A man just reached out to us who was excited about the “formula” he'd seen online for how to win the lottery. And he wanted to know why we don’t share those ideas with people.
It’s because they’re not true. Lots of people SAY they have a way to guarantee you’ll win the lottery, but they really don’t.
I’m betting there have been debates about “the winning formula” in lottery games for as long as there have been lotteries -- and that stretches back at least to the time that the Great Wall of China was built.
It’s All Random
To be clear, lottery games and drawings are based solely upon random outcomes. There truly is no way to predict which numbers will be drawn next in our games or where a big winning ticket will hit next because it’s all random.
Now, there have been weird coincidences in lottery games through the years. But that’s all they are: coincidences.
The Fortune Cookie Coincidence
For example, in a March 2005 Powerball® drawing, 110 prizes were won at the game’s second-prize level. All those tickets matched the 5 white balls but missed the Powerball. Back then, the odds of winning at that prize level were about 1 in 3 million, so there usually would have been 4 to 5 second-prize winners in a drawing.
It turned out, fortune cookies were behind the huge number of winners. The people involved had all been playing the numbers they’d found in fortune cookies. All the cookies were produced by the same New York company and contained the same numbers.
When those numbers came up in the drawing, the players all won big.
A weird coincidence for sure!
What Actually Gives You A Chance To Win
There is only one “formula” I know of that guarantees you a chance at winning a lottery prize: You have to buy a ticket!
So buy a ticket if you want. But remember that the lottery is a form of entertainment, like subscribing to a streaming service, going to a concert or enjoying a night out to eat.
Don’t believe claims of a so-called formula to help you win, and don’t play beyond your means. Just have fun with it!
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