How To Win the Lottery

Growing up, my father loved to gamble. He would buy lotto tickets, bet on the horses (Saratoga racetrack!) and in general, he would actually win.

I remember going to the OTB (off track betting) office and the liquor store with him to buy tickets.

He had a system, and kept records and actually won several times. To some gambling is a disease. And I decided not to gamble when I grew up.

As an adult, it’s very rare for me to buy a lottery ticket or even a scratch-off. The strange part of this story is the gambling gene, or whatever you want to call it, has skipped right to my son.

My adult-age son loves sports betting. That is his big weakness. He had a lot of luck with it in college. But since he got his full-time job last year, he has cut way back.

Here is how sports betting works:

Sports betting comes in many different shapes and sizes. At its core, sports betting is putting money behind an outcome of your choice and getting paid if that outcome is achieved. If a bet is on the winner of a game, that is called a moneyline bet. If you’re betting that a team will win or lose by a certain amount of points, that is called a spread bet. If you combine multiple outcomes into one bet, that is called a parlay.

Moneylines, spreads, and parlays are the most…