Playing lottery is a personal choice, like all forms of gambling. If you want to win the lottery, the only way I know is to play the lottery. Many statisticians and a non-statisticians get involved in lotteries. If you haven't already, you'll hear lotteries called "a tax on the stupid" most probably by the non-statisticians.
But the real horror comes when statisticians/people who say they're statisticians, claim to have come up with a system to beat the lottery. If you've ever heard of
"lottery wheeling", then there's a chance that you can increase your odds of winning the lottery by using just a few simple tricks. (Spoiler alert: unless one of those steps is, "fixing the lottery numbers," you're doomed to fail.)
Some of these systems sound really good in theory, and people use statistics to back them up. For example, if you analyze all the past winners of the lottery, the sum of the numbers follows a normal distribution. That means, if Powerball numbers range from 1 to 59, you should make sure you pick 5 numbers with a sum around 150, since that sum is more likely to show up (not counting the Powerball number, of course). The normal distribution of Powerball sums shows a very clear peak around 150. But the problem with this is, it has no bearing on the likelihood of your exact numbers being picked. Think of it like being asked to pick the exact roll of two dice. A sum of seven is most likely since there are more combinations that sum to seven, but if I pick a 1 and a 6, I have no better odds than if I pick a 1 and a 2, even though 1 and 6 sum to seven.
So while it's a great theory, it ultimately ends up being worthless. It won't help you win the Powerball to pick numbers that sum to 150 or so. There are plenty of other ways to increase your winning chances :
1. Always pick the numbers yourself rather than letting the machine do it (absolutely no gain in odds).
2. Never pick the same numbers twice (again, no gain in odds).
3. Joining a lottery pool (which allows you to buy more tickets at less monetary risk to yourself but doesn't increase the odds of winning on any particular ticket).
4. Some official online lottery agents, like
www.netlotto.com.au , offer syndicate play, which enables you to get together with friends, family or people from all over the world, lowering the cost, but increasing you chances by purchasing more games than you would be able to on your own.
I think every one of us dream about being able to do things beyond our current financial possibilities. Lottery is a "feasible" way to make those dreams come true ("someone" eventually wins). I don't buy lottery tickets expecting to get my money back, I buy the feeling that there is a possibility of seeing my dreams come true, therefore for a week or so I can dream about everything I would do more vividly and hopefully, which is kind of enjoyable in its own right.
