---
title: 'Mathematician Breaks Down the Best Ways to Win the Lottery'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=7PFBG4bBS_I'
video_id: '7PFBG4bBS_I'
date: 2026-07-15
duration_sec: 473
---

# Mathematician Breaks Down the Best Ways to Win the Lottery

> Source: [Mathematician Breaks Down the Best Ways to Win the Lottery](https://youtube.com/watch?v=7PFBG4bBS_I)

## Summary

A mathematician analyzes various lottery strategies, explaining the odds and expected returns of games like Powerball and Mega Millions, and discusses rare scenarios where buying many tickets can yield a profit.

### Key Points

- **Odds and Payouts** [00:42] — Higher odds of winning mean lower payouts, similar to betting on red or black in roulette. Powerball and Mega Millions have odds around 1 in 300,000,000.
- **Choosing Unpopular Numbers** [01:09] — To avoid sharing the jackpot, pick unpopular numbers like non-dates. Avoid columns or sequential patterns that look weird.
- **Syndicate Strategy** [02:17] — Buying all combinations is impractical for large jackpots (300M tickets). For smaller state lotteries, syndicates have succeeded, e.g., Virginia 1992, but risk sharing jackpot.
- **Finding Favorable Lotteries** [03:42] — Look for lotteries with low ticket sales relative to jackpot size, like Oregon 1999 or Texas Llano in mid-aughts, to reduce sharing risk.
- **Scratcher Ticket Strategy** [04:23] — Scratchers have negative expected return on average, but early in the game, big prizes may remain. Websites like scratch-off-odds.com track remaining prizes.
- **Guaranteed Win with Pick 4** [05:30] — Betting on a four-digit number with repeated digits (e.g., 1122) using all permutations gives odds of 1 in 1,667, but payout is $800, leading to expected loss.
- **Cash Windfall Example** [06:12] — Marge and Jerry Selbee won $8M playing Massachusetts Cash Windfall by exploiting jackpot growth and increased lower-tier prizes, making expected profit.

### Conclusion

While most lottery strategies have negative expected value, rare opportunities exist when jackpots are large and ticket sales low, but true guaranteed wins are nearly impossible.

## Transcript

but of course, we had to test it ourselves, - I didn't win anything. - I got nothing. I lost.
- I have won $5, so I'm up by $2. of the many lottery games out there. at both the state and national level, and
because the jackpots are so big. to win than other lotteries. a bigger chance of winning means lower payout.
if you bet on red or black, you get less money in return in return because your odds of winning Similarly, your odds of winning
on a Powerball or Mega Millions ticket are very low, - [Narrator] Let's look at that one more time. about one in 300,000,000.
and some of them are still pretty big, - [Narrator] Next, playing certain numbers. of winning by some strategy
However, for games like Powerball and Mega Millions, is to be the only one who wins the jackpot
you'd like to pick unpopular numbers. Don't pick dates, for example, Other advice might be, if you look
don't just pick a column of numbers on that ticket, - [Narrator] Repeat winners, like Richard Lustig, won over $1,000,000, advocated for playing sequential numbers.
That kind of thing is gonna give you the same chance However, if you look at a ticket like that, it looks weird.
the jackpot, which is good. how it strikes me as a mathematician. to increase their odds of winning the lottery?
in the drawing. 'cause there's 300,000,000 tickets. You need a whole army of helpers.
but for smaller state level lotteries, and also a smaller jackpot, people have done that. in 1986, a syndicate did that in Virginia in 1992,
Now, in these cases, they didn't actually succeed that they got lucky and they did win the jackpot. - [Narrator] Now, if you do actually decide to do this,
to the stores and buy those tickets. 'cause they're not allowed to do that and there's another 'gotcha' that's really obvious,
which is it could happen that someone else also wins So, as someone trying to pursue this strategy, - [Narrator] Finally, some states have a higher chance
Statisticians and economists have mapped - A good recipe to look for is you want a lottery where maybe not a lot
So, there's a classic example of Oregon in 1999. and yet, they didn't sell that many tickets, in such a drawing, you're unlikely to share the jackpot.
Similarly, in mid-aughts in Texas, the Llano, and so looking around for those kinds of drawings, on buying a lottery ticket.
of return as well. - The lottery has printed it out and picked the prizes than the amount people are gonna spend on tickets,
On average, you buy scratcher tickets That said, sometimes it happens that the big prizes
at the beginning of the game, up those tickets at the beginning got unlucky and then the remaining lottery tickets,
have too many prizes. of the prizes have been claimed into other websites like scratch off-odds.com
and they'll tell you sort have better payouts right now. this entire video and still think,
is there a way you can actually guarantee a lottery win? a four-digit number That means you're gonna bet on a four-digit number
with repeated digits, like 1122, or 1212, it bets all the six possible ways in it and two twos in it,
and if you do that, your odds of winning are one in 1,667, if you win that bet, you will get $800, You probably will lose money, just so you know.
but it is a recipe for getting - [Narrator] And there even used to be a game where you Marge and Jerry Selbee ended up winning
almost $8,000,000 playing the Massachusetts Cash Windfall. - We are bettin' 40,000. We're professional lottery players.
was when the jackpot got pretty big, and increase the value of the smaller prizes.
it's about a one in 9,000,000 chance, So, if you could buy some, like, say you could buy 1,000,000 tickets,
so big, one in nine, of the lower tier prizes, which are now bigger, you're gonna make money out of your total investment.
It's really hard and unusual to be could reasonably expect to make money on the lottery. You might get lucky, but it's really getting lucky,
I personally buy lottery tickets. for a few days about, oh, And that's really worth something.
[upbeat music]