ROLLOVER: Jenny Burston won after the UK National Lottery rolled over four times - the limit after which a prize has to be paid out to the next winning prize level. Photo: Mirror

A Scientific American writer has given his theory of how to play the lottery and make money.

He says his method involves some 'fiendishly simple stats [that] can make the dollar you put down likely to win back that dollar and more.'

Author Garth Sundem interviewed Emory Mathematician, Skip Garibaldi who told him how: "Find a drawing in which the jackpot is unusually large and the number of tickets is unusually low."

Here's his tips for getting the most out of a lottery game:

1. Look for a jackpot that’s rolled over at least five times and that remains below $40 million.

A poor ticket selection using a birthdate which concentrates all the numbers at the end.

2. Pick the most unpopular numbers. Avoid these lucky ones which are likely to be popular with superstitous players: 1,  7, 13, 23, 32, 42, and 48. The ones to use are 26, 34, 44, 45, and especially overlooked number 46.

Ticket patterns do not help you win!

3. Avoid any recognizable pattern on your ticket, but give slight preference to numbers at the edge of the ticket, which are underused. When players pick a pattern, they are unlikely to choose these areas.

OUR TAKE: While these seem to be authorative tips, you should avoid them as an alternative to the Silver Lotto System. The answer is simple - the lottery is random and jackpot winning numbers have no pattern that can be predicted.

The Silver Lotto System also doesn't flll tickets out manually with a pattern, nor selects 'lucky' or 'unlucky' numbers.

It works by reducing the many numbers of unlikely number combinations like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, leaving a small selection of probable numbers. This means that while we can't predict a jackpot - no-one can - we can increase the wins for secondary prizes. 

Of course, the System has had its share of big wins too, so the chance of winning big is always there.

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