Tips to Winning the Powerball Lottery

$425 million. Man, that's a lot zeroes!  I don't personally know anyone with that kind of money (and I know some pretty well-off guys), but that's exactly what someone could win tonight when the final numbers drop in the multi-state Powerball drawing.

So, if you're thinking you might like to get your share of that stack of cash, I've run across a few things that might just help you out.

Powerball Stats:

• Odds of winning are roughly 1 in 175 million
• Tickets: Pick 5 numbers choosing from 1-59. Pick one “Power ball” ranging 1-35
• $2 per ticket

Okay, now some tips on winning:

• For the first 5 numbers, choose a mix of even and odd numbers in your Powerball ticket. You can pick either two even and three odd numbers or three even and two odd numbers.
• Mix it up! Pick high and low numbers! It’s rare for all the numbers to be in the teens or all 50’s to come up.
• Here’s one that’s really interesting: Add your numbers up and make sure that the sum of the five numbers adds up to between 111 and 189. Sums that fall within that range account for over 70 percent of all winning tickets!
• Go to the Powerball website and look over past winning numbers. You’re looking for patterns. Either numbers that are missing often (don’t play those; they’re coolers) or numbers that come up often (These are HOT; play them)
• Pools: Office pools are popular when jackpots reach record levels.  Clearly the more tickets you have, the higher your chances of winning.  Most major jackpots are won by groups.  Sure you have to share…but $425 million is a high enough number to split.
• BUY A TICKET:  Hey – you gotta be in it to win it, right?