As Expected, Powerball Draws All Even White Balls

In an earlier post written on Monday, March 8th, 2010, titled All Even White Powerball Numbers Are Overdue, we indicated that the likihood of all Even White Powerball numbers being drawn was overdue. This prediction was based on the mathematical probability that this type of combination should occur approximately 1.23 times every six months.

In slightly more than 4 weeks after we wrote this, the winning Powerball numbers on Wednesday April 07th were:  04 36 40 44 52 Powerball 33 and Powerplay 2x.

Yes indeed, all even white numbers were drawn. Slightly more remarkable, each of the numbers are also divisible by 4.

While we could not have known exactly when this event would occur, we were confident that the Powerball Lottery drawings truly do follow the laws of probability.

Had players followed this advice and limited their combinations, they would have increased their probability of winning a $150 million jackpot prize after only 9 subsequent drawings.


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

Why Lottery Winners Should NOT Take Cash Option? (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-06)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-06 was: 

When the lottery jackpots grow, many more players are tempted to try their luck in hopes of winning the huge jackpots. And typically, they ask the retail clerk who sells the lottery tickets for the "Cash" payout option which is much lower than the advertised jackpot. As we stand in line waiting to purchase our tickets, we often wonder:

• Why do most players take the Cash Option?, And,
• Why do the States want you to take the Cash?

While there is no "wrong" choice, we believe players are encouraged to accept the lower amounts, because:

• Most players do not understand what an Annuity means. Simply stated, an annuity is a continuous stream of annual cash payments. For Mega Millions, a player would get 26 equal payments. In Powerball, the player receives 30 payments which gradually grow in size.
• Today, the Powerball Annuity Jackpot is $125 million. A player who wins the jackpot would receive the first payment of about $2.23 million, and the last payment of $6.95 million.
• Whereas, the Cash Option payout is only $60 million, which is 48% of the Annuity jackpot.
• But players are afraid that if they die, they will lose the money.
• That's not true. The money will continue to be paid to their heirs until all is paid out.
• Next, players always think they can invest the cash option money in the stock market and make much more. But, the State lotteries are guaranteeing a return of $4.80% for the next 30 years. With interest rates so low, this is a great rate of return.
• Again, recent history has shown that fortunes were lost when the Stock Market tanked. If you're lucky enough to win the lottery, do you really want to lose it all?
• And lastly, we read story after story about Lottery winners who spent or invested all their money, and ended up with nothing.
• So to us, we think that all players should take the Annuity Option.
• The member states, however, do not want you to take the Annuity for two reasons: First, they will have to manage that money and make sure that you get your payments; and, Second, the are offering you almost $1 million less in Cash than you deserve. That means that they keep the money and help booster their revenues. 
• We think that this is a lot of money to lose. We'd rather have that money in our pockets rather than the State.
• So next time you buy a lottery ticket, tell them you: "Want the Annuity", and you won't be sorry. 

JL.....

Why Do States Want Lottery Winners to Take Cash? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-06)

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about Investing Lottery Winnings.

Our Trivia Question #2010-06 is: 

The lure of huge jackpots draws folks to play the lottery. But, most players opt to collect the Cash Prize rather than the Annuity. So we ask:

• Why do most players take the Cash Option?
• Why do the States want you to take the Cash?

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, April 5th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

Happy Easter!

JL.........

Optimal Lottery Mix of 3 Even and 2 Odd Balls is Best (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-05)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-05 was: 

In Mega Millions and Powerball, particular patterns of numbers tend to occur more frequently during certain periods of time.

• So, after a review the past 3 month results, is it possible to identify particular mix of odd and even numbers that outpaced the expected probabilities?

To this, the Correct Answer is: Absolutely YES! Here's why:

• In Mega Millions, there are an equal amount of 28 odd and even white balls. But, in the last 3 months, 3-even and 2-odd number combinations have been drawn 11 out of 26 times, although only 8 would be expected.
• Similarily in Powerball, the odd balls have a slight 30 to 29 even ball advantage.  But, in the last 3 months, the 3-even and 2-odd number combinations have been drawn 12 out of 26 times, although only 8 would be expected.
• From this, we can conclude that presently, the 3-even and 2-odd white ball combinations have a clear advantage.
• And, from this, we find that, presently, there is a short term bias toward the even numbers!

JL.........

What is the Optimal Mix of Odd & Even Numbers? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-05)

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about an Optimal Distribution of Numbers.

Our Trivia Question #2010-05 is: 

Given so many numbers to pick from, particular patterns of numbers tend to occur more frequently during certain periods of time.

• Reviewing the past 3 month, what is the best mix of odd and even numbers that outpaced the expected probabilities?

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, March 29th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

Have Fun,

JL.........

Lottery Numbers Are Not Always Equally Distributed Between Odd and Even (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-04)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-04 was: 

In most lotteries, you would think there is a 50% chance of Odd numbers and 50% chance of Even numbers being drawn.

• So, based on historical data, do actual drawing occurrences obey the expected laws of probability?

The Correct Answer is:

• It depends on the Lottery Game you are looking at.
• During the past year, the occurrences of an Odd Powerball being drawn are about 62.5% (or 5 out of 8), whereas only 51.3% are expected.
• And, if you play Mega Millions, odd Megaballs are also drawn more frequently then even ones.
• So when selecting the bonus balls in these 2 games, the odd numbered balls have the advantage.

JL.........

Are All Lottery Numbers Equally Distributed Between Odd and Even? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-04)

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about Lottery Number Distributions.

Our Trivia Question #2010-04 is: 

Many people like to play Even and Odd Lottery numbers. Based on probabilities, one would expect there to be a 50% chance of Odd numbers and 50% chance of Even numbers being drawn?

• So we ask: Based on historical data, do actual drawing occurrences obey the laws of probability?

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, March 15th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

Have Fun,

JL.........

All Even White Powerball Numbers Are Overdue

Reviewing our Poweball Even / Odd Analysis page, we observe that the chance of all Even white numbers being drawn is now overdue. As of this date, five white ball combinations have not been drawn during the past 6 months.  Based on probabilities, we would expect to see 1.23 occurrences during this period.

Thus, we conclude that this patten of numbers is now overdue and is a viable playing strategy offering a realistic chance of winning within the next few drawings.

With Wednesday's drawing at $170 million, we believe that our members should include at least one set of all even numbers in their playing portfolio of tickets.

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

Slight Changes to Our Hot & Cold Lottery Pages Coming Soon

Our recently released Hot / Cold Lottery number pages have been extremely successful. Looking at our visitor statistics, we find that these pages have continually grown.

To help visitors visualize how these numbers have performed during the past few drawings, we will be making slight modifications to our pages.

At present, we sequentially list the hot & cold numbers in the upper right panel on the page.

This will be replaced by a Tabbed Panel containing the color coded last 6 results, and tables of: hot numbers only, cold only, and both hot and cold numbers.

We expect to release this modification in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned and visit often!

A When to Buy Mega Millions or Powerball Guide

Introduction
On January 31st 2010, sales of Powerball and Mega Millions expanded into each other's jurisdictions. No longer are States classified as either one lottery or another. Now, players in most States have the opportunity to buy both games.

This cross-selling is great for players when the Jackpots are high and for the hard-core lottery players. But what about the regular or occasional player on a limited budget? Now they are faced with three important questions:

• Which Lottery is Better to Buy?
• Should I Buy the Powerplay or Megaplier Option?
• Can I Afford It?
  

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Whats' the Problem?
Initially when players could only buy one game, it was easy to set a budget. In most of the old Mega Millions states, folks could spend $5 per game, or $10 per week, or $520 per year. Those in Texas had the option of spending $1 extra per ticket to buy the Megaplier. For them, their budget would be $1,040 per year.

Similarily, everyone in the Powerball states could choose whether to buy an individual ticket or one with the Powerplay Option. But, they too could maintain a budget of $520 - $1,040 per year.

But now, the games are doubled, and so is the yearly expenditure. While we don't know if people can afford to spend $2,080 per year on the big prize lotteries, we expect that this is a lot of money for them. To us, this is a big problem.

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Difficult Choices
In previous articles and published webpages, we introduced the concept of Jackpot return. This number indicates how much money a lottery will pay out in prizes verses how much was collected.

Each lottery, and variation thereof, has it's own Jackpot return. This number increases linearly as the Jackpot grows. Thus, it is easy to calculate the implied breakeven of the Megaplier and Powerplay Options. And from this, we can recommend whether to buy these options or not.

However, when multiple games are compared, it becomes difficult to decipher one's choices.

Graph MMPB-GR01 below illustrates the Jackpot Returns for Powerball and Mega Millions, and their associated Powerplay and Megaplier Options. As seen, all of these returns appear to intersect at points where the Jackpots are somewhere between $47 and $65 million.






Addtionally, the Mega Millions and Powerball Jackpots do not move in parallel. Mega Millions may be $40M, and Powerball only $20M. So, what should one do?

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What to Buy Matrix
To help simplify this information we have created a "What to Buy Matrix" below. The data is organized horizontally by the Powerball Jackpot ranging from $20-$300 million.  Vertically is the Mega Millions Jackpots, with values for $12 to $300 million.

The cells are color-coded.
The light blue indicates that you should buy the Powerplay Opton;
The dark blue indicates that you should buy the Powerball Only;
The light red (pink) indicates that you should buy the Megaplier Opton;
The dark red indicates that you should buy the Mega Millions Only;

MM JP	Powerball Jackpot
	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
12	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
20	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
30	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
40	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
50	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
60	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
70	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
80	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
90	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
100	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
125	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
150	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
175	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
200	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
250	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300
300	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	125	150	175	200	250	300

The table assumes that a player is willing to buy the Powerplay or Megaplier Option. But, the player will only buy one lottery or another.

To read the table, you can locate the row with the Mega Millions Jackpot. Then, read across the columns to the current Powerball jackpot. If the intersecting cell is: red, then buy Mega Millions; blue, buy Powerball; pink, Megaplier; or light blue, Powerplay.

Returning to the example above when the Mega Millions is $40M, and Powerball only $20M, a player should buy Mega Millions with the Megaplier Option!

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Summary
In the beginning of this article, we raised three questions.

• Which Lottery is Better to Buy?
• Should I Buy the Powerplay or Megaplier Option?
• Can I Afford It?
  

We believe the first two are answered in the "What to Buy Matrix", which tells you which lottery is better to buy, and if you should buy the Megaplier or Powerplay option.

The "Can You Afford It" answer is really up to you. Our recommendation is that those on limited budgets should only buy one lottery or the other.  The matrix above indicates which lottery you should buy, and if you should buy the Powerplay or Megaplier Options.

Since these options are only recommended when the Powerball & Mega Millions jackpots are $50 million or under, we believe that it is not necessary to buy these all the time. This means that your budget will not substantially increase, and that Most Can Afford It!

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Let Us Know
We hope this information is helpful to everyone. During the past month, we have followed this advice, and we hope that you will as well!

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

Even & Odd Lottery Number Frequency Distribution Analysis for Mega Millions + Powerball

We we have begun to release our new statistical

Even / Odd Analysis

pages. Currently this information is available only for Powerball and Mega Millions, but we will be adding the other lotteries that we cover.

You can access these pages at the following links:

• Mega Million Even/Odd Frequency Analysis
• Powerball Even/Odd Frequency Analysis

We have seen that many visitors are looking for this type of information, so our new pages summarize the:

• Most frequently drawn lottery even and odd subsets ( 5 even; 4even 1 odd; 3 even 2 odd; etc. )
• Lottery number pattern analysis, showing which subsets are hot or cold;
• Probability graphs of results.
• Possible payouts.
• etc.

In addition, they can be reached by following the Lottery Combo Tables link on our Lottery Power Picks Home Page.

Progress, a little step at a time!

JL......

Go for the $107M Powerball Jackpot & Skip the Powerplay

Tickets for Powerball and Mega Millions began selling on January 31, 2010 in many new States.

Since the Mega Millions jackpot of $144M was won by a Texas player last Saturday, the jackpot has been reset to the $12M minimum.

Powerball, however, was not won and the jackpot for Wednesday's drawing is $107M.

At these levels, Powerball has the clear advantage. Those on limited budgets, or who are hoping to "hit it big", need to buy Powerball. Forget the Powerplay Option for now. If you want to double up, then buy more tickets and shoot for the jackpot prize.

Since we are still working on our "When to Play Guide", we wanted to give our members & visitors a bit of encouragement for tomorrow night's Powerball drawing, and give the above advice.

Stay tuned for  next weeks update, because we believe we will have completed the Guide!

Good Luck to All!

JL.......

Coming Soon - A When to Play Mega Millions or Powerball Guide

States will begin cross-selling tickets for Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries on January 31, 2010.

To help players on limited budgets decide which game to purchase, we are preparing a "When to Play Guide". It will present a break-even table illustrating which lottery returns the most to the public and offers the best return for your dollars.

In addition, it will discuss the Megaplier and Power Play options, and let you know if and when you should buy them.

We expect to publish this new report early next week, so stay tuned!

France Has Won EuroMillions More Than Any Other Country (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-03)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-03 was: 

Since the EuroMillions lottery began in 2004, there have been 140 drawings in which the jackpot was won.

• Which country has sold a jackpot winning ticket nearly 30% of the time?
• What countries have never produced a jackpot winner?

The Correct Answer is:

• Of the 140 winning EuroMillions drawings, France has won 41 times, or 29.3% of the time.
  
• This is followed by Spain (33 times), and Portugal (31 times)
• Luxembourg and the Isle of Man has never sold a winning EuroMillions ticket.

JL.........

Who Sells the Most Winning EuroMillions Tickets? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-03)

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about the EuroMillions Lottery.

Our Trivia Question #2010-03 is: 

Since the EuroMillions lottery began in 2004, there have been 140 drawings in which the jackpot was won. (corrected).

• Which country has sold a jackpot winning ticket nearly 30% of the time?
• What countries have never produced a jackpot winner?

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, January 25th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

Have Fun,

JL.........

Lottery Expansion Begins Jan 31 for Powerball & Mega Millions (Answer to Question 2010-03)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-02 was: 

A deal was struck last October allowing Powerball and Mega Millions States to sell both lotteries.

• When will States begin cross-selling tickets to both lotteries?
• Will there be any format changes to the games?

Who Sells the Most Winning EuroMillions Tickets? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-03)

The Correct Answer is:

• Many of the Mega Millions states will begin selling Powerball tickets on January 31, 2010.
• Similarily, many Powerball states will add Mega Millions on January 31, 2010 as well.
• NO, there will NOT be any format changes to either game when sales reach expands.
• Because of this, many expect that the Jackpots will be won more frequently.
• For example, in both 2008 and 2009, the jackpot was won 13 times out of 105 and 104 drawings.
• Of the 105 Powerball drawings in 2008, there were 11 winners; and, in 2009, there were 12 winners of the 104 drawings.
  

Make sure to check with your State to find out if and when Lottery sales of both games will begin.

Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 3nd  Lottery Trivia Question for 2010!

JL.........

When Will Powerball States Begin Selling Mega Millions? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-02)

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

Our Trivia Question #2010-02 is: 

A deal was struck last October allowing Powerball and Mega Millions States to sell both lotteries.

• When will States begin cross-selling tickets to both lotteries?
• Will there be any format changes to the games?

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, January 18th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

Have Fun,

JL.........

Lottery Trivia: Super 7 Replaced Pennsylvania's Match 6 (Answer to Question 2010-01)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-01 was: 

In March 2009, the Pennsylvania Lottery retired its Match 6 Game.

• What new lottery game replaced Match 6?
• What is the format of this new game?
• What are the chances of winning?

The Correct Answer is:

• The Game Super 7 replaced Match 6 in Pennsylvania
• In this format, the player selects 7 out of 77 numbers
• However, 11 numbers are drawn (thus making this a Keno type lottery)
  
• If a player matches 7 of the 11 numbers, the player wins the Jackpot
• The changes of winning the jackpot are 1 in 7,287,298
  

Remember to check-in tomorrow to read our 2nd  Lottery Trivia Question for 2010!

JL.........

What Game Replaced Pennsylvania Match 6? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-01)

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about the Pennsylvania Lottery.

Our Trivia Question #2010-01 is: 

In March 2009, the Pennsylvania Lottery retired its Match 6 Game.

• What new lottery game replaced Match 6?
• What is the format of this new game?
• What are the chances of winning?
  

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, January 11th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

Have Fun,

JL.........

Lotto Trivia Series to Continue

Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday January 5, 2010, we will resume weekly publication of our popular Lottery Trivia Series.

This will be our second series and will test your knowledge of Lottery terms and various game formats.

Questions will be published every Tuesday, and the correct answers will be posted the following Monday.

We hope this series will bring a little warmth to the frigid Winter months many of us are experiencing in States across America!