Recently, the $656 million prize offered in the Mega Millions lottery gave charlatans an opportunity to sell lottery players “secrets” to winning the lottery. One such guy was “author” Richard Lustig, who wrote the “book” “Learn How To Increase Your Chances of Winning The Lottery.”

Lustig says he has figured out how to “increase your chance of winning” the lottery. He did a media tour to promote his book (more accurately, pamphlet) which tells these secrets. Lustig’s “winning lottery method” was featured on programs such as ABC News and the Rachael Ray Show.

Sadly, CNN Money got in on the craze and aired a video featuring Lustig. That video was later removed from CNN’s website after a firestorm of criticism. A CNN spokesperson said:

“The CNNMoney newsroom takes great pride in its journalism, with consistently high standards for reporting. This video fell short of that mark and we’ve chosen to remove it from our site.”

Richard Lustig, and people like him, are lying if they’re telling people you can beat the system. The only way to increase your chances of winning is by buying more lottery tickets. Any other scheme for selecting numbers will not increase your chances, period.

Lustig says you should believe him, and not the rational people who are telling you the truth about numbers, probability, and the lottery. Since he’s supposedly won seven lottery grand prizes, he uses that as confirmation that his system works. But Felix Salmon at Reuters correctly points out:

Richard Lustig is a get-rich-quick hack with no idea at all of how to beat any lottery. Yes, he’s won an impressive number of jackpots. But he also advises that one third of all your winnings should be “reinvested” into lottery tickets — which means that he’s betting an enormous amount of money every week. He never gives any indication of what his ROI is; indeed, he never actually comes out and says that he’s a net winner. Neither can I see any indication that all the money he’s gambling is his own.

Tips For Winning the Lottery

But Richard Lustig’s tips for winning the lottery are a scam. The bad “tips” provided by lottery hucksters often include:

  • Set a “lottery budget” each month and use it to buy multiple tickets for the same game.
  • Do not use the “quick pick.” Select random numbers for better odds.
  • Play the same numbers every week.
  • Select sequential numbers.
  • Reinvest your winnings.
  • Play numbers that haven’t been part of a winning combination in a long time.

All of these ideas are bogus because at the time of each drawing, the prior drawings have no bearing on the result.  Each lottery ticket has an equal chance of winning, and that’s based on simple math, including probability theory. Bissonnette says:

“Unlike poker or blackjack, there’s nothing you can do to gain an advantage at this. You can’t make decisions to influence the outcome.”

Paying the lottery is just like playing roulette: there is no skill involved. The lottery is completely random, and the likelihood that one set of numbers will be picked is exactly the same as any other set of numbers. It does not matter if a set of numbers has already won, because the lottery has no memory.

Favoring or avoiding certain numbers will not increase or decrease your chances of winning. It will only increase or decrease your chances of splitting the jackpot with other winners. Bissonnette agrees:

“I hesitate to even say this,” Bissonette told Your Money, “but if you do buy lottery tickets, picking random numbers is the way to do it. (Picking your own numbers) means you’re more likely to pick numbers someone else has, and then you’ll be more likely to split.”

There are no secret lottery numbers that will increase your chances of success, and there are no patterns that will increase your chance of winning. Simply put, there is no system that works because the lottery is completely random and your odds per ticket are always the same.

Unfortunately, there is only one way to increase your chances of winning the lottery: Buy more tickets. And that’s just silly, especially since those buying lottery tickets are very often people who can’t afford to waste money this way.

165 Comments

  1. Raphael 02/28/2015 at 9:02 am - Reply

    I have sold lottery tickets for 20 years and I consider gambling a form of entertainment.
    Richard is an idiot, but rather a funny one. When I listen to him he is my form of entertainment on how stupid someone can be. Not one thing he means can be backed mathimaticaly.

  2. polaris(nom de plume) 06/18/2015 at 12:06 pm - Reply

    Richard HAS WON SEVEN TIMES after refining his method of playing.Bernie Madoff had the mathematics right but it was all cow dung. Mathematically. You can’t get more energy out of a system than you put into it. Right! But in practical applications like cold fusion or plasma technologies that is exactly what is happening.Instead of calling everything YOU don’t understand a scam.TRY his ideas YOURSELF and then refine them with your own acquired knowledge.

  3. Tracy Coenen 06/18/2015 at 1:40 pm - Reply

    Polaris – There is only one way to increase your chance of wining a random thing such as a lottery: buying more tickets. There are no “methods” of playing.

  4. eden 07/01/2015 at 7:06 pm - Reply

    Polaris is right. Not because richard site is ugly or his book is a scam, but the guy won 7times. Yes he played a lot that is why he won thats why he has a book. I bought his book today, it does not arrive yet. Maybe my worst investment, its $40 i can live with that. If his technique or pointers makes sense and i am winning. Then i can beat him at 8.

  5. Tracy Coenen 07/01/2015 at 10:58 pm - Reply

    There are no pointers or techniques. IT IS RANDOM.

  6. Kalia 07/15/2015 at 8:07 am - Reply

    Mr Richard Lustig is a very lucky man simple as that but you can’t teach others to be lucky or as lucky as you are !lotto games is simple luck ,not a study ,you study to become something but you don’t study to become lucky!!

  7. Bernice C. Thomas 07/16/2015 at 1:35 pm - Reply

    I believe there is a method to the gambling madness. I like to play the lottery because it is fun. I will admit that you have to get a hold on your money and only play for fun. I also believe there are methods out there that do work. I know of two that work all the time, and I miss and hit with them. My only fault is that I don’t play on those days I know I will hit due to laziness…I just don’t feel like walking to the store. lol and ca ching, but not for me. I give out numbers to my friends and they call me and let me know that I hit or missed all the time. You don’t have to play a fortune to win the lottery, but you do need to play 4 out of 7 days a week. That’s another reason they call it “hit or miss”. People who are fearful will always be naysayers. However, no one will win all the time, but as the saying goes..YOU GOT TO PLAY TO WIN!

  8. Tracy Coenen 07/16/2015 at 2:00 pm - Reply

    Bernice – Wow. There is no predictable “hit or miss.” Whether you hit or miss is completely random, based solely on chance. Of course you sometimes hit, and of course you most times miss. That’s the way the lottery works. You can’t predict what numbers will hit. Ever.

  9. Apollo Mayaimi 07/26/2015 at 2:59 pm - Reply

    Richard Lustig may or may not be a scam artist; yet, the larger picture that everyone may be missing is the picture of positive spirit power. It’s of my professional opinion as an Lottery Analyst that Richard Lustig didn’t necessarily just purchase more lottery tickets he had to have access to some higher spirit power as discussed by Romanian Mathematician Catalin Barboianu:

    “Lottery strategies are only possible if a player has access to some PARANORMAL INFORMATION (i.e. Thought Numbers, Spirit Guides, Remote Viewing, e.t.c) – someone has to have prior knowledge”. – Catalin Barboianu, 2009

  10. Tracy Coenen 07/26/2015 at 9:40 pm - Reply

    Very funny, Apollo!!!

  11. Michael Howard 07/31/2015 at 6:46 am - Reply

    Richard Lustig is a former drug dealer and pimp (this is not a joke) from Arizona whose unlawful actions have shamed his parents and his former friends. He used to be a fair drummer but ruined that with his constant ego trips. He is a sad joke

  12. Hanna Barker 08/02/2015 at 3:02 pm - Reply

    i was just about to buy his book but changed my mind after reading those comments, i think there is a system of playing the same numbers until they win but who knows how many years that will take 90? but some people just buy a one ticket and hit the mega jackpot not to many shares, amazing! all ages, mostly older since this is something to do for them, well good luck to me! i want to be that lucky mega jackopot winner times 8!!

  13. derekn 08/03/2015 at 8:29 am - Reply

    Let me preface this post by stating that the only true way to increase your “odds” in a number drawn lottery is to buy as many combinations (tickets) as possible.

    Now, with that being said, there is one aspect of probability and odds that is difficult to grasp mentally – and im going to state this incorrectly because it’s been years since my statistics class…

    Even though a game resets itself after each draw, probability is still in effect.

    For example: you have a coin. You flip it 1000 times. Odds are that of those 1000 flips 500 will be H and 500 will be T.

    But, the probability the first 500 are T and the next 500 are H is not 50/50. I cannot recall the formula that shows how that works but you can google probability and odds.

    What am I getting at? what the author in this article is saying is that the number draw is reset and each number has the same probability of being drawn each time. Not true. The odds of the same numbers being drawn in back-to-back weeks is not the same as 200m:1 (or whatever the first drawing odds are). So yes, you do increase your odds ever so insignificantly by not playing the winning numbers from the draw before.

    Wait you ask, what about the same mega or powerball being drawn back to back?
    That’s a separate drawing in fact of 1 – 50+ balls. So it’s not part of the other 5 ball pick. It’s a separate lottery! You’re in fact playing two lotteries at once which is why it’s so hard to win the grand prize!

    again, it’s hard to grasp the concept of odds and probability on such large scales and truly the only way to win is to play at least one ticket. And the only way to truly increase your odds of winning, buy thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of tickets.

    I really rambled but I hope it keeps at least one person from dumping hard earned money into a “system”.

  14. johnlover 08/26/2015 at 11:48 am - Reply

    Raphael you have sold lottery tickets for 20 yrs but you do not know how to write please check your paragraph and try again.

  15. mainstreet 09/02/2015 at 3:22 pm - Reply

    @DEREKN said “What am I getting at? what the author in this article is saying is that the number draw is reset and each number has the same probability of being drawn each time. Not true. The odds of the same numbers being drawn in back-to-back weeks is not the same as 200m:1 (or whatever the first drawing odds are). So yes, you do increase your odds ever so insignificantly by not playing the winning numbers from the draw before.”

    This is incorrect. The lotto balls have no memory of numbers that have been drawn before them.

    For any single lotto draw, the odds of the same combination of numbers as last time is exactly the same as any other possible combination.

    The situation you described with the coin flips is not the same. The odds you described were of a certain sequence of flips or draws happening in an order. That’s not how the lotto works. You don’t buy tickets that are influenced by any other previous draws, it’s a singular occurrence every single time.

    To make your example apply the same way as back to back lotto draws: If you did back to back coin flips, the first flip coming up heads, does not change the odds of the second flip also coming heads. It is still 50/50.

  16. Carole 10/01/2015 at 11:48 am - Reply

    There are mathematical formulas for different types of lottery, depending on whether they are with or without replacement and whether order of numbers chosen matters or doesn’t matter. Most state lotteries consist of choosing n numbers out of P, a population of numbers (48, 52 or more) without replacement where order of numbers doesn’t matter. The number of combinations are calculated as P! / n! x (p – n)! (! means factorial, whereby the initial number is multiplied by that number minus 1, that number minus 2 and so on, down to 1). So if n = 6 and P=52, the number of combinations would be 52!/ 6! x 46! The 46! cancels out in the number and the denominator, and the ultimate calculation is (52 x 51 x 50 x 49 x 48 x 47) divided by (6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1). The number of combinations of six numbers chosen from 52 is 20,358,520, The only way you can increase the 1 in 20 million probability is to buy more tickets. Choosing a quick pick would actually increase the probability that no one else picks the same 6 numbers.

  17. Carole 10/01/2015 at 11:52 am - Reply

    Also MAINSTREET is correct. The probability of drawing a particular number one day is independent of whether the number was drawn on a different day. The probability of drawing one set of 6 number is exactly equal to the probability of drawing another set of 6 numbers, i.e. 1 in 20 million. The only thing you can count on in a lottery is long odds.

  18. Jake 10/26/2015 at 8:37 pm - Reply

    What about the mass of the balls being drawn…. I mean are these the same set of 49 balls everytime or do they get new balls for every drawing like in baseball…. The reason why I say this is because, the numbers on the balls get worn off and balls start to deteriorate…. How often are balls changed…. This makes me come to the fact that if they aren’t changed periodically some balls will be lighter than others and vise versa….. So in conclusion this is why when you look up the lotto frequency of numbers most are called more than others…. Maybe it’s not a mathematical probability thing…. Maybe it’s physics and chemistry

  19. No Names Please 12/06/2015 at 2:01 am - Reply

    Those of you who “claim” (because that’s all you are doing is claiming or assuming) that the lottery is random haven’t (and cannot) prove that the lottery is random, can you? No you can’t. So any conclusions that you come to that are based on the unproven assumption that the lottery is random would have to be considered suspect. Put another way, how many mathematicians have won the lottery 7 times?

    Even assuming that you are right about the lottery being random and even if the draws truly are independent of each other, nevertheless, even in a series of random drawings where over the *long run* every number has an equal chance of being picked, in the *short run* there can indeed be consecutive “runs” of the same number or even combinations of numbers that are picked. Even a casual glance through the winning numbers for say Powerball will reveal that some numbers do come up more than once over the course of several consecutive drawings e.g. over periods of 2, 3, 4, or 5 consecutive drawings, and then do not come up again for many drawings after. Does that mean (“prove”) that the picks are not random? In the long run probably not. However, in the short run – maybe.

    And I should point out that no human is capable of sticking around long enough to “prove” that the numbers picked are indeed random. With odds of winning the Powerball at 1 out of 292,201,338, even given that there are 2 drawings every week, you would still have to wait approximately 2.8 million years to be sure – so good luck with that. And with the long run being that long, even a “short run” could be very long indeed so numbers could come up an unusually large number of times over the course of various subsets of hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of drawings – time periods beyond the ability of humans to perceive – and still be perfectly random over the *long run*.

  20. Tracy Coenen 12/06/2015 at 8:25 am - Reply

    No Names – Yes, over the short run you will see that certain numbers come up more often than others. However, there is absolutely NO WAY to know which numbers those will be BECAUSE IT IS RANDOM. The lottery IS RANDOM because that’s how numbers work. Unless you’re talking about a lottery being rigged with balls that have been altered, which is a totally different topic than this article. This article is about the non-rigged lottery. (And if it was rigged, you’d have to know exactly how in order to pick the winning numbers, and you’ll never know that.)

  21. karen 12/30/2015 at 9:22 am - Reply

    if Mr Lustig has uncovered the secret…why isn’t he a billionaire? if his methods work so well…why isn’t he winning all the lottery jackpots?

  22. ROBERT 01/04/2016 at 11:28 am - Reply

    … and his big win was over 800,000, which would certainly be grand to win, but the CA super lotto starts at 7,000,000. So why hasn’t he won at least that amount?

  23. Fyodor Dostoevsky 01/05/2016 at 3:51 pm - Reply

    Gambler’s Fallacy, Hot-Hand Fallacy.
    The balls don’t have a memory.
    Although, I don’t think anyone should pick the same winning numbers as the previous draw, because if that happens then maybe the universe will collapse into itself due to unknown cosmic forces and laws of nature…
    I mean, it just wouldn’t be right, would it? Perhaps a little bit of gambler’s fallacy is healthy….

  24. Seth 01/06/2016 at 11:08 pm - Reply

    This just all proves that money runs people’s lives. That much money is a want not a need. There’s better things than having lots of money. Money isn’t everything. Play for fun. If you lose, you go on with your life, and you make it a good one. Don’t take what you already have for granted. You buy a ticket and win then it was meant to be. I read that a lot of lottery winners lost all their money shortly after, so it’s not a good idea to spend money on lottery tickets. Well even if you win and lose it, yeah it will suck, but you’re back to where you started which wasn’t bad no matter how broke you were. Being dirt poor doesn’t mean you can’t have amazing people in your life or still enjoy everyday. I’m a teenager, I probably don’t know what I’m talking about, but I work fast food which isn’t hard to get employed at and I make money and do good in school to go on to get a good job and work for my money. It feels pretty good working for your money. Sometimes when I get low on money and start to stress I think about how I don’t need money to have a great life. All I really need is my close friends and my family. If you do what you love and get paid for it and have a loving family and friends then you already hit the jackpot. You get paid for something you enjoy doing? Wow, all of you think I’m kinda dumb for going way off topic and writing something that should be on a blog or something. Well I have an answer for why I did all of this….. I got bored. I have homework to do but this was helping me procrastinate. If you read all of this and don’t think I’m nuts then you the real MVP. Thanks for reading (if you actually get to this part) peace out

  25. Andrea 01/08/2016 at 5:22 pm - Reply

    Love it
    So true
    Good luck and God Bless

  26. Doug 01/09/2016 at 1:55 am - Reply

    Wow. Some of the comments here remind me that a significant number of Americans are ignorant and gullible.

    The lottery is always random. ALWAYS. Do you people know what the word “random” means? In the mathematical and empirical sense, it means there is absolutely no “system” or “method” that can determine the outcome. Because the outcome is…wait for it…completely RANDOM. Whew. Mind blown!

    The winning lottery numbers this week could be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Then next week, that exact same string of numbers has the exact same chance of any other string of numbers being picked because…here we go again…each number is completely RANDOM.

    None of this is my opinion. It is demonstrable mathematical fact. Whether anyone likes it or not, or finds it hard to believe, is entirely irrelevant. The laws of mathematics and probability are not controlled by human emotions and human illogic. But people have a hard time logically accepting these irrefutable facts of mathematics mostly because they want to convince themselves there is some way to get some type of vague advantage. And often times, you can’t convince people of empirical facts if they aren’t psychologically prepared to accept those facts.

    This would certainly describe most lottery players, who are perfectly willing to ignore or deny mathematics when it causes cognitive dissonance with their dreams of getting rich.

    What can I say. Most people just ain’t that smart. And when we talk about emotional IQ, which is what ultimately drives people to buy lottery tickets, most people are just flat-out ignorant.

  27. Tina 01/09/2016 at 3:42 pm - Reply

    Well, if people were 100% logical, no one would buy a lottery ticket because the odds are so far stacked against any one individual to win. The main reason a person buys a ticket is to roll the dice and take a chance and luck isn’t governed by laws of logic. My view is that buying a lottery ticket is like reading ones horoscope, it’s a form of entertainment. My $2 to buy a ticket gives me 10 minutes of dreaming that I might become a millionaire and wonder what I would do and that’s about as much as $2 can get me.

    Of course, I could be saving those weekly $2 up and send it to a worthy cause and in that sense, it is a waste of money. But I could also fix my coffee at home instead of buying a cup at Starbucks. Each individual has their own ideas about the value they get from their money and how they should spend it. I think the lottery is fine as long as it is viewed as entertainment and not part of a financial plan, when someone spends a dollar or two and not their paycheck on lottery tickets. That’s ridiculous and heart-breaking and I think anyone who is selling a system or “method” to winning a randomly-generated lottery is a fraud. If they truly had a reliable method (and I don’t think one exists), why aren’t they winning $500M jackpots and are instead pitching a book or series of lessons to people? Their method clearly isn’t very good if they have to do internet sales pitches to make ends meet.

  28. Old 454 01/09/2016 at 5:42 pm - Reply

    @Derekn @Mainstreet — Derekn is correct, odds are not the same as probabilities. Whereas, the odds of any given set of numbers coming up on any given draw are exactly the same (regardless of the game), the probability that the same set of numbers would be drawn consecutively, is a totally separate calculation. But that is all moot with games like Powerball, with odds in the millions. Even buying more tickets in that scenario doesn’t increase your chances perceptibly (1 in 20 mill versus 1 in 10 mill?).

    However, in games with more manageable odds, say 1 in 1000, cash management, coupled with playing more tickets, can increase your ability to be net positive over time.

    Alas, the bottom line is that, in the end it is still gambling. And things are called “a gamble” for a reason.

  29. Bonnie 01/09/2016 at 7:40 pm - Reply

    Doug, I could not have said it better.

  30. Ivan K 01/10/2016 at 12:19 am - Reply

    Statistically and Mathematically there is no way to beat the system. It is all random because next week same set of numbers could be drawn. It is not likely, but it is still possible. Yes, your chances of winning increase if you buy more tickets, but think about some past winners who never played lottery and won by buying only one ticket. I think Richard is a very lucky man. Do you think there are not many Richard’s out there sharing same opinions about how to play lottery? Of course there are, but many of them never won any lottery even after years of playing. It is all about luck and nothing else especially when odds are 292 and something million. If you had only 100 combinations you would probably hit the jackpot after buying 100 tickets. Well if you have $315 million in bank account maybe think about spending all on lottery tickets.

  31. opendiscussion 01/10/2016 at 3:48 am - Reply

    I am one of the “ignorant.” For the Mathematical, Math is the basis of what we believe to be “true” but we’ve proven time and time again; the “regulations” we’ve put into our world are only put there by us as to the development of a system to understand everything else! Now we break rules with electrons and discovery of particles right under our noses, redefining reality, perception, and life itself as we know it! The same parameters we once were guided/ lived under are no longer “truth”. Any true math intellectual grasps this and/so it baffles me the amount of ignorance from this side of the community! random is only perception in the infinite!

  32. David R 01/10/2016 at 8:50 am - Reply

    Some of the comments just illustrate one of the major problems of humanity: that we are gullible and tend to believe in magical powers to explain aspects of life we don’t understand. (Religion is a testament to that.)

    It’s been said before: drawings are random and independent of the previous choices. “Analytics” posted on some websites that show the frequencies of individual numbers being drawn would, if analyzed properly, just show that it’s random, and and that model that chooses certain numbers will not outperform the “quick pick” one in terms of probability of winning.

    That being said, there are benefits to choosing one’s own numbers, besides the obvious superstition and fun it provides. While you can’t change the odds of winning, you can increase the winnings if you do win. A statistician would call the combination of the two the “expected utility”. That is because most people out there seem to choose some lucky numbers that are birthdays, and thus, numbers below 32 and below 13 will come up more often. Because wins (or at least the jackpot?) are split between winners, it is preferable to end up with rarely played numbers. The exact distribution is unclear to me, unfortunately. One could estimate this from published prize numbers (for the past decades).

    I’m a scientist and I’ve played the lottery (for $2 mind you) when the jackpot was huge. Why? Just so I could dream, for a few minutes, what I would do with all this money. The answer has been strangely satisfying, as of late: my life, hopefully, wouldn’t change much.

  33. Chuck 01/11/2016 at 8:43 pm - Reply

    I did buy his book over a year ago (paid $100!) and it was the worst investment of my life – EVER. I tested and retested out his methods and guess what? THEY DIDN’T WORK, cero, nothing! About him winning 7 times, yeah, right! – Maybe in the scratch games if at all. Anyway, people are even taking for granted what he says:” I won 7 mayor prices” “I was hold up with a gun – they didn’t wanted my money – they wanted my winning system!” There are a lot of gullible people in the world – I was one of them and paid the price for it. For less than you pay for his system I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, you sell the steel beams and you are a millionaire! How about that? There is one born every day and this guy is taking advantage of them. Don’t fall for it.

  34. Thomas 01/12/2016 at 7:51 am - Reply

    Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! Buying more tickets does NOT increase your odds of winning! The odds of winning are the same for each ticket. 292 million to 1. It does not matter how many you have…each one is the same. 292 million to 1. The only way to beat the system is to buy all 292 million combinations. It was done in California about 20 years ago by an Australian group. The rules were changed to close a loophole that allowed them to get away with it.

  35. Mainstreet 01/12/2016 at 10:17 am - Reply

    “OLD 454
    @Derekn @Mainstreet — Derekn is correct, odds are not the same as probabilities. Whereas, the odds of any given set of numbers coming up on any given draw are exactly the same (regardless of the game), the probability that the same set of numbers would be drawn consecutively, is a totally separate calculation. ”

    The odds and the probability for any single lottery drawing are exactly the same.

    You and Derek are talking about calculating the probability of things happening over multiple drawings. That is a completely useless calculation as previous drawings have no impact on the current drawing.

    Someone mentioned earlier about picking your own numbers to avoid numbers similar to everyone else, and that is actually the worst thing you could do. The only reliable strategy is using the quickpick option and letting the machine pick for you.

    Letting the machine pick random numbers means you truly get a random selection of the full set of 69 balls.

    Humans are biased to numbers 30 and below – birthdays, addresses, sports jersey numbers. We are subconsciously lowering our odds when we pick our own numbers by being predisposed to a smaller number set.

  36. […] But first let’s discuss some misinformation about winning the lottery. Self-proclaimed “lottery expert” Richard Lustig has in the past reportedly offered these tips: […]

  37. Mike Phillips 01/13/2016 at 6:13 pm - Reply

    @Thomas, you’re incorrect. Buying more tickets MUST improve your odds. If the odds is 292 million to 1 for one number, then if you play 2 numbers your odds of winning just went from 292 million to 1, to 292 million to 2. And they change for each number you play.

    You see each number has the same odds, but the more numbers you have, the better your odds. It’s not significant, but it makes no sense to say that the odds are the same no matter how many you play.

    Yes, the odds of each individual number winning will always be 292 million to 1, if you have more than 1 number, you automatically increase YOUR odds of winning because you own each number.

    Imagine someone having 291,999,999 numbers. Are there odds still 292 million to 1? The odds of each number is 292 million to 1, but THAT persons odds are 292 million to 291,999,999. In that instance there is only 1 number that can possibly be played that would keep that person from winning.

  38. Ed Kedz 01/14/2016 at 3:10 am - Reply

    I cannot believe how many people have no clue as to how random numbers and probability work. There is no system to predict what numbers will be selected. I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I will sell you and you get to keep the tolls.

  39. Estella 01/15/2016 at 2:04 pm - Reply

    All I know is that I’m soon to be very wealthy 😛

  40. Apollo Mayaimi 02/11/2016 at 5:28 pm - Reply

    The comments on here are very hostile to the Lottery. A few years ago maybe in the 1800’s the Lottery was very corrupt, state legislatures shut it down for a period up until the 19th-20th century. Today, the Lottery with a few blemishes here-n-there is very tight security measures unlike the illegal number rackets. Secondly, there is no direct relationship to compulsive gambling and playing the lottery. A gambler is a person that gambles for high risk in favor of losing odds with minimal reward.

    Now! From the viewpoint of a lottery player he/she ought to strategize favorable winning odds or high financial rewards in favor of minimal risk via smart lottery playing knowledge through lottery financial services such as those operated by Magic City Lottery. The lottery isn’t an investment, gamble or involves any life threatening risk; but, rather a purchase similar to other hundreds of other purchases transacted in retail store locations throughout America or the world. In fact, the lottery is not even recognized on the stock market nor does it carry a stock Symbol. The odds of the lottery are better than getting struck by lightning; so, quite contrary to popular belief the lottery is not all that risky as many would like to believe.

  41. Tracy Coenen 02/12/2016 at 1:28 pm - Reply

    So sorry to have hurt The Lottery’s feelings. Apollo, no one is saying it is run corruptly. It’s just that lottery is the WORST thing to spend one’s money on. You get NOTHING of value in return, and have almost no chance of coming out ahead. It’s idiotic to participate.

  42. Apollo Mayaimi 02/13/2016 at 2:41 pm - Reply

    “Lottery is the WORST thing to spend one’s money on. You get nothing of VALUE in return and no chance of coming out ahead”- Tracy

    That’s ridiculous Tracy! Most people when only given two options between playing the lottery and smoking crack would choose to buy some numbers. The Lottery is actually the BEST thing to spend ones discretionary money on for ENTERTAINMENT value, e.t.c. Another value in Lottery Ticket rests in the fact that Lottery ticket purchasing offers a wide variety of lottery options. You can choose to purchase one of the daily lotto games that consist of 2-5 digits or any of the multi-jackpot lottery games that consists of 5-7 digits plus an extra mega ball. This allows you to create a unique buying strategy that is tailor made to your financial needs and lottery game preferences.

    You can choose to purchase one lottery game or all of them, using lottery winnings to purchase different lottery games. Lottery ticket purchasing can be simple or complex, because there are a number of different purchasing options that can be used to meet your needs and goals. You can choose to purchase in 2, 3, 4 or 5 digit lotteries around the world. This makes it very easy to find the right lottery ticket purchasing option that fits your risk levels, your purchasing strategies and your lottery ticket preferences.

    This means you can benefit more from your purchasing decisions. Tracy! If you’re sincere about ‘getting ahead’ in the Lottery; then, you must understand the faults not within the lottery system itself but amongst lottery players who have no idea how to choose their best personal lottery numbers. And, in fact, most people commenting on this forum don’t have any idea of what numbers to play for the best chance of winning a lottery cash prize.

  43. Tracy Coenen 02/14/2016 at 2:37 pm - Reply

    There is no “entertainment value” to the lottery. There is nothing remotely entertaining about handing someone some money, and then knowing you have almost no chance of winning back that money. Lottery is random, so there is no such thing as “numbers to play for the best chance of winning a lottery cash prize.” Each number is equally as likely to be selected because it is random.

  44. MS RAMSEY 02/15/2016 at 5:06 am - Reply

    LAST i heard was that he was selling his book for $49.95. I don’t think so., as about 75% of people who win use quick picks. This guy is a CROOK…..

  45. Tommy Gun 04/03/2016 at 6:08 am - Reply

    Very interesting and constructive comments. I accept that the lottery draw is completely random, but the numbers that a person chooses don’t have to be. Buying more tickets will obviously will increase ones odds and it is my opinion that playing certain number combinations (sequential wheeling) will as well. In the book, “If you cant win the lottery then change its rules” the author proves this point. If you have 12 favorite #’s, and picked 2 of them, there are 66 combinations from these 2 numbers. The author proved that accepting that there are ONLY 66 combinations using 2 of your favorite 12 #’s he could pair any 2 in ONLY 6, yes 6 games. SO pay attention, this is the reality, using this formula if by fate any 2 out of your 12 favorite #’s are draw you will always be guaranteed that a pair (2 numbers) will be in one of the 6 games. Hello! The question then becomes, using the same formula, how many games would you have to play to guarantee 3 or 4 or 5 of you favorite #’s? 20, 50 or 100 games, Do you get my point! THINK ABOUT IT! Playing this way is advantageous, because if at least any 2 of your favorite numbers are drawn they will be in in one of the 6 games. And who cant afford to play 6 games a week, really! But again the odds are astronomical, who knows. You can’t win if you don’t play!

  46. Tracy Coenen 04/03/2016 at 8:08 am - Reply

    Tommy – Yes, the lottery is completely random. Thus, your entire bit about picking your favorite 12 numbers is total nonsense. Since the drawing is completely random, it doesn’t matter which numbers you choose. You can’t “increase” your chances of winning, because the chances are exactly the same with any numbers chosen.

  47. BIG E 04/11/2016 at 4:22 pm - Reply

    BIG E

    Tommy i have to say what your saying does make sense. But are you implying according to the book that say for example i pick 2 of may favorite personal numbers use them in several different games each week that i would increase my odds of winning a cash prize?

  48. John 04/19/2016 at 6:01 pm - Reply

    I can only speak from experience. I only utilize numbers that were given via a Numerologist and also the utilization of a biorhythm chart. I have 15 favorite numbers. Utilizing these numbers, randomized, in a three month period I have won the Fantasy Five (4) numbers out of (5) three times and the Mega (4) numbers out of (5) once. Now these were the same numbers in a short period of time but the elusive fifth numbers has evaded me to date. I have never kept a penny of the winnings and will not if even if, the Good Lord willing, the (5) out of (5) is finally realized.

  49. tom sorvik 04/30/2016 at 12:39 pm - Reply

    As I can see here, simply put: the lottery is RANDOM!

  50. robert savage 05/27/2016 at 8:21 am - Reply

    I AHVE FILED A COMPLAINT BECAUSE THE MAN WILL NOT REFUND AS IS HIS PROMISE OF 90 DAYS, HE JUST CREATES ANOTHER SITE AND ANOTHER PROMISE. RIPPING PEOLPE OF ALL THE WAY!!

  51. robert savage 05/27/2016 at 8:23 am - Reply

    SO UPSET THE PAST 3 MONTHS I DID NOT CHECK SPELLING (SORRY)

  52. Patrick Murphy 07/02/2016 at 9:17 pm - Reply

    One good thing is that you are contributing to educating our kids, so play on.

  53. J A Tyler 07/03/2016 at 3:21 am - Reply

    Buying more lottery tickets to “increase your chances to win” might sound mathmatically logical, but practcally speaking, it just doesn’t work. Ask any member of the huge office lottery pool where literally hundreds may be spent week after week with not enough winnings to buy lunch. A team at MIT even tried to field test it, I think. Worked better than the average office pool but not by much.

    Powerball is so hard to win, it only pays to buy a couple of tickets to be “in it” for the fun, then forget it. Lotto, a couple of guys in New York played the same numbers for 11 yrs. They won, but between splitting and taxes and ticket costs and discounted cash value, they should have just put the dough into a business. But people do win, that’s a fact..

    Now, Megamillions, quotes the same odds for the top prize, but is easier to win something because it has almost half the power ball numbers to pick, a much cheaper ticket price, a much higher prize multiple generally, and better smaller prizes. Is 1-2 million really a consolation prize? And, who knows, you could hit the jackpot!

    Just my opinion…

  54. GR Finley 08/11/2016 at 6:44 am - Reply

    I win the lottery every week! It is true, and I will give away my secret for FREE here and now.

    First, I have a very strict budget for my lottery. I save this money every week until I have $1,000 to play with. Then, I invest this lottery money into a Mutual Fund.

    I have been playing the lottery this way for years and my ROI is astronomical. Now that you know my fool proof method to winning the lottery I hope you can go out and have great fun winning too!

    Happy playing!

  55. Shane 09/12/2016 at 4:42 pm - Reply

    Has the guy even verified that he won that many times? I think it’s also worth pointing out that he has never won the biggest prize and likely has dumped HUGE amounts of money.

    He’s likely made more money selling his fraudulent book than he ever will through the lottery.

    The lottery is just a clever way for the government to tax the stupid and apparently this guy wants in on the market.

  56. Cory 10/04/2016 at 2:41 pm - Reply

    Yes the lottery is largely based on luck, or even entirely.
    I like to think there is a simple formula for luck; Luck appears when preparation meets with opportunity.
    So it would seem that every lucky winner was prepared for when the opportunity arrived.

  57. Mr. Obvious 10/11/2016 at 1:37 pm - Reply

    No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public…

    This guy doesn’t make money winning the lottery. He makes money selling this book to suckers.

  58. Skip 10/14/2016 at 10:50 pm - Reply

    The sad fact that is largely overlooked is that after promising big benefits to education, the legislature manages to trim the budget for education in step with the money coming in from the lottery, to the point where the benefit to education is minimal at best. It’s fun to guess, but play for entertainment, only. It’s never an “investment”, any more than a soda machine.

  59. JL Pease 10/24/2016 at 10:03 am - Reply

    I believe ESP could be having an effect on the little balls. One person doesn’t have the power but one million people all pulling for number 2 and bam… number 2 pops up lol ok maybe not. But look at it another way, are the odds of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 coming up the same as say 3, 14, 23, 35, 47, 54? … Try this, take the number of balls (6) that get picked and create 6 categories A B C D E and F where A = first ball picked and F = last ball picked. Now go through the winning number history and see where the balls fall. Does it make sense to play 48 in category A? Chart the winning numbers, you will see that they tend to fall into a more relevant category. That is one way to improve the odds )

  60. Britt 11/19/2016 at 12:25 pm - Reply

    Lmao CNN is worried about truethful content! Lmfao!!!!!!

  61. Robbo 12/06/2016 at 9:50 pm - Reply

    “Chart the winning numbers, you will see that they tend to fall into a more relevant category. That is one way to improve the odds”

    You are not getting it. All you are doing here is TRYING to predict a winning combination. The odds don’t change . Buying more tickets may increase your chances of getting something back, but you are NEVER guaranteed to hit a jackpot !!. I do not believe that there is any “System” that will help you win lotteries. Richard has won 7 grand jackpots (so he says), and the highest didn’t make 1m. Did he make a profit on investment? how much has he re-invested, and lost? I agree with other comments that he is probably making more money from people who invest in his book, or university program. As a very smart business man once quoted “Sometimes the best investment you will ever make is NO investment. It is better to keep you money than lose it hoping”.

  62. Frank 12/09/2016 at 4:19 pm - Reply

    I have read all of the above. The one thing I cannot understand with any of these people selling “systems” is.. If they are doing so well why are they trying to sell their all important systems? If they have made mega dollars playing their systems then they are so well off they could just give it away. Winning lotteries is in the lap of the gods. The system sellers are not gods.

  63. Doggod 12/17/2016 at 8:52 am - Reply

    You are all right. if the odds are 1 in 300 million to win with one ticket then and if you buy 10 tickets the odds would be 1 out of 30 million. You just increased your chances by 270 million to get to a much smaller number of 30 million relative! That’s a 90% chance increase by just buying 9 more tickets!

    I am having a problem with one math issue. Why won’t the website let me order more than one?

  64. Tracy Coenen 12/17/2016 at 12:52 pm - Reply

    LOL – You don’t increase your odds exponentially by buying a few more tickets. Each ticket still has a 1 in 300 million chance of winning. So if you buy 10 tickets, you now have a 10 in 300 million chance of winning, not a 1 in 30 million chance.

  65. sirmikon 12/21/2016 at 2:46 pm - Reply

    There seems to be a lot of confusion about the difference between winning the lottery and winning money.

    I want to tell you about a fun game similar to the lottery. It’s called RollDice. First I’ll explain the rules, then I’ll tell you a strategy to “beat the odds”:

    Select any number or multiple numbers 1 through 6. Roll a dice. If the dice roll equals any one of the numbers you guessed, you win $5. You can guess as many numbers as you want. It costs $1 to guess each number.

    Normally, you have to buy my book for $15, but I’m feeling generous. Here is the fool proof strategy to win this game every week: Buy all 6 numbers and you have a 100% chance to win!

    If you’re smart, you’ll be able to use this strategy to “win” the lottery. Don’t blame me though if you don’t “win” any money.

    Bottom line: People who win the lottery are extremely lucky. Lottery is just as random as a roll of the dice. The expected value of the lottery is similar to the imaginary game RollDice. If you could hypothetically buy a lottery ticket for every possible combination of numbers, you would hit the jackpot, but rarely will the jackpot be large enough to compensate for buying all those tickets.

    Play the lottery for fun and entertainment.

  66. Stephen 12/27/2016 at 2:58 pm - Reply

    The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9 and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338. 21
    Good Luck – the only sure thing is Richard laughing to the bank with the book proceeds.

  67. James 12/29/2016 at 11:16 am - Reply

    I read a couple comments where Richard Lustig book is 40 dollars funny thing I see him now in a video trying to won 147 dollars out of pockets of people watching his video… Maybe he should be tarred and feathered for trying to scam people with a scam…..

  68. Buddy Coulter 12/30/2016 at 3:25 am - Reply

    Richard Lustig won the lottery seven times. How many times did he lose? How MUCH did he lose? What lottery did he play?

    A little about “The Lustig Effect”. He played a simple 4 digit state lotteries in Arizona, California, and Washington. The odds of winning were 10,000 to 1. One time in Arizona he purchased all 10,000 different number combinations on a jackpot that was only $21,000. Most times he won, he purchased THOUSANDS of tickets. California Daily 4 has now has lockouts against purchases of more than five connective numbers and more than two thousand total tickets per retailer, per day, forcing you to go to an impossible number of retailers to purchase enough tickets [Source: I’ve coded retail lottery machines in California, and handled the deployment of updates and upkeep for several years.]

    Doing that in Powerball is a great way to throw away thousands of dollars. For the people arguing of whether an entire number could repeat… Getting struck by lighting doesn’t decrease your chances of getting stuck a second time… Unless of course it kills you.

  69. Tim 01/02/2017 at 1:24 am - Reply

    Also remember that in the majority of US lotteries a portion of the ticket price goes toward costs of running the lottery, and a portion to the state. In California, for example, the cost of running the lottery and contribution toward the state’s education budget amount to about 40% of lottery revenue, leaving about 60% for prizes. So every dollar spent creates a prize pool of ~60 cents. That’s just not a winning formula for players. The lottery’s a voluntary tax.

  70. GEORGE HANOVER 01/15/2017 at 4:57 am - Reply

    I listened to a horrendous half-hour audio sales pitch, prepared by Lustig in order to peddle his audio LOTTO DOMINATOR scheme. This pitch has the trademarks of a snake oil salesman – such as bad grammar to make you feel warmly toward him, and repetitive statements even a child would hate. It occurred to me that if Lustig were on the level, he’d take every opportunity to GIVE AWAY his method. Of course I saw immediately that he’s a shrewd salesman, hawking worthless garbage (in this case, his opinions about lottery playing). What ekse did I learn? I learned that no one should speak about probability or statistics or statistical probability…you just don’t know what you’re talking about, then.

  71. Harry 01/15/2017 at 11:00 am - Reply

    Buy lots of lottery tickets to increase your odds?
    Thats one sure way to lose money… ^^

  72. mike 01/19/2017 at 5:37 pm - Reply

    has anyone actually just purchased the system to try it out?

  73. Tracy Coenen 01/19/2017 at 8:16 pm - Reply

    There is no “system,” Mike. There is no way to increase your chances of winning the lottery. It’s math, statistics, and facts. This guy is selling a scam.

  74. Apollo Mayaimi 02/04/2017 at 7:24 pm - Reply

    Tracy! Not all lotto combinations are equal. There are many ways to look at lotto numbers other than by your dogmatic view of random selection. Consider the following:

    1). Odd/Even balls
    2). Pairs of numbers
    3). Past draw history
    4). Frequency of hits/misses
    5). Plus, much, much more

    Nevertheless, it just seems ridiculous to me reading the comments here. Some people foolishly claim that since every number has the same probability of being selected; therefore, picking the combination 1,2,3,4,5,6 is as good a bet as any other. This thinking is false, Tracy! If 1,2,3,4,5,6 had won in the Nov 1991 $88 million Florida drawing, you would have split the prize with 28,283 players. No six consecutive numbers have ever won a lottery anywhere!

    *Note: Don’t believe anyone who says there is nothing you can do to improve your odds. This is totally false! You can improve your odds.

  75. Tracy Coenen 02/05/2017 at 9:28 am - Reply

    Apollo – You’re absolutely incorrect. Every ball has an equal chance of being drawn regardless of the past draw history or anything you have listed.

  76. Apollo Mayaimi 02/05/2017 at 2:06 pm - Reply

    Sorry, Ms. Tracy, lottery balls are UNEQUALLY YOKED…therefore, the best way to beat the lottery is to develop winning strategies:

    1). Spend more money
    2). Choose lottery games with the best risk/reward ratio
    3). Use computerized lottery software
    4). Seek expert analysis
    5). Join lottery pool
    6). Use wheeling tables
    7). Elimination of unlikely combinations
    8). Plus, much, much more

    It’s unfortunate, Ms. Tracy, that you hold onto dogmatic views (random selection) about the lottery; but, I suspect you have an ulterior motive in spreading the propaganda against lottery systems and strategies. It’s no wonder U.S. lottery officials are prompt to push the random selection process (Quick Picks)!

    *Note: According to a 1992 study ‘Introduction to Lottery Strategies & Systems’ by Lotto Systems Group the random selection (Quick Pick) process ranked 6th overall @ 52% success rate for lottery selection methods. Hot/Cold number selection process (lotto strategy) did better than the random selection process at @ 57% success rate!

  77. Tracy Coenen 02/05/2017 at 9:19 pm - Reply

    Yes, Apollo, the “dogmatic views” are based in simple math and probabilities. The fact that quick pick won more or less often than some other method proves nothing. There is still the same probability for each number to be selected in every new lottery drawing. Simple math and probabilities.

    My only motive is to stop people from wasting their money on these “systems” which can’t help them win anything.

  78. Stella 02/08/2017 at 2:44 pm - Reply

    Wow! I got tired! BUT I did manage to cancel my order of the book – thanks.

  79. Stuart 02/09/2017 at 11:11 pm - Reply

    If anyone has a copy of this book please upload it to a torrent site and place the link to it here. May stop others falling for the scam if they can actually see what they are paying for.

  80. Apollo Mayaimi 02/10/2017 at 7:07 pm - Reply

    The math and probabilities are not in your favor, Ms Tracy:

    “Although all bets are equally likely, behavior patterns obey different probabilities, which can make all the difference in the concept of games, benefitting gamblers that make use
    of the rational information revealed by the Geometry of Chance. That lotto numbers follow predicted patterns”. -Renalto Gianella, Brazilian Mathematician

    Secondly, Ms. Tracy, not only did Quick Pick (random selection) perform poorly against basic lottery strategies (hot/cold method) it also underperformed badly against PSI ability (precognition) by a 22 point deficit. The math, probabilities, e.t.c. all point to develop winning lotto strategies, Ms. Tracy, and not random play selection (Quick Pick). In fact, not just any lotto strategy can help you win the jackpot prize; but, you NEED a lotto playing strategy infused with spirit communication:

    “It has been demonstrated mathematically that under conditions of absolute randomness, regular winning over the long term is impossible for games of chance. Most gamblers
    realize this, yet they continue to try and develop new strategies which will result in their eventual winning over the long run. But using a long-run strategy to achieve a cumulated positive result means ignoring the randomness and skipping the experiments which yield
    negative results. THIS STRATEGY IS POSSIBLE ONLY IF A PLAYER HAS ACCESS TO SOME PARANORMAL INFORMATION – SOMEONE HAS TO HAVE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND BE ABLE TO TELL THE PLAYER WHEN TO PLAY AND WHEN NOT TO!”. [Barboianu, Catalin. ?The Mathematics of Lottery: Odds, Combinations and Systems?. Infarom Publishing, Chp 10: Verse 4, Page #64, 2009]

    Note: Ms. Tracy! Truly, if your motive was to help people not waste money you’d recommend them to stay away from random selection (Quick Pick):

    “You‘re better off picking your own numbers by hand! That‘s because people tend to cluster their number choices, and Quick Pick® doesn‘t let you avoid those common numbers. If you pick all the common numbers, if those are the randomly selected winners, you‘ll be sharing the prize”. -Nicholas Wells, Data Journalist

  81. Tracy Coenen 02/11/2017 at 2:47 pm - Reply

    Apollo – There are a number of reasons why quick pick may perform worse than choosing your own numbers. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the selection of winning numbers for each lottery is completely random. It also doesn’t change the fact that the selection of winning numbers for one lottery is completely independent of prior lotteries. Lottery numbers do not FOLLOW predicted patterns. There may be patterns that appear after each lottery is drawn. However, since a lottery drawing is not influenced in any way by prior lotteries, it cannot FOLLOW any pattern.

  82. Joe Kool 02/12/2017 at 4:32 pm - Reply

    YES,someone post a copy of book to expose this scam, only lotto this guy is winning is on book sales profits!!!!!

  83. James Albion 02/12/2017 at 5:51 pm - Reply

    I entered a Lotto syndicate at work, I cannot remember the actual figures but I think it was about a SYSTEMS 13 Forget a winning line, we did not even pick a number. Lustig where were you?

  84. Hans 02/26/2017 at 7:47 pm - Reply

    If you play 649, you have a one chance to win out of 13.983.816.
    Usualy last drawn number are not repeating. So by eliminating last 6 numbers you play 643 and you have a one chance out of 6.096.454.
    You can eliminate random additional 6 numbers and you play 637. You have one chance out of 2.324.784. Six times greater chance than 649.
    It is easier to not much numbers than to much.
    For example you draw 249. You have one chance to draw 2 digits out of 1176 combinations. But not to draw two numbers you can draw three combinations.
    For example 1,2. 3,4and 5,6.
    If you much 1,2. Than you have 3,4 and 5,6 not mutching.
    This way you can eliminate some sets of numbers where remaining numbers contains the winning 6 digits.
    For example:
    1,2,3,4,5,6
    7,8,9,10,11,12
    13,14,15,16,17,18
    19,20,21,22,23,24,
    25,26,27,28,29,30
    31,32,33,34,35,36
    37,38,39,40,41,42
    Now any numer you draw, there is on set of six numbers which does not have even one winning number. You eliminate this block of numers and you play 643.
    Than from 643 you eliminate one block of six numbers and you play 637. Than again you remove six numbers and you play 631, than 625, 619. And finally 613.
    You will get numerous sets of 613 or even 6 of 7. Your chance to win will be greater.

  85. Tracy Coenen 02/26/2017 at 8:00 pm - Reply

    Oh Hans… “usually” last drawn numbers are not repeating. And therein lies the flaw in your whole line of thinking. You don’t KNOW if it will repeat or not. It’s all probabilities, and ANY number has and EQUAL chance of being drawn. Therefore, NOTHING you do in choosing your numbers increases your chance of winning.

  86. Clancy 02/28/2017 at 3:11 am - Reply

    Wow, the lengths people go to delude themselves. Amazing, eye opening and really sad. Whatever…. there is nothing to be done.Fools will be fools.

  87. Shawny Prentice 03/05/2017 at 9:30 am - Reply

    I only read part of this article up to the point of the title 86 Thoughts on “Lottery Fraud: Increase Your Chances Of Winning The Lottery.” Sub-title: Raphael – Look down to the third line of Raphael’s story and see the word mathimaticaly. People it should be mathematically. Not only have you made one spelling mistake in a word, you have made two. I just don’t get it, with all the technology, especially spellchecker how does this happen? Over and over I see horrendous spelling mistakes on some pretty important articles I have read. If you haven’t figured it out, yes, I am a “Baby Boomer” who when I was young and learning how to spell words you made sure you got it right. Nowadays it is like nobody cares, but I do. For once I would like to go a whole day without seeing spelling mistake after spelling mistake. What were you thinking, or were you? Is no one proofreading anything? Do you just ignore the red squiggly lines under a word that is spelled wrong. In this post when I typed in your word mathimaticaly the red lines showed up under the word as soon as I hit the space bar. I just pray that someone that looks after what is written in your articles and checks the spelling PLEASE !!! Also I can safely bet that no one will email me regarding this because no one has since I started bringing it to people’s attention. Just makes me feel even more unimportant.

  88. Jimmy 03/17/2017 at 6:07 pm - Reply

    Over 13 plays past month(m,w,s nights) Quick picks, 36 games ea. total spent approx $212 , returns from 5 wins $101.10 Loss $111 approx. Perhaps consistency might pay off, maybe not…

  89. No Names Please 03/20/2017 at 5:45 am - Reply

    Ok so it’s been awhile since I posted. It’s pretty clear that there are only 2 possibilities: either the lottery is random or it’s not. There are no other possibilities.

    And here’s what I notice from reading through all the other posts here: You’re believers. You BELIEVE the lottery is random. It’s a leap of faith on your part. You BELIEVE it’s a matter of math and probability. You BELIEVE the picks are random. But you have no proof. I on the other hand can prove that there is a high degree of probability that the state lotteries are not random.

    What is my proof? The case of Eddie Raymond Tipton, a lottery winner in Iowa who it turns out worked for the security company that was the contractor for the Multistate Lottery. He rigged the computer that picked winning numbers and was able to predict a set of winning numbers for a certain date and he bought those numbers on that date. Google it if you don’t BELIEVE it.

    Ergo, not random. And if it happened once it can happen again. And in fact it appears that it did happen again in another states where Tipton’s brother won and yet another state where Tipton’s friend won. Ok you say that was the Hot Number lottery in which the winning numbers are computer generated. True enough but what’s your point? Oh something about ping pong balls? Yes so once again you BELIEVE that no one has tampered with the ping pong balls, right? Well guess what kiddies, I have proof that this can be rigged as well.

    Consider (quoting wikipedia) “the 1980 Pennsylvania Lottery scandal, colloquially known as the Triple Six Fix, [that] was a plot to rig The Daily Number, a three-digit game of the Pennsylvania Lottery. All of the balls in the three machines, except those numbered 4 and 6, were weighted, meaning that the drawing was almost sure to be a combination of those digits. The scheme was successful in that 666 (one of the eight combinations that the ‘fixers’ were hoping for) was drawn on April 24, 1980; however, the unusual betting patterns alerted authorities to the crime. The chief conspirators were sent to prison, and most of the fraudulently acquired winnings were never paid out.”

    Oh you say, but see the winnings weren’t paid out. I say yes in that case that we know about but what about all the cases we don’t know about? And in any case, the fact that lotteries HAVE BEEN rigged must dictate that we conclude that lotteries are proven to be not random. These facts should be enough to convince anyone who BELIEVES the lottery is all based on math and sheer probability that the reality is to the contrary. Are you convinced? Of course not. You’re not going to let a few facts get in the way OF YOUR RELIGION are you, after all you’re a BELIEVER.

  90. Tracy Coenen 03/20/2017 at 6:50 am - Reply

    Yes, No Names, rigged drawings are not random. And that information does exactly ZERO to help you win the lottery more often.

  91. Robin 03/26/2017 at 9:23 am - Reply

    How do we KNOW that Richard Lusttg won big 7 times ? What is his net income on his Lotto activities ?

  92. Apollo Mayaimi 03/28/2017 at 10:14 pm - Reply

    Exactly! Eddie Tipton had PRIOR KNOWLEDGE of the winning lottery numbers. In order to beat the lottery all you need is prior knowledge of the winning numbers.

  93. Apollo Mayaimi 03/28/2017 at 10:16 pm - Reply

    Where do access or how can we get prior knowledge of the winning lottery numbers? Easy we ritualize ourselves into experiencing PARANORMAL ACTIVITY!

  94. richfsr 04/05/2017 at 4:15 pm - Reply

    You all seem to be missing the point of playing the lottery in the first place. It’s just another form of entertainment like going to the casino or going to a carnival and trying to win a prize at an arcade. You do it for fun. If you win? Great. If you lose? Oh well. Spend wisely and enjoy yourself.

  95. Arvin 04/09/2017 at 3:52 am - Reply

    Howdy, Many lotteries use computers, in the same manner as electronic keno machines in Vegas, to generate the numbers. Computers cannot create random numbers. They operate according to programming which must begin with a “seed”, a human input of a number within a range, 1-80 for example, then manipulate the selection of items from an array according to a formula. In the simplest of formulae you come up with 80 combinations, depending upon the seed planted. With more complex formulae you can produce greater numbers of combinations, but the number of combinations is nowhere near 290 million mathematical possibilities. Theoretically, if you knew the formula employed and the seed you could predict the outcome. However these formulae are closely guarded “secrets”.
    As a computer programmer, formerly employed by a firm that manufactured gambling machines which by law must pay out a decreed percentage of the time, i can tell you that these legal constraints gobble up more of the computers’ power than the pseudo-random-generator. Still, the capacity of a pentium grade machine will out-think even the most gifted savant, even if he knew the formula and the seed.
    Where i was employed the computer science people were outnumbered by 10 to 1 by psychology majors.
    I play my couple dollars because it is a small price to pay for hope in a dream. And given the nature of this nation’s monetary policy it is a safer bet than assuming your dollar has, or will maintain sufficient value to be worth hoarding against future need.
    Gamble if you wish but the wiser investment is in giving where the spirit directs you. For although many learned people do not believe in God, the hereafter or religion, they cannot prove that such does not exist, nor explain the primary cause of the Big Bang or why the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
    Humans are a simple lot. Even the most intelligent specimens will make assumptions based upon a minute amount of data, which is skewed by their beliefs, thereby demonstrating their lack of understanding and objectivity.
    Don’t bet the farm or your soul on any game, and this is all a game.

  96. marvin purser 04/09/2017 at 8:16 am - Reply

    The scam is the state claiming lottery purchases improve education. Truth is, it only replaces money the state congress allocated for years in their annual budgets and now do not because the lottery money allocated for education replaces it! What a ripoff!

  97. CHRIS DRIGGERS 04/16/2017 at 5:44 am - Reply

    ??? I fu¢king love this! I appreciate the passion for proving what you believe shown by all. I’ve categorized you all into three groups (four, counting SHAWNY PRENTICE’s group “Grammar Nazi”). Group 1) The Realists, 2) The Statisticians, and 3) The delusional/employee’s of Lustig Inc. Reading the comments was loads more satisfying than reading the article. Honestly, thank you all! ?

  98. Travis 04/20/2017 at 10:00 pm - Reply

    Think about it like this. If the number 23 has the same amount of odds to be drawn as 24, but 24 came up in the last 3 draws and 23 came up 0. Wouldn’t it be more likely that 23 gets drawn than 24 next since 24 had already been drawn 3 times in a row?

  99. luckyatlove 04/22/2017 at 7:19 am - Reply

    I liked the person who said to appreciate the people in your life. My son who is heartbroken over his girlfriend who broke up with him said “being with her was like winning the lottery and no one wins more than once” I was drawn to read about this man Lustig because I actually wanted to know if there were people who won the lottery more than once so I could encourage him to keep trying in the arena of love. Of course I will keep trying to encourage him to be “lucky” at love . If what I have read of the comments are true this man has won by playing more numbers . I hope that I don’t have to encourage my son to date thousands of women. I pray that he will be lucky at love because ultimately that is a very important aspect of life. I personally never play the lottery because if I want to daydream about what I would spend millions on I just do it anyway without a $2 purchase.

  100. Tracy Coenen 04/23/2017 at 6:13 pm - Reply

    Travis – What you’re asking about is a different probability.

    First, there is the probability of 23 being drawn or 24 being drawn in the current drawing. Each number is equally likely to be drawn.

    Your question asks the proability of 24 being drawn 4 times in a row. That’s a completely different math problem.

  101. Apollo Mayaimi 04/25/2017 at 8:44 pm - Reply

    Tracy! You’ve lost the dialogue all the old and current available research on lottery weighs heavily in favor of non-randomness:

    “It is hypothesized that in such games (lottery type, related to numeric combination choice), where
    the players decide upon their strategy (choice of numbers) by also taking into
    consideration others’ expected choices, the winning strategy is characteristically
    some consciously CHOSEN SCHEME or PATTERN as opposed to a random one. The study presents the results of the available samples (Hungarian students: n=231, foreign students: n=267), the winning combinations, the most often designated numbers, as well as the least “popular” numbers and their presentation on a “heat map”. In the case of the majority of the winning tickets we found the use of conscious strategic choice to be more useful. These conscious strategic decisions were reflected in identifiable geometric forms. Based on the results, we hypothesize that the most effective strategy of choice is the CONSCIOUS ORDERED one in which the player marks the numbers on the lottery ticket in some modified geometric pattern”. [Becser, Norbert. “Patterns in The Lottery Game”. University of Budapest, 2016]

  102. Tracy Coenen 04/26/2017 at 9:18 am - Reply

    Apollo – A historical analysis will show which is the “better” strategy. However, that does not change the fact that each drawing is still random and each number has an equal chance of being drawn.

  103. Touché 04/27/2017 at 2:57 pm - Reply

    Nothing in a physical environment is 100% random that I know of.

  104. Apollo 04/30/2017 at 8:12 am - Reply

    Tracy- Yes, winning lottery numbers are randomly drawn. But randomly drawn numbers form patterns that are to a certain extent predictable, and learning to use these patterns is the secret to winning the lottery!

  105. Funo 05/05/2017 at 2:12 am - Reply

    True Apollo

  106. marcos e miranda,jr 05/07/2017 at 2:44 pm - Reply

    I like playing the lottery, but. I am cautious about it! I hope that someday I might win it. However, I do it more for fun. Of course, the truth is, that my hopes of winning get me exited. But, I belief that if God wanted me to have money, it would not be through the lottery. Sometimes, I wonder as to whether or not the winnings are not prearranged or had been the results of that person luck. I was a computer analyst and know that there are mathematical progressions that may work in the development of a system. However, I hope that may not be the case but a chance of luck. Good luck to everyone.

  107. marcos e miranda,jr 05/07/2017 at 2:49 pm - Reply

    correction of the word I belief…I meant to say I believe.

  108. James C 05/10/2017 at 2:31 pm - Reply

    I used the Lutig method for about 2 months playing a twice weekly lottery game at the cost of over $200. I was told that pay off would be quite could be small or large. I got no payoff of any kind could not afford to play any more.

  109. Apollo Mayaimi 05/10/2017 at 8:37 pm - Reply

    James C- The problem isn’t Richard Lustigs Method; but, perhaps your personal Self-Picked numbers. Yeah! You need to play consistently; yet, without ‘quality’ Self-Picked number selections you’d be left wondering why 2 months of lottery play didn’t win you anything. How were your Self-Picked numbers generated?

  110. Apollo Mayaimi 05/10/2017 at 8:43 pm - Reply

    If you’re having trouble generating ‘quality’ number selections; then, you need to begin seeking expert advice from those who can generate ‘quality’ number selections. [Scammy business run by this commenter] (wholesale lottery distributor) and other related lottery service providers can help you take home more winning tickets than losers!

  111. Apollo Mayaimi 05/12/2017 at 8:31 pm - Reply

    I feel offended that you would call me a scam, Ms. Tracy. You haven’t even completed any business transactions with our company. Where is all the hostility coming from, Ms. Tracy? I must’ve struck a nerve with your dogmatic random lottery religious views. Next time try attacking my arguments not my character!

  112. Tracy Coenen 05/13/2017 at 8:09 pm - Reply

    Apollo – Good! Feel offended. You are the worst type of predator out there. You are selling “lottery services”… pretending you can help people win the lottery. But even worse than that, you have marketed your “services” as as a “financial service for the poor.” Really? You’re going to prey on poor people and sell them “services” to help them win the lottery? You disgust me.

  113. Apollo Mayaimi 05/13/2017 at 10:11 pm - Reply

    Wow…’predator’ are you serious? Ms. Tracy, let’s keep the dialogue respectable. Right! [Scam business] is an alternative discount financial lotto messaging service. Our service is [scam service] and our product is [scam product]. The operators (owners) of [scam business] wouldn’t have been in successful business operations since 1995 if they themselves didn’t believe in the social, political and economic benefit of their [scam service]. At [scam business] we believe that the poor doesn’t have a right to be poor and should have wealth and abundance at every level of people activity. Nevertheless, Ms. Tracy, I think if I were you I’d be skeptical of me too. Sure! I’m known as [scam operator] but, you and I have never met. The thing is, though, I do things for strangers ALL THE TIME (even for FREE). That’s what my career is all about! Bringing people INSTANT WEALTH, people who are perfect strangers. And I have decided to HELP THE POOR!

  114. davo 05/14/2017 at 2:13 pm - Reply

    I arrived at this soite after a few minutes of listening to ustigs video. It sounded just like many other scams selling ‘methods’ that are scientifically impossible, yet with a hook that we all want to believe. very interesting back and forth here. Some things I do know about the lottery: 1) Most states don’t add the lottery income to the schools budget as origionally planned (advertised) but simply subtract that income from the schools budget they provide, keeping the budget # the same, and have a ‘windfall’ of the same amount to go into the general budget. Not as origionally planned. (or advertised). 2)Here’s a reason to play – where else can you spend a dollar and possibly come home with a million? This only works if you only spend one dollar a week. 3) If the odds are 1 in 292m or 1 in 20m just buy 1 ticket as the difference between 1 in 292m and 5 or even 20 in 292m is rather infintesimal – and if you ARE lucky (I believe we’ve established that is a criterion for winning) why do you need more than 1 ticket? 4) Personally, I play mostly numbers above 31 so I don’t have to share my winnings. (all combo’s equal chance) these are my ‘lucky’ numbers and i play the same ones every week, thereby increasing my odds. (infintesimally). I did win once, 4 out of 5 for about $5,000 if my 5th # had been the bonus # it would have been around $200,000 and if it had been the rael # it would have been 10m….big difference between 4 of 5 and 5 of 5. (california, some 25 years ago) I am still ahead of the game, as I haven’t played much since then. Interesting note, wondering if others do this, I would only play when the jackpot was over 50m – like don’t need 10m, but could use 50m….. —certainly hope my spelling was ok…..

  115. Apollo Mayaimi 05/15/2017 at 4:32 am - Reply

    Ms. Tracy, I would appreciate it if you didn’t re-edit my comments in order to defame my character. I’m only here to offer my professional opinion about the non-randomness of lotteries. I didn’t expect for you to negatively moderate my comments just because you personally disagree. How about letting the audience decide on the truth? Secondly, it’s amusing to me you say that I’m a scam (even though you’ve never done business with us); but, my clients (those who have done business with us) are satisfied with our service/product. Don’t be so quick to judge me, Ms. Tracy! If you did your research (which I believe you’re lazy at doing) you’d discover that I’ve been the victim of scam artist and those who try capitalise off of our business brand.

  116. Tracy Coenen 05/15/2017 at 7:20 am - Reply

    Apollo – I don’t have to do business with scammers to know that they’re scammers!

  117. Mathlover 05/15/2017 at 1:30 pm - Reply

    As someone that has taken many statistics courses for my PhD, let me tell you there is absolutely no system possible (unless you cheat by rigging the actual machine that picks the balls).
    And yes, that is something that can be proven just like like 2+2=4. That’s fact. You can argue all day and night that 2+2=5, but that is not the case. Fact: the numbers are drawn randomly each time, so the odds of any set winning are 1:258,890,850 always. You can’t increase your odds except by buying more tickets, but that is a minimal increase. So you’d buy 100 dollars your odds would be 100:258,890,850, which is still ridiculously low.
    Given the odds, the most rational thing to do is to not play. If you want to do it for fun, buy one ticket. Select your numbers anyway you want, each combination has exactly the same odds to win as any other.
    Anyone that tells you otherwise doesn’t understand math. Math isn’t a belief system. 2+2=4 whether you believe it or not. These people peddling you systems are basically trying to tell you that 2+2 may not equal four if you pay them money to help you ‘increase your odds’. You can never increase the odds that 2+2 will not equal four, just like you can’t increase the odds that any given combination of numbers is more likely to be picked in a truly random game, which these ball lotteries are.
    There is absolutely no increase in probability of a number being picked based on what came before. The machine that sucks the balls has no freaking consciousness and doesn’t say, oh 5 came out last time, so I won’t pick 5 this time. That is not how it works. It is purely random.

  118. Apollo Mayaimi 05/20/2017 at 7:59 am - Reply

    I would love to respond to comments on this forum topic; but, Ms. Tracy has me under gag order. I can’t express my professional opinion as a Lottery Analyst without being edited and defamed personally!

  119. Tracy Coenen 05/20/2017 at 11:23 am - Reply

    Apollo – You’re not a professional. You’re a scammer. Thanks for your participation, and best of luck to you.

  120. Apollo Mayaimi 06/06/2017 at 8:18 pm - Reply

    If the lottery is random as you claim, Ms. Tracy; then, why do numbers for the daily Pick 2, 3 and 4 game repeat (even in reverse order) themselves? Those are loopholes, Ms. Tracy:

    “When the odds of anything are against something being repeated, then this is the basis for a possible FLAW in the entire so called random sequence! Whenever something that is supposed to be random turns out to be not so random, under certain circumstances then you are dealing with an inconsistent data stream”.

    [Bedoue, David. “Pick-Game Blaster Network: Wagering & Investing”. David Bedoue, N/D]

  121. Tracy Coenen 06/08/2017 at 12:58 pm - Reply

    Well Apollo, these drawings are done over and over. And since every number has an equal chance of being drawn, there is the possibility of repeat sets of numbers being drawn. It is really not a mystery.

  122. Dianna DeCicco 06/11/2017 at 6:19 pm - Reply

    Only a time machine that can take you into the future and back again can help win the lottery. Spend your money to build a time machine instead.

  123. Dianna DeCicco 06/11/2017 at 6:38 pm - Reply

    If you do build a time machine then leave yourself notes about all the times you didn’t win the lottery.

  124. Michael Pennant 06/12/2017 at 11:45 am - Reply

    The odds of winning are low, but like i tell many people who do not play, you can only win if you play. You can work at your job for 40 years and never live the life of a millionaire or spend $2 and at least say I gave myself a chance.

  125. Regina Ruehling 06/14/2017 at 9:52 am - Reply

    I don’t play constantly like I’ve seen some people do. But when I do I play Cash 3 or Cash 4 which has better odds than the big lotteries. Also only use my four birth date numbers everytime. I actually won a little over a hundred dollars last week. I’m on disability which is one reason I don’t play so often but I saw one lady playing a poker machine one day who was also on a check, she put her whole check into that machine. Told the store clerks to hold her machine if ya can believe that, went to the bank for more money, Well when she left, someone got on her machine and won a pretty good chunk of change.

  126. joann 06/17/2017 at 11:40 pm - Reply

    If any of this was true and he did win 7 lottery.Than the question would be why if he has so much money from winning 7 lottery is he try to sell this book for $97.00 dollars as a special price to only 200 people?but the book sell normally for $300.00.Let get real people.If he can win at the lottery than why sell the book for so much money.Unless of course it a scam.The book than should only be at the most is $10.00.So you see if you really stop and think about it he dosen’t have the money that he claim he won.He just betting on people dreams that they can do it too.But like any scam he will be the only making any money and laughing at all the fool that believe him.

  127. Slammerkin 06/21/2017 at 10:33 am - Reply

    @APOLLO MAYAIMI: I believe you. Surely, you must be a billionaire from your lottery expertise, else you would not have the luxury of prattling off the same rhetoric over the course of three years.
    Seriously, give it up. If you knew what you were talking about, then you’d be winning. Want to convince us you know the “secret” system? Post a shot of your bank statement, with all those hard won lottery deposits. Otherwise, give it a rest, please. You’re like a broken record.

  128. Jerry Friedman 06/28/2017 at 9:06 pm - Reply

    Only an atheist would make a statement beginning with “There is no chance of……..” when the subject matter involves the use of the human mind and spirit. Virtually every disease has been reversed by the placebo effect, to the astonishment and consternation of atheists. The salient feature of the placebo effect is simple belief, which is a feature of the subconscious and of the soul.

  129. Danielo 07/14/2017 at 5:44 pm - Reply

    Actually… there is one way that can increase your odds. The probability is always going to stay the same but the odds will decrease. (Don’t know by how much the odds will be reduced because I don’t know how to compute the formula).
    I will try to explain:
    For my example let’s say that you have to pick 5 numbers and there are a total of 50 numbers to choose from.
    You need to play 50 separate tickets. On the first ticket you pick # 1 and any other 4 numbers. On the second ticket you pick #2 and any other 4 numbers. On the third ticket pick # 3 and any other 4 numbers. Continue this on all 50 tickets so your 50th ticket would have #50 any other 4 numbers. Since you just played all 50 numbers, this guarantees 100% that you will have picked one of the winning numbers in 5 different tickets. By doing this you only have to pick 4 other winning numbers (which by the way still are very high odds)

    You can take this one step further. If you want to guarantee yourself 2 winning numbers you would pay would need to play 2450 tickets. This one is going to be a little harder to explain so I will break into steps.

    Step 1. Picking the first number
    You need to play 50 tickets with #1 as the first pick, 50 different tickets with # 2 as the first pick, 50 different tickets with # 3 as the first pick, and so on until you get to the 50th. You now have 50 tickets with #1 as the first pick, 50 tickets with the # 2 as the first pick, 50 tickets with the #3 as the first pick, etc. I hope you are with me so far?

    Step 2.Picking the second number
    Now take the first set of 50 tickets that have #1 as the first pick . On the first ticket in this set pick #2 as the second pick, on the second ticket pick #3 as the second pick, on the third ticket pick #4, and so on until you get to the 50th ticket .
    Now you take the second set of 50 tickets with #2 as the first pick. On the first ticket in this set the pick #3 as the second pick. On the next ticket that has #2 as first pick you play#4 as the second pick, on the third ticket that has #2 as first pick you play #5 as the second pick, continue this till you get to the 50th ticket.
    Now you take the third set of 50 tickets with #3 as the first pick and do the same as you did with the first and second sets. Repeat until you get through all 50 sets.

    Step 3.
    Now tyou have played every combination possible for 2 different numbers and are guaranteed to get two winning numbers on the same ticket, so all you have to do is pick the last three numbers on all the tickets.

    By the way I never tried this myself but mathematically it should work good luck

  130. Tracy Coenen 07/15/2017 at 11:59 pm - Reply

    Danielo – You haven’t increased your odds AT ALL. Each ticket has the exact same odds of being a winning ticket. Buying more tickets doesn’t increase the odds of any particular ticket.

  131. Danielo 07/19/2017 at 12:41 pm - Reply

    Tracy Coenen
    Obviously you did not understand the strategy. You are correct that buying random tickets does not change your odds AT ALL. However, if I you were to buy > million tickets with every possible combination of all the numbers in the pool of numbers , your odds would be 1:1 so you would win. On the same token, If you play all possible combinations for 2 numbers, you are guaranteed to get 2 winning numbers. So if you are guaranteed two winning numbers , you only have to guess at 3 other numbers and you have successfully taken 2 numbers out of the pool. Which means that the pool of numbers to choose from is now 48 instead of 50. The odds of picking 3 winning numbers out of 48 is a LOT less than picking 5 numbers out of 50, a LOT less. Do the math.
    By guaranteeing yourself 2 numbers you have modified the equation to calculate odds to a large extent. Instead of the equation using 50 factorial to calculate odds, you are now using 48 factorial. Get it now? If not , maybe someone else can explain to you better it better.

  132. Danielo 07/19/2017 at 1:10 pm - Reply

    Mathlover:
    Since you have PhD in mathematics maybe you can answer this question for me. I only have a BS in Geological sciences so my statistical background is limited:
    what if…I play enough tickets to cover every single possible combination of the numbers in the pool of numbers? If I play every possible combination would that not mean that one of the combinations WILL be drawn. So if one of all the possible combinations I play comes out, I think I would then win!!! NO?
    Granted I would need to play 258,890,850 tickets and obviously I would have invested more than I would get back from my win, but I would win guaranteed. Do you agree?
    You are correct that buying more random tickets does not increase your odds AT ALL, not even a little bit as you stated. But would not buying enough tickets that cover ALL possible combinations decrease your odd 1:1 and guarantee a win? However, I believe that to play all combinations possible is physically impossible because you would not have enough time to play 258 million tickets.

  133. Steve F 07/28/2017 at 2:05 pm - Reply

    With as much play as the lottery gets from 100s of millions of bettors, sooner or later one person will win multiple jackpots, that’s part of the law of averages also. Wouldn’t call it luck or attribute it to any special knowledge. The fact that he wants to charge you $20 for his so called smart numbers to play in your state lottery reeks of hucksterism. Why doesn’t he just keep his system to himself and break the state’s budget and become a billionaire?

  134. Steve F 07/28/2017 at 2:36 pm - Reply

    Is a random number generator used, or a quantum number generator, or are they still using numbered ping pong balls randomly escaping a vacuum tube container?

  135. Brandon Inman 08/12/2017 at 11:02 pm - Reply

    I read All of this…lol

  136. Big hot rod 08/16/2017 at 6:59 pm - Reply

    Richard Lustig is a fraud. Click on his email. You go to a website for an audio pitch. You have 2 hours, 49 minutes to buy one of the 62 remaining ebook copies he is selling. Go away for an hour or so and come back – amazingly you have the exact same 2 hours and 49 minutes to buy one of the remaining 62 ebooks. Amazing how few people have any clue how things really work and how quickly they criticize those who do. The sequence 1-2-3-4-5-6, hasn’t come up because the number of games actually executed is minute compared to the permutations possible for these 6 numbers (or any 6 numbers for that matter). I am a bit rusty, but I suspect somewhere around half million games or so would have to be played to get the odds of any six numbers being drawn to a probability of 90% or higher. Bill Gates doesn’t sell Dell Computers on a street corner for the exact same reason Richard Lustig wouldn’t be selling his ebook if it worked. He makes all sorts or ludicrous claims about his safety being endangered. Point me to the videos backing up his claims and assertions. I do think these lotteries are entertaining to those of us who fantisize about what we would do with all that money. All I know is that $2 or so per week will not change my life one iota. Anything over $10 million will change it – whether for good or bad I do not know, but I’d like to find out. Just the thoughts of an old codger……

  137. Big hot rod 08/16/2017 at 8:39 pm - Reply

    Random numbers vs. Self Selected Numbers – are the odds the same or different?? Probability theory indicates no difference. Try this experiment. Put 100 chits numbered 1 to 100 in a bag and shake them up. Pick a random number from 1 to 100. Start drawing chits and returning them into the bag until you draw your number counting the number of draws it takes. In the second session prepare 2 sets of 100 chits numbered 1 to 100. Draw 1 chit from each bag (returning chit to corresponding bag after each draw) until you get a match counting the number of draws it takes to get a match. Theoretically the odds are equal, but I often wonder if that’s correct. I casually play the big payoff drawings where the payoff to cost ratio is greater than the odds of picking all 6 plus the sum of the lesser prize totals. Since going to a fixed set of numbers I have won very minor amounts (under $50) many times. I never won more than 2-3 times going random. I also know co-workers who play more than I do, and have rarely if ever won any minor prize going random. My experience is different than what my mathematical knowledge is telling me – and the results are not that close. Any expertise welcomed….

  138. Cher 08/30/2017 at 3:49 pm - Reply

    Really. . .?,istening to all you talk makes me laugh. You are arguing with each other, and who is to say, who is right or wrong. Ok, you know Richard Lusig actually did win the lottery 7 times. He is even in Ridleys Believe it or not. Been on many talk shows, I don’t think he would be there if the show didn’t think he had something special to say. How can any of you say he is a fraud, man has won. Luck, maybe, I don’t think so. But I do think he has a method. One maybe he does not really understand or can explain. It’s like going somewhere and you can’t tell anyone exactly how you got there, cause you took so many turns, it’s hard to comprehend. Or like doing a math problem, getting the right answer, but have no clue how you got it……I got the book, I read it over and over, he tends to repeat things over and over, gets me confused, but he does have some good points. But most have the same idea, if he won 7 times, maybe with his tactics, I can win too, I mean who wouldn’t want to win? The lady tat just won the 700 million dollar ticket. I feel bad for her, cause I know, she’s going to have a lot of problems. Ppl say money is the root of all evil. But I don’t need 700 million, I would not want the heartache that comes with that much money. I can’t even live from paycheck to paycheck, so, I could live great with just a million. I have played the lottery, but I haven’t won a thing. So, if there is anyone out there that could help me to just live a normal life without all the stress. I would dance at your next wedding……and please stop judging everyone. Just saying.

  139. Tracy Coenen 08/30/2017 at 7:45 pm - Reply

    Cher – Richard Lustig won by chance because he played the lottery THOUSANDS of times. He did no better than anyone would do.

  140. Arlene Swift 09/04/2017 at 11:17 pm - Reply

    Arlene Swift
    I read all the comments and after all I am no way closer to knowing anything more than I did before I started reading all the comments, save this “No one really knows”! So every now and again I will tke a chance and play a buck and dream. Peace.

  141. RAY 09/15/2017 at 7:14 pm - Reply

    Hey everyone, and thank you Tracey, I have read all those posts and come to the conclusion that everyone has a different approach to playing the lottery and life. Every approach is valid, some come with more consequences than others (can be a win or loss) there are always consequences. Personally, I have a view that I am going to win or lose, I took a statistic class couple a decades ago so i may be a little rusty, but that win or lose outlook gives me 50/50 chance of winning.
    Either i win something or I lose something.
    winning a dollar is a win. losing a dollar is a loss. 50/50, now I understand my odds of hitting all 5 numbers just got really small (not going to do the math we can all agree that the percentage of grand prize winners is less than 1 percent of all the mutual’s placed (the tickets that pay nothing) I haven’t done the homework but I am pretty sure the number of grand prize winners pale in comparison to losing bets. (the percentage of returns of the lotto is less than 3 percent, with Indian casinos, payback somewhere from 3 to 7 percent back and the horses range from 7 to 11 percent with the best odds of payback being Nevada casinos with a whopping 12 to 15 percent payback.

    With this knowledge I still have the 50/50 win or lose outlook, not including return on investment which makes my odds of winning any significant amount substantially lower, and anyone who says they can help me beat the odds with analytic strategies is most likely trying to sell snake oil. If you are giving me stratagems to beat games of skill, like poker, then you are selling something of value. But if you are trying to tell me that I can beat a lotto with your strategies then you are most likely scamming. Because you are changing my world view of odds not the actual odds of winning.

    Apollo this is addressed to you, you are a hustler and a fraud because you are not changing a single bit of the probabilities of the win or losses in a state run lotto, just only my perception of it and my perception is I have a 50/50 split of winning or losing something which never changes the odds of anyone winning such a high probability of a loss such as the lotto.

    Thank you Tracey for hosting scam alert!

  142. Rich D 09/25/2017 at 4:19 pm - Reply

    Arlene, take two bucks to the corner store and buy the first kid you see an ice-cream sandwich. The child’s smile will make his/her dream come true and you will be a winner.

  143. Mycousinvinny 10/04/2017 at 3:34 pm - Reply

    wasn’t some guy just convicted of rigging the lottery? he knew the numbers in advance. now that’s a system lol

  144. Margaret Shank 10/29/2017 at 12:29 am - Reply

    Many years ago the California lottery had an ad campaign with famous people stating the lottery numbers they always played.

    Some computer-math-genius dude commented that his numbers were 1-2-3-4-5-6 & he also noted that these numbers had just as good a chance of winning as any other sequence.

    “But that’s impossible; 1-2-3-4-5-6 would obviously NEVER win! Just impossible! It would make headlines!”

    All intuitively true statements, of course (except the last one, which would be a fact). I really think that this ad caused some people’s heads to explode–the ad campaign was certainly pulled shortly thereafter. Anyone who could grasp the message immediately realized that their own carefully collated numbers were as unlikely as 1-2-3-4-5-6.

    But whatever realization there was obviously didn’t last long!

    I’m no mathematician but did get through math for bioscience grads. And even I had a hard time with that ad because my brain just could not wrap itself around the idea that if the numbers are random, then… shouldn’t the end result also be, well, random?? The 6-number sequence seemed too orderly!

    I’ve never played the lottery (as someone once pointed out, your chances of winning whether you buy a ticket or not are the same). Still, I have my own “common sense” ideas like any other mathematical illiterate. 1-2-3-4-5-6 can’t win; simple as that. Obviously!

    Simple indeed…

  145. Noway 10/30/2017 at 7:20 am - Reply

    If it is so random why have insiders been arrested for predicting drawings and having other people collect their winnings?

  146. Tracy Coenen 10/30/2017 at 4:08 pm - Reply

    Noway – I am aware of people being arrested for RIGGING lotteries (which therefore makes the lotteries NOT random). I am not aware of people being arrested for “predicting” lottery numbers. Can you please provide 2 or 3 links to examples of this?

  147. Janie 10/30/2017 at 11:01 pm - Reply

    The kid Seth left the most intelligent reply
    Wise beyond his years ,very evolved ??

  148. Helene Esteves 11/14/2017 at 9:11 pm - Reply

    If any of you have read Richard’s book, then PLEASE tell us his secret!! This way we could judge for ourselves!

  149. Man, you're stupid 11/28/2017 at 2:44 pm - Reply

    It’s amazing how many stupid people survive so long into life.

  150. Grant 12/25/2017 at 9:10 pm - Reply

    There is no way to rig a lottery. If there was, lotteries would go out of business for paying too many prizes. Maybe this guy won the jackpot 7 times after borrowing millions of dollars on his non-winning tickets. Winning a billion dollars in impressive, but not if you lost 5 billion to get it.

  151. Shockadelic - 01/18/2018 at 6:13 am - Reply

    TRACY COENEN :Your question asks the proability of 24 being drawn 4 times in a row. That’s a completely different math problem.”

    A problem you conveniently refuse to address.
    If there are 45 numbers, the odds of 24 being drawn are not 1 in 45, but 5 in 45x45x45x45x45 (184,528,125
    ), a probability variance of 820,125.
    So ignoring the *sequence* of occurrences is not very smart.

    Balls may not have a memory, but *people* do. If you think the mind has no effect on matter, you know nothing of modern science.

  152. David 03/13/2018 at 12:14 pm - Reply

    Tracy, in Colorado everyone always wins. 50% of the revenue from sales goes to prizes/expenses. 50% goes to parks (well in the early days it did, now they share with some other things like schools). But let’s remember the good old days. I spend $5 on lotto tickets. I lose $2.50, but the other $2.50 goes to improve the parks of Colorado. City Parks, mountain trails, bike trails, etc. etc. I Win! for the $2.50 that ends up in the park systems throughout the state I’m telling you that I’m going to get my full $5.00 worth of enjoyment. Wow, I’m breaking even, totally awesome! And then if I win $3 on a really rare occasion on a scratch off, then that’s pure profit. I’d like to buy the book and the system and actually win real $$, but we know it’s a scam. I’ll just stick with buying a few tickets a year, maybe buying tickets for the kids stockings and KNOWING that I’m always winning because the park system is very well funded.

  153. Tracy Coenen 03/14/2018 at 6:31 am - Reply

    David – You don’t win when you buy. The alleged 50% that goes to parks isn’t 50% because there are all sort of administrative and other costs that have to be paid in order to even run the lottery. And you’ve lost the other 50% that you spent because you didn’t win anything. When you spend $5 on lottery tickets, I bet that at best, $1.25 goes to the parks. You’d be much better off just having a tax that all goes to the parks.

  154. Data Junkie 03/19/2018 at 2:26 pm - Reply

    If you buy one pick for each and every possible combination, you will still lose. Yes, you will hold the winning number, but your payout will only be 50% of what you put in (even less if you have to share with other winners). Being a geek myself, I find gambling rather uninteresting. But I do care a great deal about the social implications. It is terrible that our government uses the lotto for revenue generation, especially when these games primarily exploit the most vulnerable. Even though I pay lower taxes as a result, I don’t think the cost is worth the benefit. Yes, participation is voluntary, but just like any other gambling (or MLM for that matter), regular participants come with unhealthy/unrealistic optimism. For one reason or another, these folks conflate what is possible with what is probable, and no amount of losses seem to affect their optimism. 70% of lotto’s big winners are broke again in a few years for a reason. 99+% of MLM participants never make any money, but millions of Americans choose to participate anyway. Lotto and MLM are exploitative and should be outlawed.

  155. David 03/21/2018 at 3:08 pm - Reply

    Tracy, Wrong response, I’m sorry, but a better response might have been, “Cool, I’m glad you enjoy how you throw away your lotto money.” It’s an attitude of enjoying what you do. If I go buy flowers (annuals) this spring I will enjoy them. I will be happy. They are going to die at the end of the year and I even have to clean up the dead ones. I still win. In Colorado, you can SEE the growth of the park system supplemented by the Lotto dollars over previous funding processes. You CAN SEE IT. I win, I’m happy, what more do I need? Actually I’ve been down some trails and thought “what do they need that big fancy bridge for, what a waste, they should spend a little more carefully” – but whatever I shouldn’t be such a whiny baby over that. I’m going out with my Adult daughter for her birthday today. We are going to play Frisbee golf. Denver definitely put some extra money into building and maintaining this course because the taxpayers chose to allocate our Lotto dollars properly when the law was enacted. whoo hoo! enough useless computer time, I’m out-a-here.
    https://www.coloradolottery.com/en/about/giving-back/
    http://www.goco.org/about-us/finances
    http://www.goco.org/about-us
    I’m happy, I’m winning. I better go buy Daught a couple lotto tickets for birthday fun, and to pay for our frisbee.
    David

  156. Darren 03/30/2018 at 3:25 pm - Reply

    Take a statistics class. Let this sink in, the probability of 6 numbers being drawn on day 1 is the same probability as the same 6 numbers on day 2. That is one aspect that makes people gullible to scam artists, it isn’t intuitive but it is mathematically proveable. Secondly, with all the people playing and then modeling all the people playing with a Gaussian probability distribution says that there will be a very small number of people likely to win multiple times (the tail of the curve) and equally likely a number of people will win seldom or never. The only influence to adjust your standing on the gaussuan curve is to buy more tickets.

  157. jerry cupit 05/11/2018 at 12:49 am - Reply

    I lived in Florida in 2006 and one week the winning numbers were 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, I still have a copy of it so you can expect anything to happen at least once. So what are the odds.

  158. Tracy Coenen 05/11/2018 at 10:36 am - Reply

    The odds are still the same and you cannot predict if/when these things will occur, therefore you cannot get any sort of advantage in the lottery unless it is rigged and you know what and how it is rigged.

  159. Kroz 03/27/2019 at 10:08 pm - Reply

    The problem with Quick Picks is that it resets your odds each time you play. Let’s say there’s a random number generator picking a number out of 100, and you play the game 100 times. If you choose to play the game 100 times in a row and play the same number each time, there’s a 1/100 chance that you’ll eventually get it right. However, if you allow the random generator to pick your guess for you every time you play, then ask it to generate a second random number, you’re playing the odds that the same number will be generated twice in a row. You’re essentially making your odds 1/10,000. So now you just have to play the lottery 292 million times in a row with your set of lucky numbers …

  160. Tracy Coenen 03/30/2019 at 4:28 pm - Reply

    Kroz – Each time you play the game of guess which number out of 100 will be chosen, your odds are exactly the same of winning. Each draw is independent of one another. It doesn’t matter if you pick the number or a machine picks the number. Each draw you have 1 chance out of 100 that you will win. Choosing your own number and choosing the same one over and over doesn’t change your odds with each draw. Still 1 out of 100.

  161. John 04/07/2019 at 1:42 pm - Reply

    “ORLANDO, Fla. (CelebrityAccess) Richard Lustig, 67, who gained national attention for a method he developed to win lotteries but was also an agent/manager for tribute acts, died in Orlando, Fla., July 22.”

  162. John 04/11/2019 at 4:52 pm - Reply

    Is Richard Lustig still alive, or is he dead ???

  163. Tracy Coenen 04/11/2019 at 7:37 pm - Reply

    He has passed away, according to online sources.

  164. […] He's created quite a name for himself, appearing as a guest on CBS, Business Insider and ABC News. He's also been written about in the Huffington Post and Fraud Files. […]

  165. annonymous 12/23/2022 at 4:10 am - Reply

    Data Junkie, If you win the jackpot, your payout may be more than 100% if the jackpot is high enough and only you win it

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