To end the month of July Lottery Tips, I’m writing about that ever elusive lottery bonus ball. We get emails every day on a variety of questions ranging from the elementary like this one ‘What is the Lottery Bonus Ball” through to asking for our recommendations on which is the best USA state lottery to play. Obviously questions like the latter we’re unable to answer for obvious legal reasons, though the former we are happy to help.

so… WHAT IS THE LOTTERY BONUS BALL:

In almost every lottery game available six numbers are chosen by the entrant for each draw, 6 balls are then drawn PLUS one or more extra bonus balls. In these lotteries your entry consists only of the basic numbers, 6 in this example, and does not include a special guess for the bonus numbers.If you manage to guess all the basic numbers correctly, regardless of the bonus ball(s), you win the jackpot simple as that. The bonus balls are used to determine lower prize groups, according to the different prize categories shown in each of the lotteries in their Lottery Info page accessible through one of the 3 easy ways to choose your specific information at Lottery Info section at the site.

You can read more about how to play the lottery at our lottery faq help pages.

Picking lottery numbers can be a monotonous task, analyzing past draws even more so.  If your a serious lottery player then you probably already use some kind of system to help you store, track and choose your numbers for each draw.

If you don’t yet use any , then let me help you choose.  First of all, don’t just take one persons advice, if your looking for lottery software, don’t limit yourself just one, and don’t start paying at the outset.  There are simply hundreds of companys selling different software systems with different features and benefits, and all the good ones will allow you to down load a copy and test them for a while before deciding to buy them.

There’s also a number of completely free lottery software applications that are basic but are great to get you started.

Checkout the following links for a selection of applications and reviews.
http://downloadsonline.org/downloads/lottery+winning+tips
http://www.fileguru.com/downloads/lottery_software

The most economical way to maximize your number of lines is in a syndicate. But it’s got to be the right syndicate! It’s a common misconception that playing in a syndicate will reduce your winnings because they’re shared out. In the syndicate I joined, you will always win more than if you were playing alone. Steve says: “I played the same numbers with the UK National Lotto and with your system. With the UK National Lotto I won

Document, document, document. If you join a lottery sharing group and don’t have a formal written agreement, then you’re crazy.  Friends fall out over a little bit of money all the time. A few hundred dollars is enough to end lifelong relationships. So imagine the kind of havoc created when millions of dollars are on the line.

Don’t take any chances. There is nothing wrong with signing a contract when something so important is on the line. This is a money transaction, after all.

I’m saving some of my best tips for the end of the month, this one is about what to do when you win the lottery, something we all want to experience.

1. Do not leave your winnings in the hands of friends or family.  Never place your trust in amateurs who don’t have the expertise necessary to handle a million dollars. You think  you trust them as a friend but that simply means they are qualified to be your friend, not financial adviser.
2. Hire a professional financial consultant with experience in dealing with lottery winners (believe it or not there are plenty out there).  Ensure you have a reputable tax accountant and an lawyer on your new payroll.
3. Redundancy is critical (not meaning job redundancy, but people backup).  Never trust just one person with your entire future. Ensure you have a team of people who’re experts in their field who can be coordinated to handle your finances in case something happens.

More budgeting tips from a guest writer:

Never dip into your savings in the hope of winning the lottery. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.  Spending your life savings won’t help you if you lose it all.  Only spend what you can afford to lose.

When you buy one lottery ticket, your odds of winning go from zero to one-in-eighteen million or so. When you buy two lottery tickets, your odds of winning go from one-in-eighteen million to two-in-eighteen million. The numbers improve, but you need to buy literally thousands to see a significant increase in your chances.

By all means, get in the game. But remember that buying a hundred tickets per week doesn’t increase your odds of winning that much.  Bear in mind the more tickets you buy the more chance your sharing your list of numbers with someone else.

So, in short, the important budgeting tip here, is spend only what you can afford to spend and only on the numbers you really want to play.

We’ve spent a lot of time giving you tips and tricks on how you should play the  lottery and how to ensure the lottery results suit you.  I now think its the right time to give you some tips on how not to play the lottery.

1. Never choose lottery numbers that have recently won.  Many people think that winning numbers can be lucky for coming draws and so are more likely to come up again. This is far from the truth even though many lottery players still do it.
2. Never choose lottery numbers based on an mathematical sequences, such as 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, or 01, 11, 21, 31, 41, 49. People like number patterns - you may or may not be surprised at how many other lottery players choose their numbers like this.  If you do and you win, don’t be shocked at how little you come home with after sharing your bounty with thousands of others.
3. Never choose lottery  numbers according to the many online  ‘tip’ websites, just think how many subscribers they have and how many you’ll need to share your prize with.
4. Never choose lottery numbers purely according to family birthdays. Enormous numbers of lottery players choose the day of the birthday of family members when selecting lottery numbers. But there are only 31 days at most in a month - which means an awful lot of people pick all their numbers in that range.
5. Never  make a pattern on your lottery card itself. Diagonal and horizontal lines or any other patter such as; stars, boxes, etc. You may think it’s original, trust me its not. You may win but your lottery winnings will be shared and reduced.

For lottery tip 3 - we’re talking about keeping a track of your online lottery numbers.

Always always keep a record of all previous winning numbers in the lottery of your choice, use a spreadsheet or some lottery software if you find that moree useful (and worth the investment for a high quality one)

If you’re the numbers genius then this little tip is for you.  If you’re the kind of person that has little else to do of an evening but sit, record and analyze past winners then you will for sure beign to find patterns that will surely set you on the path to simply wait for your winning numbers to come rolling in.

If your this committed and this into your stats, then start by listing all the winning numbers for a siz month period and then see which numbers come up the most number of times, then highlight the numbers that come up the least number of times . Use these statistics to help you create a combination based on what is most likely to come up next time.

Part 2 of our July Lottery Tips - Group Lottery Play

Group play or lottery syndicates as they’re commonly know have some great advantages.

Initially the capital risk is divided between players and the work is generally also be divided. Getting input and brainstorming from a number of “minds” can give you a more choice of methods of play than you’d have if it’s just you alone.  Many large lottery jackpots are won by lottery syndicates.

Bear in mind the fun aspect of playing the lottery online, group play is always going to have at least the potential (until things get serious) to be more social and more fun than playing alone.

The flip side of the coin for group lottery play is that there’s a chance that you could become the work horse for the group which could lead to resentment if you win.  You can also find that sometimes people who are bad losers become tiresome and negative, these people should be removed from group over time if possible. Positivity is critical when working together as it may take some time and some investment before you see the profit.

Take into account when forming a group that the person holding the tickets can claim the prize! Your lottery syndicate should have a legally signed agreement about who gets what and who has what responsibility within the lottery syndicate.

This month I”m going to focus on delivering to you the best and most useful lottery tips…

Its a month long series, so come back often (or subscribe to our rss feed)

Tip 1 - Lottery on a Budget

First, establish the budget you have for your lottery endeavours.  Then you  need to decide how often to play.  Many lottery players only play the lottery when there’s a roll-over, this ensures a higher payout if they win.  Some people simply can’t afford to play EVERY time teir preferred lottery game is run.

So, the big tip here is to only play when the time is right for you, such as:

1.) A roll-over.

2.) The day or days when the pot is usually higher, this can often happen on weekend draws since these are the most popular draws for the average player

3.) Trust your  “gut feeling” about a specific lottery draw.  Sometimes these feelings will be based on your analysis using lottery software or your own experiences.

4.) Play when only when you want to play. Don’t feel like it’s a chore, don’t play just because you have spare budget to use up.