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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

2009 Lottery Power Picks Year in Review

This past year of 2009 has presented lottery players with a number of exciting changes. Among the major highlights were:
  • Powerball changed its format to 59 White Balls and 39 Powerballs,
  • Canadian Super 7 was retired,
  • Lotto Max was launched.

And, trying to keep pace, Lottery Power Picks provided analysis of:
  • Lotto Max - When to Play Guide,
  • How 2009 Powerball Changes Affect You, and
  • 3 UK Lotto Oddities or Questining Camelot.

Our new developmental releases included:
  • Hot / Cold Lottery Number Frequency Distribution for all our covered Lotteries,
  • The Lottery Annuity Calculator Gadget,
  • Packaging new RSS Feeds for easy access to our important research articles.

And for fun, we:
  • Reactivated our AskTheBlogster blog, and
  • Wrote a 12 part Lottery Trivia Question/Answer Series of Useless Facts.

As we look forward to 2010, we plan to:
  • Introduce a variety of Lottery Research Strategies that analyze the probabilities of winning by playing subsets of numbers, and
  • Expand our Lottery coverage into the Canadian Regional Lotteries, Texas, New Jersey and more.

Thanks for all your support during the past year and help us to make 2010 better than ever!

JL.................





xxx

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Our Christmas Wish to You


As the Sun Sets
on the
Dawn of a New Year
 

We Wish the Best
to
You and Yours



May Santa Bring Toys
to
All Girls and Boys
and
Peace and Happiness
to
Those Who Have Grown



Clip Art by: Wilson Free Clipart


Merry Christmas
from
All of Us at Lottery Power Picks
 

Monday, December 21, 2009

Answer to Lottery Trivia Question 12: What Mega Millions State Just Started Taxing Lottery Winnings?

Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #12 was:
  • Which Mega Millions State recently enacted a retroactive Tax on Lottery Winnings?
The Correct Answers is:
  • New Jersey enacted legislation ot retroactively Tax Lottery Winnings above $10,000.
  • Why? Because New Jersey was strapped for cash, the Governor proposed selling Powerball in addition to Mega Millions last Spring. The intention was that adding this new lottery could boost State revenue. However, the MUSL initially rejected the concept of selling both lotteries within a state (May 2009). So, taxation legislation was introduced and passed in June 2009 in the Bills: A-4102/S-2015 (Watson Coleman/Buono) which: Temporarily increases income tax rates for taxpayers with income exceeding $400,000, temporarily adjusts property tax deduction for certain taxpayers with income exceeding $150,000 and taxes New Jersey Lottery Prizes exceeding $10,000 (Governor Corzine Signs $29 Billion State Budget That Reflects Ethic of Shared Responsibility) Ironically, the MUSL and Mega Millions have reached an agreement allowing states to sell both lotteries. Thus, NJ comes out as a big winner by receiving both additional tax revenue and a percentage of lottery sales.( Note that, by wording, lottery taxation is not temporary )
Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 13th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

Thanks,

JL.........

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Lottery Trivia Question 12: What State Just Began Taxing Lottery Winnings?

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about the Mega Millions Lottery and Taxation.

Our Trivia Question #12 is:
  • Which Mega Millions State recently enacted a retroactive Tax on Lottery Winnings?
Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

We will provide the correct answer next Monday, December 21st, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

Have Fun,

JL.........

Monday, December 14, 2009

Answer to Lottery Trivia Question 11:Chances of Being Hit by Lightning verses Winning the Lottery?

Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #11 was:
  • What are your chances of being hit or killed by lightning?
  • What are your chances of drawing a royal flush on first 5 cards dealt?
  • What are your chances of dying from a shark attack
  • What are your chances of being a President?
  • What are your chances of dating a supermodel?
  • What are your chances of winning Powerball?
The Correct Answers are:
  • Chances of being struck or killed by lightening: 1 in 750,000 (National Weather Service) - Note: Stuck only = 1/576,000 and Killed only = 1 in 2,320,000 (TribLive)
  • Chances of drawing a royal flush on first 5 cards dealt: 1 in 649,740 (TribLive)
  • Chances of dying from a shark attack: 1 in 300,000,000 (TribLive)
  • Chances of being a President: 1 in 10,000,000 (TribLive)
  • Chances of dating a supermodel: 1 in 88,000 (TribLive)
  • Chances of winning Powerball: 1 in 195,249,054 (Powerball)
Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 12th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

Thanks,

JL.........

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Lottery Trivia Question 11: What Are Your Chances of Being Hit by Lightning & More?

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about Chances in General.

Our Trivia Question #11 is:
  • What are your chances of being hit or killed by lightning?
  • What are your chances of drawing a royal flush on first 5 cards dealt?
  • What are your chances of dying from a shark attack
  • What are your chances of being a President?
  • What are your chances of dating a supermodel?
  • What are your chances of winning Powerball?
Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

We will provide the correct answer next Monday, December 14th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

Have Fun,

JL.........

Monday, December 7, 2009

Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #10: How can Lottery Players Use Fadic Numbers?

Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #10 was:
  • What is Fadic Addition?
  • How can it be used to select lottery numbers?
  • Where can you learn more about it?
The Correct Answers are:

  • Fadic Addition is the process of adding together the digits of a number, reducing its value the a single digit from 0 to 9. For example, assume that your birthday is October 25 1984, or 10/25/1984. In fadic addition, you add both numbers of the month, day, and year together to obtain 1 7 22. Whenever a resulting number is greater than two digits, you repeat the addition until only one number is left. Since the year value is 22, you must then add the two digits together and get 4. So, in fadic form, our month, day, year birthday is 1 7 4. If we then add these together we get 12. Since it contains 2 numbers, we must them together. Thus, our resulting birthday lucky number is 3!
  • While Fadic Addition is most commonly used in most forms of Numerology, it can also be used by lottery players in a variety of ways. For example, a pick 3 player may obtain his favorite number by reducing his birthday to the fadic month, day, year as shown above and play 1-7-4. A Mega Millions or Powerball player may select his playing combination by randomly selecting Fadic Numbers for each number. Once obtained, the Fadic number can be translated into the underlying number and played. For example, assume that you wish to select the Megaball based on the Fadic Addition of your birthday of Oct 25 1984. Using the example above, the your fadic number is 3. Working backwards, we find that the underlying numbers: 3, 12, 21, 30, 39, and 48 all produce a fadic number of 3. So these are the numbers that we play.
    • You can learn more about Fadic Addition by reading the following articles and searching for the word fadic:

    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 11th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, December 1, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 10: How are Fadic Numbers Used by Lottery Players?

    This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about Lottery Strategies.

    Our Trivia Question #10 is:
    • What is Fadic Addition?
    • How can it be used to select lottery numbers?
    • Where can you learn more about it?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, December 7th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, November 30, 2009

    Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #9: Has Texas Ever Sold a Jackpot Winning Mega Millions Ticket?

    Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #9 was:
    • Has Texas ever sold a winning Mega Millions Jackpot ticket?
    • If Yes: How many times?
    • When and How Much?
    The Correct Answers are:

    • Yes,  the State of Texas has sold many winning Jackpot tickets.
    • Since joining Mega Millions in December 2003, Texans have won 7 times.
    • The individual dates and amounts were:
      1. 01/01/08     $33M    TX
      2. 08/31/07   $330M    MD/NJ/TX/VA (shared 4 ways)
      3. 07/06/07   $126M    TX
      4. 01/09/07   $122M    TX
      5. 05/16/06     $94M    TX
      6. 03/01/05   $112M    TX
      7. 10/01/04   $101M    TX
    • The total Jackpot winnings for Texas exceeds  $670 million.
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 10th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, November 24, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 9: Did Anyone in Texas Ever Win a Mega Millions Jackpot?

    This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about the U.S. Mega Millions Lottery.

    Our Trivia Question #9 is:
    • Has Texas ever sold a winning Mega Millions Jackpot ticket?
    • If Yes: How many times?
    • When and How Much?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, November 30th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, November 23, 2009

    Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #8: What Lottery Paid Out the Largest Jackpot?

    Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #8 was:
    • Which U.S. Lottery Claims the Largest Jackpot Payout?
    • When was it won?
    • How many winning tickets were there?
    The Correct Answers are:

    • To date, Mega Millions claims the record of the largest Jackpot Payout of $390 million.
    • The jackpot was won on March 6th 2007.
    • Two winning tickets split the jackpot, one in Georgia and one in New Jersey.
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 9th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, November 17, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 8: Which Lottery Paid Out the Largest Jackpot?

    This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lotteries.

    Our Trivia Question #8 is:
    • Which U.S. Lottery Claims the Largest Jackpot Payout?
    • When was it won?
    • How many winning tickets were there?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, November 23th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, November 16, 2009

    Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #7: What was First U.S. Multi-State Lottery Named?

    Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #7 was:
    • What was the name of the first U.S. multi-state lottery?
    • When did it begin?
    • What is it named now?
    The Correct Answers are:

    • The first Multi-State Lottery was called Lotto America.
    • It began in February 1988.
    • The name (and format) changed in 1992 and is now called: Powerball!
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 8th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, November 10, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 7: What was the First US Multi-State Lottery Named?

    This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lotteries.

    Our Trivia Question #7 is:
    • What was the name of the first U.S. multi-state lottery?
    • When did it begin?
    • What is it named now?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, November 16th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, November 9, 2009

    Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #6: How Many EuroMillions Lucky Star Combos are There?

    Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #6 was:
    • In Euro Millions, a player must correctly pick two Lucky Stars, each numbered 1 to 9.
    • How many unique Lucky Star combinations are possible?
    The Correct Answers are:

    • There are 36 unique Lucky Star combinations! 
    • A EuroMillions player selects 2 Lucky Stars numbered 1 to 9, but the numbers can't be repeated (meaning there are no 1-1, 2-2, ... 9-9 conbinations). One would think, therefore, that there are 9 times 8, or 72, combinations. But since order doesn't matter, we need to eliminate duplicates. Thus, we divide the 72 combinations by 2 to obtain the correct 36 unique combinations!
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 7th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, November 3, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 6: How Many EuroMillions Lucky Star Combos?

    This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about EuroMillions.

    Our Trivia Question #6 is:
    • In Euro Millions, a player must correctly pick two Lucky Stars, each numbered 1 to 9.
    • How many unique Lucky Star combinations are possible?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, November 9th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, November 2, 2009

    Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #5 Who Was First State to Have a Lottery?

    Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #5 was:
    • Who was the first U.S. State to sponsor a Lottery in the 20th century?
    • What was this lottery named?
    • When did tickets go on sale?
    The Correct Answers are:

    • New Hampshire was the first U.S. State to sponsor a lottery.
    • It was called a "Sweepstakes"
    • Tickets went on sale on March 12th 1964!
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 6th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, October 27, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 5: Who Was First State to Have a Lottery?

    This week's three part Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lottery History.

    Our Trivia Question #5 is:
    • Who was the first U.S. State to sponsor a Lottery in the 20th century?
    • What was this lottery named?
    • When did tickets go on sale?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, November 2nd, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, October 26, 2009

    Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #4: First Person to Win $5 Million Lottery?

    Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #4 was:
    • Who was the first person to ever win a $5 million lottery prize?
    • When (on what date) did he win it?
    • What's he doing now?
    Although no one ventured a guess, the Correct Answer is:

    • Lou Eisenberg was the first person to ever win a $5 million lottery prize which was the historically largest jackpot in the world.
    • Lou won this on Friday the 13th of November 1981.
    • Today, Lou is in his 70s and lives on his Social Security payments because he spent all of his winnings.
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 5th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, October 20, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 4: Who Was First $5 Million Winner?

    This week's three part Lottery Trivia Question is about New York State Lottery history.


    Our Trivia Question #4 is:
    • Who was the first person to ever win a $5 million lottery prize?
    • When (on what date) did he win it?
    • What's he doing now?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, October 26th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, October 19, 2009

    Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #3 - What State Offers the Megaplier?

    Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #3 was:
    • What is the only Mega Millions State that offers players a chance to buy a Megaplier?
    Although no one ventured a guess, the Correct Answer is:

    • The only state that offers the Mega Millions Megaplier is Texas!
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 4th Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    ******************

    Tuesday, October 13, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 3: What State Offers the Megaplier?

    This week's Lottery Trivia Question relates to Mega Millions.


    Our Trivia Question #3 is:
    • What is the only Mega Millions State that offers players a chance to buy a Megaplier?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, October 19th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, October 12, 2009

    Answer to Lottery Trivia Question #2

    Last week's Lottery Trivia Question #2 was:
    • On what date was the first Powerball drawing held?
    Although no one ventured a guess, the Correct Answer is:
    • The first Powerball drawing was held on April 22, 1992.
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 3nd Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, October 6, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Question 2: When was first Powerball drawing?

    This week's Lottery Trivia Question pertains to Powerball and is relatively simple.


    Our Trivia Question #2 is:
    • On what date was the first Powerball drawing held?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, October 12th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, October 5, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Answer #1

    Last week's first ever Lottery Trivia Question was:
    • Has any US State(s) ever been a member of both Mega Millions and Powerball? (Yes or No)
    • If Yes: Which one (or ones)? And when?
    Although no one ventured a guess, the Correct Answers are:
    • Yes, one state was a member of both Lotteries.
    • It was Georgia, who joined Powerball on July 1st 1995 and left on August 31st 1996 to join the the Mega Millions predecessor!
    Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 2nd Lottery Trivia Question posting!

    Thanks,

    JL.........

    Tuesday, September 29, 2009

    Lottery Trivia Challenge #1

    When lottery jackpots begin to climb, more and more people are tempted to buy a ticket. Tonight's Mega Millions jackpot is set at $88 million, and tomorrow's Powerball is nearly twice as large, $170 million.

    To help entertain the winning hopefuls (us included), we decided to begin a Lottery Trivia Challenge.

    Today's multi-part question is:
    • Has any US State(s) ever been a member of both Mega Millions and Powerball? (Yes or No)
    • If Yes: Which one (or ones)? And when?
    Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

    We will provide the correct answer next Monday, October 5th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

    Have Fun,

    JL.........

    Monday, September 14, 2009

    Reminder: Friday will be the last Super 7 drawing

    The last Canadian Super 7 Lottery drawing will be held this coming Friday, September 18, 2009, and all outstanding prizes will be awarded. The current jackpot is C$21 million. If it is not won, the jackpot prize pool will roll down to the lower tier prizes. And, all Free tickets will be cashed out for C$2.00 each.

    So make sure to play this final week, since higher prizes may be awarded to all lower tiers. You will have 1 year to redeem your prize winnings, so don't misplace your tickets.

    Then, beginning Saturday, the 19th, tickets for the newly launched Lotto Max will go on sale.

    Lottery Power Picks considers this Game to be "Super 7" format change, so we will maintain continuous coverage of this new Lottery including History, Hot/Cold Analysis, and more.

    Cheers & Good Luck to All,

    JL.............

    Friday, September 11, 2009

    Lotto Max Analysis - When to Play Guide

    Introduction
    Lotto Max is a new Friday night Canadian lottery being launched on Saturday, September 19, 2009. The game offers players the chance to win a Jackpot prize ranging from C$10 to C$50 million. And, once the jackpot reaches and exceeds C$50M, additional MAXMILLIONS drawings will be conducted for every additional C$1 Million above the C$50M cap. The single prize of these additional MAXMILLIONS drawings will be fixed at C$1 million. Like all other lotteries, a player must correctly match each of the white balls to win the Lotto Max or MAXMILLIONS jackpot (bonus balls are excluded).

    Lotto Max is essentially a Super 7 makeover with a slight format change.
    • Player required to select and match 7 white balls.
    • White balls increased from 47 to 49
    • Bonus ball prizes still awarded when matching 6 white or 3 white balls plus bonus ball
    • Minimum Jackpot C$10 million
    • Maximum Jackpot C$50 million
    • When Jackpot pool exceeds C$50M, additional MAXMILLIONS drawings will be conducted
    • Prize winning award structure same as Super 7
    • Most lower tier prizes are doubled in size.
    Wow, sounds Great! So what's the catch?

    The cost! Lotto Max tickets cost C$5 each for 3 combinations, This is 2 1/2 times more than Super 7. But, the Lotto Max organizers will argue, the minimum jackpot of C$10M is 4 times larger than the old Super 7 minimum.

    Considering the fact that the Jackpot and prizes increased, players must question:

    Should I really spend C$5 for 3 combinations?
    Or, should I stick with 649 or the regional lotteries?

    We found that the Correct Answer is:
    You Should Do Both
    depending on
    the sizes of the Lotto Max and competing jackpots.


    The following explains our advice.


    Lotto Max Basic Returns
    In Lotto Max, a player is required to pick 7 numbers from a set of 49 white balls. There are 85,900,584 combinations. The tickets are packaged as 3 selections for C$5, meaning a single combination costs C$1.666 each. Assuming a that all combinations are sold and there are no duplicates, a total of C$143,167,640 will be received. When the Jackpot is set at the advertised C$10 million minimum, Lotto Max will pay out C$49,723,431 back to the players. By dividing the the C$49.7M by C$143.2 received, we obtain a return of C$0.3473 per C$1 spent.

    When the Jackpot increases by C$1 million, the return to players will increase by C$0.00698. For example: when the jackpot is C$20M, the return is C$0.4172; and, when the jackpot is C$50M, the return is $0.6267.

    Even when Lotto Max goes into MAXMILLIONS mode, the return to the players remains linear. This is because return only compares money paid verses money received. Accordingly: when the jackpot is C$60M, the return is C$0.6966; and, when the jackpot is C$100M, the return is $0.9759.



    Visualizing Return
    It is often helpful to visualize the returns of various lotteries. The Graph LM-GR01 below illustrates the implied returns of Lotto Max, Lotto 649, and the Old Super 7.




    There are a few things to note from this graph:
    • the old Super 7 format always returned more money than the newly created Lotto Max
    • the increase in Lotto Max return is vary flat
    • the Lotto Max return intersects Lotto 649 at approximately C$2.5M


    Utilizing Return
    By understanding the implied return of various lotteries, we are able to utilize this linear function to compare different lotteries with varying formats. This can be done because return is always stated in a per $ basis.

    Lottery players in Canada who wish to win C$1 million or more have three choices. They can play:
    1. Lotto Max, with a minimum jackpot of C$10M
    2. Lotto 649, with a minimum jackpot of C$3M
    3. Provincial lottery, with a fixed jackpot of C$1M or C$2M depending on where they live
    Those who on limited budgets, or who wish to acheive the greatest possibility of winning should know which lottery offers the best return for their playing dollars.

    The illustrations below tell you when you should buy Lotto Max, Lotto 649, or the Regionals.


    Buy Lotto Max or Lotto 649?
    There are two difficulties when deciding whether to buy Lotto Max or Lotto 649 tickets
    1. The Jackpots sizes are vastly different magnitudes ( C$2.5M vs C$10.0M )
    2. The Jackpots of each vary
    The graph below identifies when you are better off buying Lotto Max or 649 tickets.



    Graph LM-GR02 shows Lotto Max (LM) jackpots ranging from C$10M to C$100M. Beneath these, are corresponding Lotto 649 (L649) jackpot levels. These thresholds should be used to determine which game to play.

    For example, assume that the Lotto Max jackpot is C$10M. If the Lotto 649 jackpot is below C$3.8M, then you should play Lotto Max; if 649 is above C$3.8M then play Lotto 649. (corrected)


    Buy Lotto Max or Regionals?
    A second choice Canadian lottery players have is whether it is better to buy Lotto Max tickets or their regional provincial game. In the Atlantic, Ontario, and Western 49 games, tickets only cost C$0.50 each but the jackpot is fixed at C$1 million. In British Columbia and Quebec, tickets sell for C$1.00 and the jackpots are fixed at C$2 million.

    However, because the populations are limited, the Canadian Lottery is more liberal with its income, and returns more of its intake back to the players.

    Compared to Lotto Max, the regionals are more attractive in all cases.




    For each of these, Graph LM-GR03 above illustrates the Jackpot level that Lotto Max must reach for the player to be indifferent to either game.

    As shown, players should purchase:
    • Atl 49 whenever Lotto Max is below $40.2M
    • BC49 whenever Lotto Max is below $31.8M
    • LQ49 whenever Lotto Max is below $31.8M
    • Ont49 whenever Lotto Max is below $28.6M
    • Wst49 whenever Lotto Max is below $53.9M
    We believe these these breakeven jackpot levels are sufficiently large enough for wise players to generally favor and play the regional game rather than Lotto Max.


    Buy Lotto 649 or Regionals?
    By comparison, Lotto 649 is a nationwide game whose format is nearly identical to the regionals. In all, the number of combinations are identical, fixed at 13,983,816.

    The main difference is that Lotto 649 jackpots can grow. By calculating the implied breakeven returns, we identify much lower Lotto 649 thresholds.



    The above Graph LM-GR04 shows the Jackpot level that Lotto 649 must reach for a player to be indifferent to either game.

    As shown, players should purchase:
    • Atl 49 whenever Lotto 649 is below $9.7M
    • BC49 whenever Lotto 649 is below $8.1M
    • LQ49 whenever Lotto 649 is below $8.1M
    • Ont49 whenever Lotto 649 is below $7.5M
    • Wst49 whenever Lotto 649 is below $12.4M
    We believe these these breakeven jackpot levels are sufficiently low enough for players to be continually interested in both games.


    What about the MAXMILLIONS Mode?
    One of the unique features of Lotto Max is its MAXMILLIONS mode. This kicks in whenever the Jackpot pool exceeds C$50M. When in effect, the Lotto Max jackpot becomes capped at $50M, and numerous MAXMILLIONS drawings will be conducted for a single prize of C$1 million each. This means that if the pool is C$60M, there will be 10 MAXMILLIONS drawings. If the pool is C$100M, there will be 50 MAXMILLIONS drawings.

    The advertised importance of this mode is that whenever the jackpot pool exceeds C$50M, there is a possibility of having many C$1 million winners and a large Lotto Max jackpot winner all at once.

    But as noted earlier, having more winners does not affect our return calculations.

    It does, however, lower the Odds or Changes of winning. But, this change in odds is so small, it can effectively be ignored :
    • Jackpot C$10-C$60M: Odds are 19.8031
    • Jackpot C$70-C$90M: Odds are 19.8030
    • Jackpot C$100-C$110M: Odds are 19.8029
    Notice that only the 4th decimal place varies, and that from C$10M to C$100M, your chances of winning any prize increase by only 2/10,000.


    Conclusion

    Whether you should buy and play the new Lotto Max lottery depends on your budget and willingness to play.

    Since the chances of winning any jackpot prize is extremely small, we believe players should always play the game that promises to offer the fairest return for your hard earned dollar.

    The above information provides you with the educational knowledge of making a sound decision. From this, we conclude that:

    Canadian Provincial Lotteries offer the best per dollar return,
    and

    Buy Lotto Max only when jackpots are high!


    Learn More
    To learn more about this subject, visit our in-depth pages that provide the detailed numbers behind each of these options.


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    Friday, September 4, 2009

    Stay Tuned - Our Lotto Max Analysis to be Published Next Week

    Tickets for the new Canadian Lotto Max lottery will go on sale beginning Saturday, September 19th 2009 and the first drawing will be held the following Friday (September 25th).

    This new lottery replaces Super 7 which will be retired after the Friday Sept 18 drawing.

    Essentially, Lotto Max is a weekly game nearly identical to Super 7. To win, the player must successfully match 7 balls. However, the major differences are that: the number of white balls increased to 49; jackpots begin at C$10 million; tickets cost C$5 for three; the jackpot is capped at C$50M; and above $C50M, additional MAXMILLION C$1 million drawings will be conducted for each million above the C$50M threshold.

    In the spirit of offering our players the most comprehensive information, we are preparing a new Blog Post comparing Lotto Max to the old Super 7 and Lotto 649. We believe this is important because the cost of tickets and the chances of actually winning have substantially increased.

    While many news releases are currently circulating about this new game, we have found little definitive opinions about whether you should or should not purchase tickets and play it.

    We anticipate publishing our analysis by the end of next week so stay tuned!

    JL........

    Monday, August 31, 2009

    Lottery Power Picks is Officially Three Years Old

    Tonight completes our full third year of service to you. During that time, our membership has grown from 0 to over 2500. While we haven't increased coverage of new lotteries during this past year, our average weekly subscription has more than doubled.

    Unfortunately during this time, we have had to cut back on our blog postings.

    But, we believe that our research into new web technologies is placing us in the forefront of lottery coverage.

    We look forward to our 4th year by developing new interactive pages similar to our Hot/Cold Analysis pages, and offering you new strategic options for selecting winning numbers.

    We thank you all for your dedicated membership and daily visiting. We continue to work for you and are sure that you will be as thrilled as we are when our new strategies are unveiled.

    Thanks again!

    JL.............

    Friday, August 21, 2009

    Our Upcoming 3rd Anniversary

    In less than 2 weeks, we will be celebrating our 3rd Anniversary of Lottery Power Picks

    During that time, our membership has grown and the number of combinations we recommended has climbed. Our content has expanded and we've experimented with new styles of Gui's and other packages.

    Many of our members have remained with us since we started on September 1st 2006 and we thank them immensely. Additionally, we continue to welcome all of our new lottery players who joined along the way because they are hoping to win the elusively large Jackpots offered.

    Look for our future posts around Sept 1st that will highlight many of our accomplishments.

    Thanks again for all your loyality and visit us often during the next few weeks so that we close out this year with record hits and begin our 4th year with a Jumbo Boom!

    JL.........

    Tuesday, August 18, 2009

    Goodbye Super 7, Hello LOTTO MAX

    Beginning Saturday, September 19 2009, tickets for the new Canadian multi-provincial game LOTTO MAX will go on sale. The first drawing for this new weekly game will be on Friday, September 25th. And, the minimum jackpot prize is C$10 million, but is capped at C$50 million. Above C$50M, seperate drawings for a single C$1 million prize will be conducted. This feature is called MAXMILLONS, and for every C$1M over C$50M, a seperate drawing will be held. That could be a lot of drawings!

    This new game replaces the existing Super 7 game held every Friday night, and it promises to payout bigger prizes.

    LOTTO MAX is very similar to Super 7 in that a player must correctly pick 7 white balls to win the jackpot. An eighth bonus ball is also drawn, and used for awarding 2nd (6 white+bonus) and 6th place (3 white+bonus) prizes.

    However, bigger prizes come with a price. In LOTTO MAX's case, its C$5 minimum per play. Yes, each player must purchase 3 combinations for C$5 each (which is 2 1/2 times the cost of the Super 7 tickets).

    Also, the number of white balls increases from 47 to 49, thus making it a bit harder to win.

    As for us, we are busy creating our statistical pages for this new lottery, and beginning to construct histories of the smaller and more affordable individual provincial lotteries (BC 49, Atlantic 49, etc)

    Since it is nearly identical to Super 7, we are simply considering it to be a Super 7 format and name changes for analytical purposes.

    JL..........

    Friday, July 31, 2009

    Introducing the Lottery Annuity Calculator

    We are pleased to announce the release of our new Lottery Annuity Calculator Gadget. This new product is available for your use directly on your iGoogle home page, your websites, or blogs.

    A screen shot is displayed below.

    Add to Google


    Add to Google

    As shown, the gadget is divided into two halves of information. The left side contains 4 editable fields, the:
    1. Jackpot Annuity Value
    2. Offered Cash Value
    3. Ratio of Cash to Annuity, and
    4. Implied Yield.
    Only two of the 4 may be entered for calculation. The Check Boxes next to the fields identify which value to use.

    Once you have entered your data, press the "Calc" button and all other information will be computed.

    At the right side of the screen, you will see the number of annuity payments that that will be made to the winner. Under it will be the amounts of the first and last payments.

    To add this gadget, simply press the

    Add to Google

    button here or above.

    We believe this new gadget will be a valuable tool to all lottery players, and especially those who are lucky enough to win! In addition, we welcome all Lottery providers to take advantage of this gadget when projecting future cash and annuity values.

    Tuesday, July 14, 2009

    Hot / Cold Lottery Number Frequency Distribution Analysis

    We are pleased to announce that we have completed the release of our

    Hot / Cold Analysis

    pages. In the past, many of you have searched for the:
    • Most frequently drawn lottery numbers;
    • Lottery number pattern analysis;
    • Which lottery numbers are most likely to be drawn
    • etc.
    This information is now available in one easy to understand source. For each of our 10 covered lotteries, these interactive pages identify which numbers are Hot and which are Cold by displaying their trends over time. You can see the high and low range counts, and the amount of Jackpot and other winnings that various subsets would have paid.

    As a easy reference, the pages may be accessed from the links below:
    Or, they can be reached by following the Lottery Combo Tables link on our Lottery Power Picks Home Page.

    Additionally, we have verified that these pages work well with both IE and Firefox browsers.

    Have Fun and Enjoy!

    JL......

    Tuesday, June 30, 2009

    Mega Millions Hot / Cold Analysis Released

    After more than 6 months of development, we are pleased to announce that we have released the first of our series of: Hot / Cold Analysis pages.

    The first is for Mega Millions, and can be found at the URL:


    Or, it can be reached from our Lottery Power Picks Home Page by following the links:

    Lottery Combo Tables (left menu),
    and then looking for the link above.

    We are excited about this analysis because:
    1. It will provide you with information that we (and others) had previously thought to be useless;
    2. This data is important to both the committed and casual lottery players;
    3. It is updated after each drawing;
    4. And lastly, it will give you an insight as to where our website will evolve.
    Unfortunately during this development time, we sacrificed updating the contents of this blog, but we thought it was worth it.

    Also: it only works with FireFox at this moment. But this will be corrected shortly.

    Check it out and let us know what you think. (And yes, we already know the page loads slowly).

    JL......

    Monday, May 11, 2009

    April 2009 Bimonthly Postponed

    During the past 3 months, we have been very busy modifying our website, participating in family obligations, and recovering from a 6-week illness.

    As a result, we have not had time to devote to preparing our planned April 2009 Bimonthly Article featuring a "Look back at the Powerball Lotteries Recent Changes". We continue to plan on writing this article and will publish it in June 2009. Looking at how the Annuity Jackpot and Implied Yields have risen in the past week or so, we believe this will be an informative article.

    Following that issue, we will present an: "Analysis of Hot/Cold Lottery Numbers" in August 2009.

    We look forward to completing these Posts in the upcoming months and your continued readership.

    JL..........

    Tuesday, April 14, 2009

    March Entrecard Droppers

    The following is the list of our Top Entrecard Visitors during the month of March 2009.

    Mar Top 10
    * A Simple Life31
    * * * Mommy's Little Corner31
    * Life's sweets and spices31
    * * * * BMWF1Blog31

    The Modern Mom31

    moms..... check nyo31

    Kids Toys30

    Traders' Hub29
    * * Anything Goes W/ Pahn29
    * Warcraft Blog28


    Note: The red asterisk indicates the number of
    continuous months
    this visitor was one of our Top Droppers




    Besides the above, we wish to
    Thank All of You
    for dropping in on us!


    Tuesday, March 17, 2009

    February Entrecard Droppers

    The following is the list of our Top Entrecard Visitors during the month of February 2009.

    Feb Top 10
    * * * My note's31

    Warcraft Blog31

    Life's A Pizza Pie31

    A Simple Life31
    * * Mommy's Little Corner31
    *
    Anything Goes W/ Pahn31

    Life's sweets and spices31
    * * * BMWF1Blog31

    Bingo Sites Online for Women31
    *
    my review31


    Note: The red asterisk indicates the number of
    continuous months
    this visitor was one of our Top Droppers




    Besides the above, we wish to
    Thank All of You
    for your continued support!


    Friday, February 27, 2009

    3 UK Lotto Oddities or Questioning Camelot

    Introduction
    We first began offering Lottery Power Picks to players of the UK Lotto in the beginning of January 2008. Since that time, we are astonished at the frequency of Jackpot winnings and how many winners are reported per drawing. So, we decided to investigate this topic to determine whether this is or could be true. In a world where extensive financial fraud is being discovered and shaking our global economies, we believe this is the time to determine whether the reporting of the UK Lotto results are:

    Too Good to be True?

    As being reported on the radio and televisions, investors and regulators often failed to be reasonable or cautious when seeing an opportunity. Would we call this Greed?

    Inflating the winning results of Lottery Drawings gives the impression that "everyone can win". Like the investors who have fallen for recent Ponzi Schemes, both UK and global residents may foolishly believe that they too can win, and will fall victim to ficticious reporting. In this scenerio, innocent people, not only the greedy, can easily be trapped into investing into something they believe is truthful.

    What We Found Were
    3 Distinct Oddities
    concerning
    the UK Lotto.


    This is the disturbing summary of our findings.

    The Facts
    After each drawing, we record the winning numbers, prizes, number of winners and locations provided by the Official Lottery Websites.

    Having reviewed and summarized this is information for the past 4 years, we find that the UK Lotto has averaged 81.75 winning drawings per year (out of 104-105) and that the number of winners reported on the UK Lotto Website each has increased each year, from 181 in 2005, 203 in 2006, 226 in 2007, to 246 in 2008 (see MerseyWorld). This represents a yearly average of 214 winners per year, or approximately 2.05 winners in each winning drawing. In addition, there have also been drawings with multiple winning tickets reported, the highest being 12 on one date. Combining the 6 eights, 2 nines, 4 tens, 2 elevens, and 1 twelve, there were 15 winning drawings that had 8 or more winners. This seems rather high.

    By comparison, the Canadian Lotto 649 has averaged about 48 winning drawings per year during the past 4 years. The number of those winners reported were: 63 in 2005, 73 in 2006, 69 in 2007, to 63 in 2008. For 649, the 4 year average was 67, around 1.4 in each winning drawing. Like the UK Lotto, there have also been drawings with multiple winning tickets reported, with highest being 5 on one occasion, and a few fours. Most duplicates were 2 or 3 tickets.

    Because the frequency of winners as well as the number of winners in the UK Lotto seems proportionally too large, we will examine additional information such as:
    • How many UK Lottery Tickets are sold
    • Population sizes of the United Kingdom
    • Camelot reportings of winners.
    to finalize our judgment in determining whether the UK Lotto reporting is truthful or fictitious.


    The UK Lotto Background
    The UK Lotto is part of the National Lottery, with drawings twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday. It is a 649 game, meaning players pick 6 numbers from 1 to 49 which they hope will match the numbers drawn. The game tickets costs £1 each.

    In order to win a prize, the player's numbers must match 3, 4, 5, or all 6 of those drawn. An additional bonus ball is also drawn, but it only counts if the player matchs 5 of the 6 numbers.


    Camelot
    Since 1994, all lotteries operated in the UK is licensed to Camelot, who was recently awarded a 10-year extension to operate the lottery National Lottery from 2009 to 2019.

    Besides operating the lottery, Camelot is responsible for reporting both their lottery drawing and financial results to the UK Government and the public.

    When reporting the lottery drawing results for each game, Camelot indicates the numbers drawn, the total amount of the jackpot, the number of winners, and the estimated jackpot for the next drawing. What it does not tell us is:
    • If the number of winners reported is the actual number of single tickets sold, or
    • If it is the total number of people who have a family or some other relationship with the ticket holder,
    • And where the winning tickets were sold.
    From the financial new bulletins, we learn that yearly lottery proceeds from April 1 2007 - March 31 2008 was £4,966.3m which consisted of £3856.7 from draw based games (Lotto, EuroMillions, Thunderball, etc).

    Semi-annual proceeds ending September 27 2008 (April-September) was £2,559.7m which consisted of £1,974.5m from draw based games (Lotto, EuroMillions, Thunderball, etc).


    Oddity #1: Underpayment to Good Causes

    Camelot Proceeds Distribution
    From various locations in the UK Lotto site and the individual Press Releases, we are informed that Camelot distributes the lottery money it receives as follows:
    • 5% of revenue taken for operating costs
    • 28% for Good Causes
    • 12% paid as lottery duty to the government
    • 50% returned to players in for form of cash payments
    • 5% paid to retailer vendors.
    As a test, lets verify the 28% amount of money paid to Good Causes. As stated, Camelot paid:
    However, if we do the math, the money that Camelot should have given to Good Causes:
    • £4,966.3m * 28% = 1,390.6 ( yearly)
    • £2,559.7m * 28% = 716.7 ( 6 months )
    Thus from the above, we find the amount underpaid, and that Camelot should have given Good Causes:
    • £38.8m more for the 2007-2008 year, meaning that only 27.2% was paid, not 28%, and
    • £27.5m more for the past 6 months, or 26.9% was paid, again not 28%.
    So where's the missing money?
    Who knows?

    We believe that £66.3m is a lot of money. The citizens of the United Kingdom should not be short-changed.


    Oddity #2: Inflating Number of Winners

    What about the Winners?
    Turning our attention to the number of winners reported, we have listed two drawing examples where the National Lottery reported multiple winners, when in fact, the Camelot Press Releases indicated that there was only one winning ticket sold.

    Example 1: In the Nov 15 2008 Drawing Lottery Results, Camelot reports that there were 2 winners who received £2,630,225 each. However, the National Lotto Press Release titled Stoke City Fans Score Lotto Jackpot Win describe the husband and wife who together won the £5,260,450 jackpot with one ticket. So in reality, there were not 2 winning tickets as stated, but only one.

    Example 2: The National Lottery reports that there were 2 winners in the Nov 19 2008 Lotto drawing and that each received £1,017,166. However, the Camelot Press Release Students Scoop Millionaire Status tell of a young couple who "buy one single Lotto every week". The pair indeed had the single winning lottery ticket which paid a £2,034,332 Jackpot Prize. So while 2 individuals split the winnings, there was only one winning ticket, not two.

    But not all individuals are featured by either Camelot or the National Lottery. Take for instance the two drawings:
    While both the results page indicated a large number of winners, we have not found 1 press release describing either drawing. In these cases, we do not know how many winning tickets were sold.

    Sometimes the National Lottery does not inflate the number of winning tickets. For example, the Winners Gallery features two winners for the 15th November 2008 drawing. One ticket holder is identified as the "Suffolk Lads and Lasses" and the second as Jackie and John Livesley". In this case, the National Lottery's Prize Breakdown for this drawing correctly lists the number of winners as two.

    So what can we conclude about the reporting of winners when looking at the National Lottery results?

    Basically, all we know is
    that at least one winning ticket
    was sold, that's it!

    From the information reported, there is no way for the public to know how many winning tickets were indeed sold.


    And What about the Frequency of Jackpot Winners?
    From our Lottery Power Picks site, we find that during the 4 years 2005-2008, the jackpot has been won in 327 of the 417 drawings held, which is 78.4% of the time.

    By comparison, the Canadian Lotto 649 has been won in 192 drawings of the 417 held. This equates to 46.0% of the time.

    By simply looking at the two percentages, one would think that the UK Lotto is won too often.

    But, after researching certain statistics, we believe that these numbers are reasonable that that there is probably no manipulation in the UK Lotto.

    We can rationalize the frequency of winners by comparing the differences between the Canadian and UK Lottos, where:
    • the UK Population is 60,943,912 (July 2008 est.)
    • and each UK Lotto ticket costs £1
    verses
    • the Canadian Population is 33,212,696 (July 2008 est.)
    • and each Canadian Lotto 649 ticket costs C$2.
    Since the Canadian population is approximately 1/2 of the UK, and because each Canadian ticket costs double the UK ticket, it is rational to conclude that More Tickets are sold in the UK per drawing, meaning:

    We would expect
    the winning Jackpot combination
    to be sold more often in the UK
    than in Canada.


    Since this is indeed the case, we believe that Camelot reports the existence of a winning correctly.


    Looking at Average UK Lotto Sales
    Since each UK ticket costs £1, the number of tickets sold and the amount of money received is identical. Thus, summarizing the estimated amounts of ticket sales provided on the MerseyWorld UK Lotto website, we learn the average number of tickets sold for:
    • Saturday drawings is £35.5m (for 2008: £33.7m; 2007: £33.7m, 2006: £36.2m; and 2005: £38.3m).
    • Wednesday drawings is £19.4m (for 2008: £18.6m; 2007: £18.6m, 2006: £19.3m; and 2005: £21.0m).
    Combining both the Saturday and Wednesday drawings, a total average number of tickets sold is £27.4m per drawing.

    What's important here is that the average sales for both the Saturday and Wednesday drawings exceed the absolute number of possible combinations, which is 13,983,816. For Saturdays, more than 2.5 times the number of combinations is played. On Wednesdays, slightly less than 1.4 times the combinations are played.

    Since all ticket sales exceed the available combinations, one would think that the winning combination would always be sold. But, this is not the case. Of the 52 available Saturdays drawings each year, there are 6 to 7 drawings which produce no winner. For Wednesday, approximately 22 drawings fail to produce a winner. This means that "a lot of duplicate tickets" are sold.

    While we don't have the information available, it would be interesting to know the breakdown between player and quick-pick selected numbers.


    Oddity #3: Underfunding Jackpots

    Prize Allocation Oddity
    The allocation of monies paid into to the players fund is also ambiguous. The National Lottery page How are the Prizes Calculated states that "at least 45% of the draw sales are allocated to the Prize Fund", and that "52% of the Pools Fund" is allocated to the Match 6 main numbers. Using these percenatages, we find that:
    • For average Saturday sales of £35.5m, £8.3 million would be allocated to the Match 6 prize.
    • For average Wednesday sales of £19.4m, £4.5 million would be allocated to the Match 6 prize.
    • And, for the combined drawing average sales of £27.5m, £6.4 million would be allocated to the Match 6 prize.
    However, this is not the case. Because we retain the announced prize offering for each drawing, it is possible for us to calculate the the average Jackpot actually being offered to the UK Lotto players.

    For the past 4 years,
    the average Jackpot was only £5.0 million.

    This is £1.4 million less per drawing
    than advertised by the rules!

    To further confuse the allocation, Camelot's Earnings Reports state that: "50% returned to players in for form of cash payments". Assuming that 52% of this amount is still allocated to the Jackpot price of Match 6, we calculate that: £9.2m is paid back on Saturdays; £5.0m on Wednesdays; and £7.1 paid on the average combined drawings.

    So, Who Should We Believe?
    Camelot or the National Lottery?

    These questions are hard to answer since they are both one in the same, and neither agrees with itself.

    In either case, we believe that
    Camelot failed to pay back
    the players approximately
    £146 million per year!


    Why do We Care?

    Concluding Remarks
    There are several reasons that we care about the misrepresentations stated by Camelot regarding the UK Lotto. We believe that:
    1. Governmental operators of all lotteries should properly and accurately disclose the conditions and distributions of the lottery proceeds.
    2. There should be no false advertising.
    3. Failure to fund or pay stated distributions, whether it be to the players or the Good Causes, is criminal.
    4. Inflating the number of winning tickets is not only misleading, but presents the pretext of Fraud. Players are given a false sense of opportunity when one does not exist.
    In addition to the above, the actions by Camelot should be examined by all players throughout the world. Remember, Camelot is proposing a new: World Lottery. Why should we ever want to give this organization money that they will never return!

    And, to Legislatures in the United States who are considering Privatizing their State Lotteries, we urge them to take a close look at the risks of Licensing their operations. There is a lot of money at stake, and we cannot simply "Trust" that the operator is doing the right thing. Monitoring these operations should be continuous and would be very expensive venture!



    Learn More
    To learn more about this subject, visit and explore the official sites from which we extracted much of our data.


    Focus for April 2009: A Look Back at the January '09 Powerball Changes



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    Monday, February 16, 2009

    January Entrecard Droppers

    The following is the list of our Top Entrecard Visitors during the month of January 2009.

    Jan Top 10
    * * My note's31
    * Gadget Spot31
    * Mommy's Little Corner31

    Anything Goes W/ Pahn
    31

    Retro Yakking31
    * * BMWF1Blog31

    my review31

    Basketball Daily31
    * moms..... check nyo31
    * iWalk,U2?30

    Note: The red asterisk indicates the number of previous months
    this visitor was a Top Dropper.


    And, Very Special Thanks to:

    Bingo Sites Online for Women

    for their extremely generous gift!


    Thank-you all once again!

    Tuesday, January 13, 2009

    December Entrecard Droppers

    We wish to thank all of our dedicated daily visitors and readers. In particular, we especially honor our Top 10 Entrecard droppers during the month of December 2008:


    December EC Dropper Awards

    A Simple Life31
    Mommy's Little Corner31
    Life's sweets and spices31
    Money Maker Times31
    BMWF1Blog31
    Bingo Games and Women CommunityBingo Games and Women Community31
    The Modern Mom31
    moms..... check nyo31
    My note's30
    Gadget Spot30

    Thanks again!
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