Is There Strategy Behind Playing the Lottery?

Recently while driving with my great uncle (who is from Illinois), we began discussing the Indiana Hoosier Lottery.  Apparently, sometimes it is so good that my nearly 90 year old uncle will drive across the IL/IN boarder just to buy into the game!  With his persuasion, I purchased my first Indiana Power-ball ticket.

To my surprise, I learned that you can not buy a lottery ticket with a credit card!  It is a cash-only transaction.  News to me!  So after running back to the car to scrape up change from my toll money, I had my prized ticket.  Only, it wasn't really prized.

I learned the next day that alas, I had lost.  Bummer.  But I didn't know that there was a Hoosier Lottery website, where you can check the numbers to see if your ticket is a winner!  I went back to the gas station I had bought it from one day prior to have them run it for me.  It would have been more convenient to do it online, from home.  But that's why I'm blogging about it now- so you don't have to make the extra trip I did (and so you know that you need cash, too).

Soon ValpoLife will have the winning numbers posted, so that will make the whole process much easier as well.  You can forget the HoosierLotto site and just come here to the Fun page in Entertainment instead!

Never the less, I was talking about the entire process with some friends.  Apparently there are multiple strategies that go into playing the lotto.  One is to look and see which tickets have been most successful, and have issued the most winning tickets.  I guess you have better odds of choosing a ticket with lots of winners rather than a ticket that does not win as often.  I had no idea, and I would have thought the opposite... like, if someone hasn't won with this ticket in the past three months- its about time to issue a HUGE winner- ME! :)

I visualize myself winning the lottery, and you should too.  Problem is tho, I visualize it more than I play it.  I will have to start executing my grand master plan, which includes purchasing the tickets... so I guess that means I have to head to the ATM, TGIF= payday! I wonder just how much this one will pay!!

What are your lottery strategies? Please share in the comments below!