Playing the lotto is fun. It’s a simple and easy way to try your luck and possibly get filthy rich over night without any effort whatsoever. Well, that’s not entirely true. You will have to decide which numbers to play, and if you win, you will have to claim your prize because it won’t just magically appear in your bank account.
The latter of the two is one of the things we wanted to talk to you about today. What should and shouldn’t you do after the lotto draw is over? Well, let’s not waste any more time. Let’s go find out what to do, what not to do, how to play, which mistakes to avoid when checking your ticket, and maybe even check out some lotto-winning tips in the meantime.
What To Do And What Not To Do If You Win The Lotto
Let’s start by assuming the best-case scenario – you’ve won the lottery. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve won – you just did. So, what now? What should and shouldn’t you do? Well, let’s give you some advice.
Do Remain Anonymous
If possible, try and remain anonymous once you win the lottery. To be fair, this shouldn’t be too hard unless you’ve played your winning ticket in New York, where winners’ names are a public record. Now, to be even fairer, keeping your mouth shut will probably be the one thing that is actually difficult, but we strongly urge you to do it. Not only will long-lost friends and family suddenly remember you exist, but you’ll also have all kinds of “financial experts” looking to help you “invest” your money. What you may not know is, the only thing they’ll help you with is “investing” your money in their pockets.
Don’t Get Reckless
While we understand the urge to spend your winnings on the things you wanted but couldn’t afford your whole life, we also know that over 70% of all lottery winners end up broke or in debt within the first three years upon hitting the jackpot. So, buy what you need to buy, but don’t forget that you still have to budget your way through life.
To See A Financial Advisor Before You Cash In
Upon winning, you have two options – take the lump sum or divide your winnings over multiple instalments in the form of an annuity. As far as we’re concerned, taking the lump sum is a better option, but just in case, you should consult with a financial advisor where you’ll learn more about taxes, devaluation of money over time and other things. Additionally, it would be wise to have an actual financial expert in your corner to stop you from being used and/or scammed if people realize you’ve hit the lottery.
Don’t Try And Help Everyone
You’ll surely be tempted to help your friends and family by giving them money or investing in their business ideas, but you really shouldn’t do it. You don’t own anyone anything, except maybe your parents or your spouse, but other than that – just leave it as it is. If you try and help everyone around you, you’ll soon realize your money’s gone, and the ones you helped are never paying you back.
Mistakes To Avoid When Checking Your Lotto Ticket
Believe it or not, some winnings never get claimed because some people make costly mistakes. If you aren’t exactly sure how one could mess up something this easy, well, here’s how.
1. Not Cashing In Your Ticket In Time
There is a pretty narrow time frame for anyone to collect their winnings, and if they don’t do it inside of that narrow time frame – the winnings are good as gone. Usually, the time you have to check your ticket and claim your winnings is around 60 days, so make sure you check your ticket in time.
2. Checking The Wrong Draw
Some lotteries draw multiple times a week, and when that’s the case, it can be quite easy to mix up the draws. Namely, you could think that you’ve won big, only to realize the numbers that you’ve played were drawn on Thursday, and your ticket was for a Tuesday draw. Also, this could happen the other way around. You could think that you’ve lost when you’ve, in fact, won. To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, make sure you visit lottopark.com and stay on top of the lotto draw calendar.
3. Not Checking Your Ticket Via Phone
A sure way to check whether your lotto ticket is good or not is by running it through a lotto ticket checker by entering the checking code found on every ticket. Most of the time, those codes are usually several digits long, and it can be easy to make a mistake while typing it. However, what many don’t seem to realize is that you don’t have to do this. Since 2018, most lotto tickets can be scanned and validated in a matter of seconds from the app on your phone. So, don’t leave this up to chance – use the tech.
Tips For Winning The Lotto
Now, let’s go over some tips on how to win the lotto, in case you’re just reading this to be prepared once you win.
- Improve Your Odds – The odds of winning the lottery are not good, to say the least. But, you can increase them by playing more than one ticket. It may not sound like a big difference, but playing two instead of one doubles your chances of winning.
- Don’t Choose Consecutive Numbers – Historically speaking, consecutive numbers are almost never drawn even though, mathematically, this doesn’t make any sense at all.
- Play Less Popular Lotteries – Once again, turn back to the trust lotto draw calendar and choose less popular lottery draws with fewer people playing to increase your odds of winning.
- Birthdays Aren’t Your Only Option – Playing numbers near and dear to your heart is okay, as long as you’re playing the lotto that draws from 1 to 31, but as far as we know, not many do.
- Stop Looking For Ways To Beat The Lottery – There is no strategy or guaranteed way to win the lotto, so stop trying to find it and just play. If you get lucky – you’ll get lucky.
Conclusion
There you have it – some useful tips and tricks on every stage of the lottery. Hopefully,you’ve found these helpful.
