Seven-Time Lottery Winner Gives Secrets For Winning Powerball Jackpot

Seven-time lottery winner Richard Lustig was featured on Good Morning America Tuesday and offered his unscientific tips for increasing your shot at winning the $500 million Powerball jackpot. Yes, that is half a billion. According to Atlanta Business Chronicle, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 175 million but millions of Americans are chasing the “easy” money. In their search for secrets to winning big they turn to the seven-time lottery winner.

Seven-time lottery winner Richard Lustig has won more than $7 million in grand prizes. He has written a book called Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery. Probably the best tip for frequent lotto players is that they should never play quick picks, but rather always play the same set of numbers to maximize the chance of winning. He said that for frequent players, odds are always at their worst with quick picks.

The seven-time lottery winner’s website, winninglotterymethod.com, has more information about his strategies, but here are a few he shared on TV:

– For a large jacket pot such as this week’s $500 million Powerball jackpot, pool money with a large group of people to increase your chances (don’t forget to get a legal contract in writing!)

– Pick your own numbers instead of having the machine do it for you

– Research and see if your numbers have won before

– Select your ten sets of numbers and keep those if you continue buying tickets

– Buy as many tickets as you can afford. Lottery officials say that the more tickets that are purchased, the greater the odds there will be a winner.

Most importantly, while it may sound odd coming from Lustig, the seven-time lottery winner says to not get lottery fever. He highly recommends setting a budget for how many tickets can be purchased…then stick with it, which is the hard part when there’s the allure of a $500 million Powerball jackpot. Don’t spend more than you can afford, and certainly do not spend money necessary for paying bills like the grocery money.

At the same time personal finance author Zac Bissonnette thinks the seven-time lottery winner is full of hot air. According to Business Insider, Bissonnette launched a Twitter tirade against Lustig following his interview on CNN Money earlier this month.

“I hesitate to even say this,” Bissonette said, “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.”

Bissonnette feels the seven-time lottery winner’s advice is “dangerous—it encouraged a lot of people to buy the book and spend money on lottery tickets that they shouldn’t buy.”

Do you think the seven-time lottery winner is giving good advice or just wasting people’s time and money?