Lottery is a game of chance where the winning ticket holds the potential to rewrite your life story. But it’s also a high-risk investment. The odds of winning are incredibly slight and purchasing tickets can cost you thousands in foregone savings.

Luckily, there are some proven ways to improve your chances of winning the lottery. Whether it’s picking a specific number or using a grouping strategy, there are some tricks that can improve your chances of winning big prizes.

It’s no secret that super-sized jackpots drive lottery sales. The bigger the prize, the more people are likely to buy tickets and the more attention it will receive on news sites and TV. But a new study has found that those sky-high jackpots aren’t actually as good for your chances of winning as smaller ones.

The study, led by Harvard economist Mark Glickman and University of Oregon economics professor Richard Lustig, analyzed lottery data from 44 states plus the District of Columbia. It found that winning the Powerball or Mega Millions is significantly more difficult than the average state lottery. This is because the top prize is capped at $1 billion and the chances of matching all six numbers are far lower than in smaller games.

The researchers also found that the odds of winning a smaller lottery are much higher than the odds of winning in a larger one. They attributed this to the fact that there are less participants in small lotteries and that the numbers tend to be more evenly distributed.