Lottery winner gives tips on how to hit $550M jackpot

By Matt Grant

CREATED Nov. 27, 2012 - UPDATED: Nov. 27, 2012

  • Print

  • Lottery winner gives tips on how to hit $500M jackpot Video by fox4now.com

    video

CAPE CORAL, Fla. - An Orlando man says he knows the secrets to winning the lottery.

"We live in a big fancy house, we go on cruises," said Richard Lustig, a seven-time Florida lotto grand prize winner. "Has it changed my life? Absolutely."

Lustig has raked in over $1 million playing the Florida lotto. After taking home seven jackpots, he's now living it up.

"My son is a teenager," he said. "I bought him his first car. Guess what he's driving? A Beamer."

But don't ask Lustig about luck.

"Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it," he said in an interview at Fox 4's studios. "How can anybody in their right mind say this guy's won seven times he's just a lucky guy? Come on. Nobody can be that lucky."

His winnings include an $840,000 Mega Money jackpot and a $98,000 Fantasy Five Grand Prize.

Lottery secrets

Lustig wrote a book which he says will help increase your astronomical odds.

"Here's a big, big tip which is going to shock a lot of people," said Lustig. "Do not play quick picks. Quick pick does not increase your odds of winning."

Quick picks are the randomly selected numbers the computer picks for you.

Instedad, Lustig recommends picking a set of numbers and sticking with them. He says it doesn't matter what numbers you pick.

He also recommends staying away from sequences that have already come up. You can research past winning numbers on the Florida lottery Web site.

"Luck has nothing to do with it," he said. "I stress it 100 percent."

But luck sure could help.

The odds of hitting Wednesday's jaw-dropping $550 million Powerball jackpot are 1 in 176 million.

This is the second largest jackpot in lottery history.

Richard Lustig's Web site
Florida Lottery

Matt Grant
mgrant@fox4now.com