When the singapore pools was first launched in England, I really thought it was a mug’s game. The odds of winning were so small . . . in fact, absolutely miniscule that I thought it was pointless buying a ticket. I used to joke that you had as much chance of winning if you didn’t even buy a ticket. It’s not true of course but it seemed pretty close to the truth.

My mind hasn’t really changed much. That is, I still believe it’s pointless buying a ticket in the normal way, but you can do things to make it much much better – you can belong to a lottery syndicate. The reason why it makes sense to belong to a syndicate is that you can pool your chances with others.

Although, as a member of a syndicate, you may reduce the amount of money you win, you can substantially increase your chances of winning and this really adds to the fun. However, as a syndicate member, if the syndicate is constructed in the right way, you can massively increase your chances of winning a good amount of cash.

The chance of winning the Jackpot, i.e. of getting 6 numbers out of 49 correct is based on drawing 6 numbers at random, from 49. This is described mathematically as 49! / (6! X (49-6)!) and if you work this out, it comes approximately to a chance of 1 in 14 million. This is not great.

Of course you have a slightly greater chance of winning a smaller prize! And you can win a prize (£10) if you match 3 numbers correctly.

If you enter the lottery as an individual, you have a chance of approximately 54 to 1

So what can you do to improve your chances?

Well, clearly, if you bought 49 tickets each time, you could cover all the variations for one number. Not many of us are prepared to do that because we don’t have the money. But what if you pooled your money with 48 others?

This is the essense of the syndicate. With 49 players, each is allocated a unique number. Thus all combinations for one of the six numbers in the draw are covered already. So, to win the Jackpot, it’s only necessary to get 5 numbers correct.

When you become a member of the Virtual World Direct, you are placed into a syndicate of 49 other players in both the Wednesday and Saturday and guaranteed 44 entries in both draws. This clever system increases the chance of winning a prize in each draw to 1 in 13.

Does the maths make your head spin? That’s why I won’t explain it in detail you you – you need to check the site where it’s demonstrated really clearly. But your head could spin even more when you find yourself a winner.

The big advantage is, that VWD manage the whole thing. And they pay up automatically. You don’t have to check whether you have won. They pay you automatically too. And in my experience you win quite frequently – enough to bring a smile to your face.

However, coupled with the increased chance of becoming a winner in the lottery, there is a business opportunity to be taken up too and it costs you nothing. All you need to do is promote the syndicate. If you recruit just a small number of players, you cover the cost of your playing yourself. You can do this any way you like.