In 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.

Do not make promises you don’t 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 new car” Such statements, even meant as sympathy for another’s plight, try Palm can come back to haunt you. You might forget you said it. Yet whenever you do win the lottery, that individual to whom you uttered your promise will remember vividly and expect 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 ahead of the drawing. When large sums of money are involved, it really is surprising how a long-standing friendship or family tie could become meaningless. Be forewarned: Buy your own lottery tickets — or at least have them within 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. Do not play with money you are afraid to lose. Scared money seldom wins. Keep it fun to ensure that your attitude remains positive. Enjoy it with others by pooling your money with friends, family or co-workers. Not only is it more enjoyable playing with others, but it also stretches your lotto budget. When you pool your 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 good idea, but don’t pool your money with anyone without having a signed agreement. You could think you are risking only some dollars. But should the lottery ticket wins, you’ve got put in jeopardy 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 another drawings in between. Or use the money you might have spent (but did not) on some other form of entertainment. If you have a multiple prize win, you can afford to spend more on lottery tickets next time, for example playing two or more lotto wheels. You may be on a hot streak. Whenever you do not win, stay on a self-imposed budget until you win again. But always remember, 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 may also 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 greater portion of your lottery budget on the cash-5 game offered within your state. You will win more prizes more often when you play the bottom odds pick-5 games. Top prize might be only a hundred thousand dollars or so. Nonetheless, I guarantee that whenever you win one, you will be very, pleased!

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

Practice saying, “No,” before you decide to win the lottery. The most critical word any jackpot winner can learn to say is an emphatic “No!” Many jackpot winners have gone bankrupt since they allowed freeloading friends, family members, 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 don’t accept your lottery win in a lump sum. Select the annuity payout and collect your lottery win in annual installments.