Want to Win the Lottery? This Guy Has a System
Special to CNBC.com
You could call him Mr. Lucky. After all, Richard Lustig has won the lottery seven times.
But Lustig doesn't rely on luck, he has a system — one you can learn about in his book "Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery."
The 42-state Mega Millions jackpot is at an astronomical $640 million, and the drawing is Friday night.
Lustig is in it to win it.
"Of course I bought a ticket," the Florida concert booking agent told CNBC. "I'd be crazy if I didn't."
Lustig didn't detail much of his system to CNBC — that's in his book — but he did give a few tips for those who want to rely on more than a little bit of luck:
Avoid Quick-Pick lottery cards where the numbers are pre-selected. Buy at least 10 tickets. Play in lottery pools. Don't throw away your losing tickets — after all, there's always next time for your numbers.
If you win (and good luck with that) Lustig would tell you to "get yourself an accountant, a lawyer, a financial adviser, maybe all three, make sure they’re reputable and have them determine what to do with that money."
Don't become one of those "horror stories" of winners who took the money in a lump sum, spent it all at once and went bankrupt within a year, he said.
Lustig said he hasn't made that mistake, using his first winnings to pay off the bills and the mortgage and then using subsequent payouts to buy "all the toys" including a big house and a BMW for his son.
If you're skeptical about Lustig and his system — and many are — Lustig doesn't care.
"I’ll take all the heat they want to throw at me," he said.
"Anytime somebody does something in the history of man that no one else has done before, there’s always going to be skeptics," Lustig said, likening himself to two other high-flyers laughed at for their ideas — the Wright Brothers.
