Claire Reid
A man who became a millionaire after he won the lottery a staggering seven times claimed he stuck to a system to strike it lucky.
Richard Lustig, from Orlando in Florida, scooped big prizes in seven state-sponsored lottery games from 1993 to 2010, with his wins totalling more than one million dollars. You can see him talk about his wins here:
His prizes ranged from $10,000 to $842,152 and he even bagged himself a couple of holidays - one to Las Vegas and one to Memphis. In an interview with WESH 2, he also revealed he’d won hundreds of thousands of dollars in smaller prizes.
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During an interview with CBS, Lustig claimed he had played the lottery for around 25 years with limited success until he hit upon his special method.
He explained: "It doesn't matter how you pick your numbers, once you pick your set of numbers, research them to know if it's a good set of numbers and stick with them.
"There's no magic method to picking your numbers, I get emails every day asking. One number doesn't win the jackpot, a set of numbers does.
"The lazy way out is to buy quick-picks. The computer picks out the numbers. Don't play quick-picks. Quick-picks are the worst thing you can do, you are playing with the worst odds.”
Lustig went on to say that what really mattered was whether you got yourself a ‘good set’ of numbers or not - but if you wanted to know what constituted a decent set of balls then you’d have to buy his book Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery.
Lottery-winning Lustig went on to say that it was also important to keep the same numbers - so once you choose the set you’re happy with stick with them, even if they’ve not won you anything.
Lustig, who died in 2018 aged 67, also warned people to gamble responsibly and not get too caught up in the idea of winning big.
He added: "Don't get lottery fever - don't use your grocery money, or your rent money. Remember one thing, if there is one winner on Saturday night, there will be millions of losers, don't be that person Sunday morning worrying about how you can pay back the money you spent.”