning are one in 1,667, you will most likely lose money.

Gambling has long been a favourite pastime for Aussies and according to a report from Gambling Statistics Australia, we spend an average of $1.9 billion on lotto every year. However, as Mr Garibaldi explains, there are ways to increase your chances of winning.

Four-time Florida lottery winner Mr Lustig was known to reinvest some of his winnings into more lottery tickets.

“Now, this won’t increase your odds of winning,” Mr Garibaldi explained.

If you’re looking for a game that lets you guess a four-digit number, Garibaldi suggests betting on the six-way box, which bets all the six possible ways of writing a number with two ones in it and two twos in it.

“That kind of thing is gonna give you the same chance of winning the jackpot as any other method of choosing.

“However, if you look at a ticket like that, it looks weird. So many sequential numbers help you not share the jackpot, which is good.”

While hitting the lottery may seem like a long shot, these tips may just increase your chances of winning.

Just remember, as Mr Garibaldi warns, you will most likely lose money chasing the horizon.

Originally published as Mathematician reveals best way to win lotto