Within your heart, you know you are going to win a lotto jackpot eventually. Or else why do you buy lottery tickets? Here is some advice for your head and heart while you get ready to win.

Don’t make promises you do not intend to keep. It is easy to tell someone: “If I won the lottery, I would pay off your mortgage” or “When I win the lottery, I will buy you a whole new car” Such statements, even meant as sympathy for another’s plight, can come back to haunt you. You might forget you said it. Yet when you do win the lottery, that person to whom you uttered your promise will remember vividly and anticipate to collect their “due” And if you pay off the mortgage or buy that car, it will not mean as much if it had not been “expected” or “promised”

Don’t trust someone to hold your lottery tickets prior to the drawing. When large sums of money are involved, it’s surprising how a long-standing friendship or family tie can become meaningless. Be forewarned: Buy your own lottery tickets — or at least have them in your own safekeeping ahead of the drawing takes place. Being an extra precaution, sign the back of your winning lottery tickets immediately. After the drawing, possession is 99 percent of the law.

Stick to a budget. Don’t play with money you are afraid to lose. Scared money seldom wins. Keep it fun in order that your attitude remains positive. Enjoy it with others by pooling your hard earned money with friends, family or colleagues. Not just is it more enjoyable playing with others, but it also stretches your lotto budget. When you pool your hard earned money with others, you can afford to use the larger lotto wheels.

Have your lotto pool sign a Pooling Agreement. Pooling your hard earned money with others to express in more lottery tickets is a great idea, but don’t pool your money with anyone without a signed agreement. You could think you are risking only a few dollars. But should the lottery ticket wins, you’ve got put in danger potential millions.

Do not be afraid to skip a drawing. To further stretch your lotto dollar, play a large wheeling system once a month and skip the other drawings in between. Or use the cash you could have spent (but didn’t) on some other form of entertainment. If you have a multiple prize win, you may afford to spend more about Ucsd on lottery tickets next time, such as playing two or more lotto wheels. You might be on a hot streak. When you do not win, stay on a self-imposed budget until you win again. But be aware of, there is just one thing all lottery jackpot winners have in common: All of them bought a lottery ticket!

Keep your lottery tickets safe. Keep your lottery tickets in a safe place and check them right after the drawing. Collect your small prizes (under $600) right away before the expiration date. Most states give you only 30 days to claim small wins from lottery agents. After that, you must mail them in or visit a claim center.

Save your losing lottery tickets. Save all of your losing lottery tickets while they are tax deductible, dollar for dollar, against your lottery wins. Receipts for other gambling losses also can be deducted against lottery wins. Whenever you win even a second prize, you will be glad to have those deductions at tax time.

Play some low-odds games. If you want to start winning sooner rather than later, invest the higher portion of your lottery budget on the cash-5 game offered within your state. You will win more prizes more often whenever you play the bottom odds pick-5 games. Top prize may be only a hundred thousand dollars or so. On the other hand, I guarantee that when you win one, you will be very, very happy!

Trust your hunches. Although my strategies are scientific, based upon mathematical probability, I am a great believer in playing hunches, too. If you feel strongly about a particular number, play it. Your inner conscious mind becomes stronger and a lot more accurate as you use it. Even your hunch muscle must be exercised to work efficiently. It really is quite important to think of yourself as a lucky person — to think of yourself as a winner.

Practice saying, “No,” prior to deciding to win the lottery. The most important word any jackpot winner can learn to say is definitely an emphatic “No!” Many jackpot winners have gone bankrupt because they allowed freeloading friends, relatives, neighbors, as well as others to bleed them dry. If you think you don’t have the backbone to harden your heart against endless sad tales of need and greed, then do not accept your lottery win in a lump sum. Choose the annuity payout and collect your lottery win in once-a-year installments.