The lottery is one of America’s most popular forms of gambling, with Americans spending upward of $100 billion on tickets each year. It raises money for states, and some people do actually win the big prizes — although how meaningful that revenue is in broader state budgets is debatable. It also offers a rare opportunity to make money, but it comes with huge tax implications and usually leads to a quick bankruptcies for those who aren’t careful.

The idea of drawing numbers to determine a winner or small group of winners is nothing new, and it’s an approach that governments guard jealously from private enterprise. Examples include a lottery for units in a subsidized housing block or kindergarten placements at a reputable public school. But more common is a financial lottery, where you pay a $1 ticket to select a group of numbers or have machines randomly spit them out and win prizes if enough of your numbers match those chosen by the machine.

Many of the big jackpots on Mega Millions or Powerball are so large because of a simple but powerful phenomenon: a mathematically impossible number of combinations. But it’s possible to increase your odds by picking all the numbers, which is what some people try to do.

This is a huge undertaking, as it would require purchasing every single ticket in the current drawing. And even if you could do that, you’d have to hang out near the store or outlet that sells lottery tickets for a while, and that’s not something most people can or will do. So, instead, some people look for other ways to improve their odds.