Lottery play is not about occasionally winning. It is about consistently winning.

It is about coming out money-ahead in a very hard game. A game that only returns about 50% of the money bet. That means the odds of you getting back what you spend on lottery play is about two to one against you from the get-go. Looking at the way the deck is stacked should make it obvious that merely selecting random numbers or "quick-picks" is only going to make you poorer in the long run.

So, how can you come out on the winning side? You have to play smart.

1. Following are a few basic strategies that can help:The only way to beat any gambling game is to study it. To learn it's ins and outs. To learn what the odds are for any different type of play, and how those odds change depending on what the game does.

2. Play games that allow you to win enough back to keep you from having to spend your own money to play. That stresses the importance of playing games that devote significant money to the lower prizes, offer higher percentage prize pools, feature bonuses at certain times and pay the true odds on box bets.

3. Play games that allow you to track them. That means a game where you can see a back history of what the game has been doing and compare that to what it has done. That pretty much eliminates instant games (no history) and multi-draw keno games due to the frequency of the drawings (usually every five minutes).

4. Look for current patterns and trends, they are much more important than historical actions. This will eliminate some balls and highlight others. In other words, it will narrow down the field. This is what handicapping any gambling game is all about.

5. Current patterns that involve hot digits are much better than cold digit patterns. Always go with strength in lottery games. After all, how do you think they got to be hot digits?

6. Look for re-occuring patterns and trends. Though not as important as current trends, and more difficult to spot, they can yield excellent results if timed right. This means going back over historical data to try to spot similar instances to what the game is doing now. Then look ahead a few games. That will give you an idea of what the game may do shortly.

7. Once you have spotted either a current or historical pattern or trend exend it into the current game, track it and then play it. But don't wait too long to play since patterns change rapidly.

8. An often asked question is, what number picking system is best? The answer is ‹ the one that is producing hits at the present time. Some more general systems work most of the time, others work very well sometimes and a few work rarely, usually when nothing else seems to be working. Because of the many variations inherent to all lottery games, any system you can devise will work, at least in a limited fashion, at a given time. To paraphrase the old song, the trick is to be "in the right system at the right time." This will get easier to see over time as you become more and more familiar with a particular game.

9. When you play you will likely have more numbers selected than you can play. Use a Lotto Wheeling System or Numbers Boxing System to play those extra numbers. These are explained elswhere on the site.

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