How to up your chances of winning some cash playing the lottery

Are you feeling lucky? Monday's Powerball jackpot sits at an estimated $900 million and Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing is at $640 million.

But your odds of taking home the big money in either game is slim. You're more likely to get struck by lightning, get killed by a shark or be canonized as a saint. There's about a 1 in 300 million chance of winning the Powerball or Mega Millions.

"I like to point out that if you'd been buying 2,000 tickets a week since the time of Jesus there's a better than even chance that you wouldn't have won yet. So this is extremely long odds," mathematician Kenneth Alexander said.

Alexander says he hasn't played the lottery in at least a decade, in part because he's well aware of how the numbers play out.

But he does say playing isn't all bad. Just be sure to include it in the correct budget category.

"Lottery tickets in my view would belong in the entertainment budget," Alexander said. "You're paying for this feeling that you have that that you could hypothetically win, and it's not actually going to happen. So I can't view it as an investment because it's not going to be that.

"But if you get $2 worth of entertainment out of having that feeling, then you've gotten your money's worth."

One way you can actually up your chances of winning some cash is to play smaller, local games like the SuperLotto Plus or scratch-offs. The payout is not as big, but your odds of winning are significantly better.

If you like Scratchers then scratchoffodds.com is a site that can help. It calculates the odds of each Scratcher game based on many prize-winning tickets that have yet to be claimed.

But even the games with the best chances still have a negative return on investment. Keep in mind, playing the lotto is still gambling.

Join us every weekday morning on Eyewitness News at 5 a.m. for our new segment, ABC7 On Your Side. John Gregory has you covered on money-saving tips, including tricks to save on your bills, smart negotiating tactics, plus where you can score free stuff!