How to Pick Winning Lottery Numbers

A seven-time winner has some advice.

We've all fantasized about how we'd spend a lottery jackpot ... but how do you actually get your hands on one?

Cheyenne Long, a Montana woman who recently won the lottery twice in one day, said she relied on a "gut feeling," while Victor Amole of Virginia has a vivid dream to thank for his $400,000 winnings.

But is there a better approach?

Richard Lustig, who's won the lottery seven times, shared his advice with Inside Edition for picking the winning numbers.

"It's not that people are stupid, they just don't know how to play," he said in a 2016 interview.

First, he said there are some things you should never do.

"Don't let the computer pick your numbers," he said.

After you've chosen your numbers, stick with them over time "so even if you lose the next time your chances of winning with those numbers go up," he said.

If you are going to joining an office pool, he recommends "everyone has a copy of all the numbers and a list of everyone in on the pool."

But his biggest advice is: "Only play if you can afford it. Don’t be using grocery money."

Lustig isn't the only person to pick winning numbers more than once. 

A California man, Antulio Mazariegos, won four times between November 2017 and May 2018 for a total of $6 million.

But unlike Lustig, he wasn't sure what was behind his winning streak. He told lotto officials he just likes playing the game.

Perhaps the luckiest ever lottery winner was Mavis Wanczyk of Chicopee, Massachusetts, who won a record-breaking $758.7 million Powerball jackpot in August 2017. She took home the lump-sum payment of $480.5 million before taxes.

As for Wanczyk's winning strategy, she bought five tickets but the one that used family birthdays paid off.

Her payout was dwarfed by the mega prize of $1.586 billion that was up for grabs in a January 2016 Powerball jackpot.

The odds of winning was one in 292 million, and three winning tickets — in Florida, Tennessee and California — split the jackpot for a lump sum of $187.2 million each.

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