What do these people have in common: George Martinek, Susan Hannoun, Lori Boyle, Bernadette Gietka, Neal Wanless, and Bob Guerzon? Answer: They are all lottery millionaires. They, along with thousands of people every year, defy the odds and win the lotto jackpot. We hear about jackpot winners every week on the news. But have you ever considered how many new millionaires are created by the lottery each year? How many people win at least a million dollars?

According to the TLC television show, "The Lottery Changed My Life," more than 1600 new lottery millionaires are created each year. That doesn't include people that have won jackpots of, say, $ 100,000 because than the number would be much higher. Still, 1600 is quite a high number.

If 1600 win at least a million in the lotto every year, it means that there are more than 130 each month, more than 30 each week, and more than 4 each day. That's a lot of winners.

Perhaps you're inspired by these numbers. Perhaps you think that since there are so many big lottery winners, you're time will come one day. I don't mean to crash the party, but perhaps you should think again. The odds of winning a million dollar jackpot are bad. 1600 yearly jackpot winners isn't that big of a number when you consider how many people actually play. Hundreds of millions of people buy billions of lottery tickets each year and only a small fraction of those people actually win a big jackpot.

Don't get discouraged, though. The lottery is a game of random luck and you might get lucky one day and become a new lottery millionaire. Good luck!