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Lotto Tips

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Increase your odds of winning the lotto by playing smart.

The lottery is a game of chance legally allowed in most of the United States and other parts of the world. The word lotto refers to games in which the players pick their own numbers or have a machine randomly pick the numbers. These games include Pick 4, Pick 5, Megamillions, Powerball, Keno and more. There are also scratch-off tickets that can be referred to as lotto. While there is no fool-proof way to win a lotto game, there are things you can do to increase your odds and protect your winnings.

  1. Scratch-Offs

    • Check the lottery website for your state or province to find out if most of the top prizes are gone for the scratch-off games you are interested in playing. While lottery commissions end a game when all of the top prizes are gone, playing a game for which most of the top prizes are gone greatly reduces your odds of winning the jackpot.

    Odds

    • Daily drawings such as Pick 3 or Pick 4 have much better odds of winning the jackpot than the larger drawings such as Megamillions (megamillions.com) and Powerball (powerball.com). The difference is 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000 compared to the big lotteries which can be as much as 1 in hundreds of millions. Some states also have Pick 5 lotto in which all of the numbers are pulled from one set of numbers, usually 1 through 37 or so. The jackpot payout for this game is around $20,000 with odds of 1 in 40,000. Some scratch-off tickets offer a second-chance drawing. You must send in three to five non-winning tickets to receive one entry. The odds of second-chance drawings all depend on how many people send in the tickets; which not a lot do. Prizes can be quite large -- from $25,000 to $1 million.

    Check Your Own Tickets

    • Allowing someone else to check your tickets gives them a chance to be dishonest or wrong. Always check your own ticket. There are several resources to use such as the state lottery website, the newspaper, the telephone number on the back of the ticket and scanning systems found at local convenience stores. Many states have updated the convenience store lottery scanners to make special noises for winning tickets versus non winning tickets. Check with your state lottery commission to find out if they have samples of the sounds for your to listen to.

    Sign the Ticket

    • Regardless of the prize amount, always sign the back of a winning ticket and enter your address in the address field. Your signature ensures that you and only you can claim the prize of a winning ticket. Should the ticket fall into another's hands, the lottery commission will contact you when they attempt to receive the prize.

    Claim Your Prize

    • Winning tickets are only valid for a certain amount of days. There are no exceptions to this. If you attempt to claim a prize after the ticket expires, a lottery commission will not honor it and you will be with out your prize. Check with the lottery commission for your state to find out when your ticket expires.

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  • Photo Credit BananaStock/BananaStock/Getty Images

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