Many lottery players give up before they start. That's because they keep getting told how impossible the odds of winning are.

There are even sites that let them calculate the impossible odds for themselves.

They're told the odds of winning are:

• Higher than getting struck by lightning

• Once every 268,920 years (for the 649 game)

• Higher than getting kicked by a donkey (unless you own a donkey petting zoo!)

If you've ever clicked to the page where many lotteries show the odds of winning, I wouldn't be surprised if you've immediately thought of giving up.

You think that this huge odds ratio is stacked against you, and it will make it impossible to get a winning prize.

Don't despair! It's not what it seems.

When you think about why the odds are so high, it's quite logical.

Let's look at Mega Millions.

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

Now here's the secret.

It only applies to one ticket only.

That’s if you buy one ticket, your odds are 1 in 302,575,350.

But if you purchase two tickets with different numbers, your odds improve to 2 in 302,575,350 (or 1 in 151,287,675).

And so it goes on, right on down to just 1:12.

So the more tickets you buy, the lower your odds become. But that could soon become very expensive.

For a lottery like the Mega Millions, if you buy 100 tickets ($200), your odds improve to 100 in 302,575,350 or roughly 1 in 3,025,753.5.

The answer is to buy as many tickets as practical.

Your chances are ALWAYS improved.