Can I increase my odds of winning the lottery?

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Galway Daily news Tomorrow night’s Lotto jackpot heading towards an incredible €11.5 million

It should go without saying that there are no guarantees for winning the lottery, but there are a few approaches that could perhaps increase your chances of claiming the jackpot or lower-tier prizes.

For starters, there are many lottery frequencies around the world. Some happen hourly, others daily and then there are those that happen once or twice a week.

But there are a few examples of global lotteries that are drawn three times per week. Entering a lottery three times a week instead of, say, once a week, can increase your chances of winning in a given week, if not on the day.

More than once a day or twice a week

The French Lotto, for instance, can give you the best chance of winning the lottery among draws that happen three times per week. It happens on a Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. That’s opportunity to enter at the start, in the middle and toward the end of the week. By contrast, there are draws that only happen in the middle of the working week and on the weekend – not at the start.

To reiterate, there are no guarantees, but there are also those who subscribe to the thought that certain numbers stand a better chance of winning the lottery than others.

Finding additional significance in meaningful numbers

People either go for an automated selection of numbers, all but placing hope in the randomisation of it all, or base their digits on specific preferences. These might centre around anniversary and birthday dates, or other significant life milestones that could be condensed to lottery numbers. Others base their choices on so-called ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ numbers – those that are ‘due’ to be drawn because they were or were not relatively recently.

Online casinos comparison service CasinoAlpha representative Francisc Csiki, for the record, reckons this might not be the best approach regardless.

“The argument is simple. While you may think these numbers to be very personal to you, there is a big chance that you share your lucky numbers with thousands of other players,” Csiki was quoted as saying.

“Additionally, lucky numbers, dates of birth or other such combinations usually cover a small range of possibilities. You are essentially lowering your likelihood of getting the right match alone.”

Investigate the jackpot odds

Another approach to increase one’s chances of winning the lottery is to enter draws that have stronger jackpot odds than others.

Here, the French Lotto again – Austrian Lotto, Polish Lotto and others – are prominent contenders.

The chances of winning the main prize in the Austrian Lotto are approximately one in 8.1 million, while the Polish Lotto odds for the same category are around one in 13.9 million. For something in between the two, there’s the Irish Lotto’s main prize odds of about one in 10.7 million. The French Lotto’s jackpot odds weigh in at approximately one in 19 million, which are somewhat stronger than, say, Brazil’s Quina lottery at one in 24 million. There are several other feasible options as well.