How To Win the Lottery
By Stephen Keller -
Winning the lottery seems like a daunting, if not impossible, task. But there are some players out there who seem to have figured out how to win the lottery. So what is their secret? Do these players know the lottery winning formula? What do they do to improve their odds of winning?
How did these players know how to win the lottery?
In 2012, the world’s record lotto jackpot of $656 million (at that time) was won by a group of friends. Three co-workers from Maryland, calling themselves ‘The ‘Three Amigos’, decided to play Mega Millions together. The friends, who were all employees of Maryland’s education system, each put in $20 and bought a total of 60 Mega Millions tickets together at a lottery retail shop.
The youngest member of the group spread all 60 tickets out on the floor, watched the results and checked all the tickets. And her hard work paid off - they had a jackpot winner! She immediately called up her friends, they signed the tickets, made copies and locked the original away in a safe. The winning numbers were 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and Mega Ball 23.
This record-breaking $656 million Mega Millions jackpot was won by three tickets, one of which belonged to these ‘Three Amigos’. The three friends probably wondered decided to can you keep your identity secret if you win lottery and they split their portion of the prize three ways. Each of them had different plans about what they would do with the winnings. One player wanted to back-pack through Europe, another planned on touring the Italian wine country, and the third player intended on buying a house for his sister and paying off his daughter’s college fees.
The Massachusetts State Lottery managed to add even more drama to proceedings after giving the wrong store and location of where the winning ticket was bought, leading to even more intrigue about who has that golden ticket.
Playing the lottery in this way, as a group, is also known as a ‘lottery syndicate’. Lottery syndicates are played all over the world and are known to be very successful. Actually, 1 in every 3 jackpots are won by syndicates!
Syndicates can get big
The lottery has been won many times by large groups of players. The ‘Ocean’s 16’ syndicate that won the US Powerball $448 million jackpot in 2013 was made up of 16 members! This group of 16 called themselves ‘Ocean’s 16’ after the hit movie ‘Ocean’s 11’ starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and also because they hail from Ocean County, New Jersey.
The lottery has been won many times by large groups of players. The ‘Ocean’s 16’ syndicate that won the US Powerball $448 million jackpot in 2013 was made up of 16 members! This group of 16 called themselves ‘Ocean’s 16’ after the hit movie ‘Ocean’s 11’ starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and also because they hail from Ocean County, New Jersey.
They were all employees of New Jersey’s Ocean County Department of Vehicle Services and enjoyed buying lottery tickets together. Some of them had suffered the ravage of Superstorm Sandy that hit Ocean County in October 2012, so this jackpot was a big relief for these lotto players.
The $448 million jackpot was won also by two other tickets, so the group’s portion was $149 million. They each took home $3.8 million, becoming instant millionaires. Not bad for a mere $6 investment each!
As these co-workers experienced for themselves, the more members you have in your group, the better your winning odds. This is logical, because more money in the kitty means that you can buy more tickets! There is one drawback, though, to playing with so many people – it is a hassle to set up and manage such a large group.
