Do you use a system for choosing your lottery numbers? If so, are you aware that using such a system might actually reduce your chances of landing a big win? The only way to genuinely improve your chances of winning the lottery is to buy more entries - and don't let anyone tell you differently, it's just a matter of statistics. However, there are some steps that you can take to ensure that, in the event that you do win, you are more likely to win a larger amount of money. Let's use the UK lottery as an example. Every week that there's a jackpot winner it seems that the prize is shared among a number of people. So, the easiest way to maximise your winnings in the event that your numbers are chosen is to minimise the number of people you have to share the prize money with. Although there are no guarantees in a game of chance such as a lottery, there are several ways in which this might be done.

• First of all, it's surprising how many people use dates to select their numbers. It makes it easier for them to remember if they want to play the same numbers every week and they may also attach feelings of good luck to certain dates, such as birthdays, anniversaries etc. This means that the "date numbers", 1 to 31, are picked more often. So make sure that you have at least 2 or 3 numbers outside of this range.

• Don't pick numbers which have recently been drawn. Many people believe in "hot streaks" and will be selecting these.

• Don't pick numbers based on an arithmetic sequence e.g. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24. This is a very common practice and you may wind up sharing your jackpot with a lot of mathematics teachers!

• Don't pick numbers which form a pattern on the entry slip, e.g. a cross or a box. Again this technique is more commonly used than you may imagine and you might have to share your prize with a lot of people.

• Don't use a tips service to select your numbers. It doesn't matter whether the service is based on some advanced statistical analysis, the amount of ink on each ball or the dream visions of some spaced out hippy, you won't be the only person using it and so you'll be guaranteed to end up splitting your winnings with a whole bunch of other winners.