Hey, Millionaire!
There are many ways to make yourself famous, but winning the lottery is probably the hardest
way.
That's not so surprising - it's pretty difficult to win, and you're competing for fame with
other lottery winners.
So how do you stand out from the crowd and make sure your name goes down in history?
Well, you could do what Richard Lustig did.
He did something no other lottery winner had done before.
He won the lottery not once, but seven times!
Sounds impossible?
There's only one way to find out.
Keep watching this video!
We're going to have a closer look at Richard Lustig and his lottery-winning technique.
Was he a lottery genius or a lottery crook?
Let's dig a little deeper into his story.
Lustig was born in Florida in the 1950s.
Before becoming a lottery guru, he worked as an entertainment booking agent, so he knows
a thing or two about show business.
That might have helped him reach the level of fame he has now.
Sadly, he passed away back in 2018, but he's still notorious for winning the lottery so
many times.
Not many people have 7 jackpot wins to their name.
In fact, he has won the lottery 23 times, but not all of those were jackpots.
I know what your big question is - how did he do it?
His techniques are well documented, thanks to a book he wrote!
It's called "Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery," which isn't the catchiest
title, but that didn't seem to matter.
It still became a bestseller online.
He also published Lottery Maximizer number prediction software which can be purchased
online.
But is it worth it?
What techniques and tips do you use to increase your chances of winning?
Let us know in the comments!
Some people have used his software and won.
And some people say his book helped too.
Luckily, we have inside knowledge about the techniques he discusses in the book.
His strategy is well documented, and not just in his book.
He's done many interviews and promoted his work extensively on social media.
The method goes something like this:
Always choose your own numbers.
Lustig says that using "quick pick" or randomized numbers will lower your chances of winning.
Instead, always pick your own numbers and keep playing them over and over.
But when they win, you should immediately pick new numbers.
His second tip is to put aside a lottery budget.
He says dividing your monthly household spending by ten is a good idea, so at least one-tenth
is used to play the lottery.
Also, if you're lucky enough to win, you should use at least 33% of your winnings to buy more
lottery tickets.
Tip number 3 is to buy at least 10 tickets at a time.
All ten should be for the same game too.
According to Lustig, you'll almost always find at least one winning ticket in the pack.
So, if he won 7 times using that method, you should definitely follow his advice, right?
Well, maybe.
A few people have won something using this technique.
But I wouldn't be too quick to take his advice for several reasons.
And at least one of those reasons is that Lustig never really won that much money.
Let's take a closer look at Lustig's 7 jackpot wins.
When we hear someone say they won the lottery, we usually think of multi-million dollar wins.
But Lustig never won a jackpot that big.
All 7 of his jackpot wins combined add up to just over $1 million.
That's not bad, but I'll bet it's much lower than you thought.
Also, they weren't all cash prizes.
His winning streak started in 1993 with a $10,000 that he won on a scratch-off ticket.
In 1997 he won a Florida Fantasy Five jackpot worth just less than $13,700.
In June of 2000, he won a Wheel of Fortune trip to LA valued at 3 and a half thousand
in the second chance redraw.
His next win, in 2001, was also a holiday worth almost $5,000, which he also won on
the second chance redraw.
In 2002 he had his biggest win - just over $842,000.
Then there was a 6 years gap before he finally won big again in 2008.
This time, his jackpot was about $73,600.
His final win was in August 2010, when he took home a jackpot just shy of $99,000 thanks
to the Florida Fantasy Five for the 3rd time.
Was that the type of win you were imagining when you heard he was selling advice?
Let us know in the comments!
Okay, so he did win a good amount of cash.
But no huge jackpots.
So should we really jump to take his advice?
Well, publishers didn't think so.
That best-selling book was actually self-published, and it's really more of a pamphlet than a
book.
It's only 40 pages, and for a long time, it was selling for $40 - that's a dollar a page!
His number prediction software might not be worth it either.
Some people have tried it and won.
But again, there were no huge jackpots, and it definitely doesn't guarantee you'll win
anything.
Even Lustig himself eventually gave up trying to win the lottery and instead focused on
boosting his fame to help sell the book and software.
Financial experts aren't exactly on his side either.
Back in 2012, CNN Money published a video interview with Lustig where he outlined his
techniques for winning.
But instead of leading to a huge group of excited lottery winners, it only created a
storm of criticism online that was so huge they took down the video.
Eventually, CNN released a statement saying that the video didn't live up to their high
standards of reporting.
The video only featured the techniques I already told you about.
So, where did all the criticism come from?
Well, financial experts are pretty vocal about why they think Lustig's advice isn't good.
Really, they seem to think following the techniques is a terrible idea.
Let's run through his advice again, but this time with the advice of a real financial expert.
What are your thoughts on Lustig's advice?
Tell us in the comments!
And we'll tell you what the experts thought.
Lustig's first bit of advice is to set a lottery budget.
Does that sound like a good idea?
Prominent financial expert Zac Bissonnette says not.
In an interview with Business Insider, he explains why you should avoid taking this
advice.
He says your lottery budget shouldn't be anywhere near as high as 10% of your monthly spending.
In fact, he thinks it should be zero.
I'm not sure I agree with that - you already know we love playing the lottery on this channel.
But his logic is still pretty strong.
He says you shouldn't budget for a game you can't beat with skill because there's no way
to gain an advantage.
Sure, that's partly why we love playing the lottery so much - anyone can win it.
But spending 10% of your monthly earnings on it does sound like way too much, especially
when people are struggling to pay rent.
So what does Bissonnette think about quick picks?
We heard that Lustig said using quick picks lowers your chances of winning.
But does it?
Probably not.
Bissonnette says the exact opposite.
According to him, if you are trying to win big, then quick pick random numbers will give
you the best shot at a big jackpot.
If you choose your own numbers, you're more likely to choose numbers someone else also
chose, and then you'll have to split the jackpot.
But random numbers make you more likely to be the sole winner if you do hit the jackpot.
Your odds of winning don't go up or down using quick pick numbers.
Your odds of winning are always the same.
And, when you think about it, loads of big jackpot winners were playing quick pick tickets,
so does this really feel like sound advice from Lustig?
Personally, I don't think so.
And what about Lustig's advice to throw out your chosen numbers as soon as they win?
He said this was because the same numbers never win twice.
But in reality, that's not true either!
In fact, the same numbers often come up in separate draws for the same game.
So why not keep playing them?
It kind of feels like Lustig picked these bits of advice as randomly as a quick pick
ticket - which is pretty funny since he hated random numbers.
Of course, financial advisors often say you shouldn't play the lottery at all because
it's so random and hard to win.
But they seem particularly angry about the advice Lustig was giving out.
They seemed to feel that his advice was dangerous because it encouraged people to spend so much
more than they should on playing the lottery.
I kind of agree - a couple dollars spent on a ticket every now and then is great!
But buying 10 tickets at a time and spending 33% of your winnings on more?
I'm not sure about that.
It seems to me that his advice is pretty strong for someone who never won a huge jackpot.
It also feels like he just wanted everyone to buy his overpriced pamphlet.
But that's up to you to decide.
Do you think Lustig's advice could help you win the lottery?