The lottery is a game of chance in which numbers are drawn at random for a prize. The prize money can be cash or an annuity (a series of payments over a period of time). Most states run lotteries. The founding fathers were big on them: Benjamin Franklin ran one to help build Boston’s Faneuil Hall, and George Washington used a lottery to raise money to pay for a road over a mountain pass in Virginia.
Lotteries are a form of gambling and can be addictive. But you can play smart and responsibly to maximize your chances of winning. Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch, where he covers consumer finance, business and the U.S. housing market. He previously worked for the Omaha World-Herald, Newsday and the Florida Times-Union.
Americans spend $80 billion on lotteries each year. Instead, you can invest in a more secure future by building an emergency fund or paying off your debts.
You can learn more about the odds of winning by studying the lottery’s statistical information. The website for your state’s lottery should have a link to its official statistics page. There you’ll find a chart that shows the number of times each number has appeared on a ticket. Pay special attention to “singletons”—that is, numbers that appear only once on the ticket. The more singletons there are, the better your chances of winning.