A lot of tips abound about how to win big in the lottery. Software has even been designed that are marketed to be better at selecting lottery numbers. However, the truth remains that a lot of these tips and software do not work simply because every number has an equal chance of winning the lottery no matter how many times it's been used. There is really no way to predict the numbers that would win the lottery, the only tip that works when trying to pick numbers for the lottery is to try to pick a number that is not likely to be picked by anyone else so that if you indeed win the lottery, you would not have to split with another winner in case of a tie.

In spite of all this, there are still a few ways to increase the odds of winning the lottery. New tips emerge every day and many are often times disproved while some become tested and trusted. For instance, Stefan Mandel, a Romanian-Australian economist who's won the lottery 14 times suggested a 6-step formula for winning the lotteryas quoted on the pulse. The steps are:

• Calculate the total number of possible combinations. (For a lottery that requires you to pick six numbers from 1 to 40, that means 3,838,380 combinations.)
• Find lotteries where the jackpot is three times or more the number of possible combinations.
• Raise enough cash to pay for each combination. (Mandel rounded up 2,524 investors for his push to win the Virginia lottery.)
• Print out millions of tickets with every combination.
• Deliver the tickets to authorized lottery dealers.
• Win the cash. And don't forget to pay your investors. (Mandel pocketed $97,000 after a $1.3 million win in 1987.)

While Mandel's formula used to be legal, now the U.S. and Australia makes it illegal to prink bulk tickets in your home, so this strategy is no longer practical.

Another example is the seven-time lottery game-winner, Richard Lustig, who wrote a book highlighting three things he believed one can do to raise their chances of winning the lottery.

He says "The three things you can do to increase your chances of winning a lottery game is to pick your own numbers and stick with them every time; set a budget, and never spend rent or grocery money to play a lottery game.”

Forbes analyzed these tips and dismissed them to be mathematically incorrect and therefore not plausible.

The Balance Everyday has however proffered eight practical steps that could help one win the lottery, they are:

• Play the right games
• Get more entries without spending more money with lottery pools
• Don’t miss a lottery win: double-check your numbers!
• Multiply your chances of winning the lottery with second-chance games
• Someone else's loss might be your lottery ticket win: some discarded lottery tickets were not checked properly and you could always recheck them.
• Take steps to secure winning lottery tickets: This entails securing your lottery tickets so your winning ticket does not get stolen. You can do this by signing on the ticket. Having a signature at the back of your ticket could help prove it’s your, in case it gets stolen.
• Win a bigger pay-out by choosing rarer numbers
• Beware of lottery scams