Lotto HotPicks Analysis to be Published Next Week

As part of our Lottery Wheeling Calculator development, we have been re-examining our various covered lotteries. To this extend, we discovered the UK Lotto HotPicks game which allows a player to simply select and play a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 digit combination. If their chosen numbers are present in the official UK Lotto drawing numbers, then the player wins £5, £40, £450, £7,000 or £130,000.

While this game features smaller prizes than the UK Lotto, it only costs the player  £1 per entry.

And, after reviewing our UK Lotto Hot Cold Number results, we believe that utilizing those numbers with this game could reward lottery players often with a positive cashflow.


The results of our analysis will be published on this blog by the end of next week, so remember to visit our site and learn more.

Estimating Probability of Back to Back Lottery Jackpot Winners Using the Poisson Distribution - Part 3

Part 3: Introduction
In our previous article, we provided an example of how the Poisson Distribution could be used to estimate the probability of multiple jackpot winners (Poisson Distribution Example of Use in Lotteries - Part 2). To carry the application of this statistical model forward, we will calculate the likelihood of there being back to back lottery jackpot winners in both Powerball and UK Lotto. We choose these two games because the frequency of winners in these two games vary immensely.

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Poisson Distribution Utilization Review
The Poisson Distribution is a tool used to predict the probability of a discreet event occurring. To use it, there must be a clearly defined observed set of outcomes. Those outcomes are summarized and described as a single average. The distribution of varying events therefore becomes a function of this average.

For example, assume that we wish to define the probability that we will observe 3 automobiles queued at a stop light. The traffic signal changes to red only once an hour. From our previous collection of data, we know that the average length of the queue is 4.8 cars per hour. Substituting these numbers into our Poisson equation, we find that there is a 15.2% chance that the following queue will contain 3  cars.

Now we shall apply these same principles to estimating the probability of a lottery jackpot being won two consecutive drawings in a row.

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Example 1: Estimating the Probability of Back to Back UK Lotto Jackpot Winners.
The UK Lotto is the national lottery of the United Kingdom. Since it is a 6/49 game, the approximate number of combinations is about 14 million. By U.S. standards, this is rather small. Being the country's primary game, the average drawing ticket sales range from approximately 14 to 32 million.

Since ticket sales meet or exceed the number of combinations, the UK Lotto jackpot is won on an average of every 1.283 drawings. To calculate the likelihood of there being successive jackpot winners, we must reduce this average by one (to 0.283), and solve for the 0 (zero) event. In effect, we do this to change from a one base to a zero base.

Solving, we find that there is a 75.4% chance that two UK Lotto jackpots will be won in two consecutive drawings. By comparison, we calculated that back to back winners occurred 77.9% of actual time.

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Example 2: Estimating the Probability of Back to Back Powerball Jackpot Winners.
By comparison, Powerball is one of two national lotteries of the United States. Its format requires players to correctly pick 5 of 59 white balls and 1 of 39 Power balls in order to win the jackpot. Expanding this out, we find that there are over 195 million possible combinations. Since this is so large, the jackpot is not won as often as the UK Lotto.

Summarizing Powerball drawing results from 2001 to present, we learn that there are approximately 8.95 drawings between jackpot winning draws. Converting this average to a zero base (7.95 average) and solving for the 0 event (back to back winners), we calculate that there is only a 0.04% chance that there the jackpot will be won in two sequential drawings.

By counting the actual number of times this has occurred in Powerball, we find this happened only 7 times since 2001, or 0.68% of the time.

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Conclusion
Comparing the expected probabilities derived from the Poisson distribution to the actual number of occurances, we conclude that the statistical results of back to back winners is a fairly good approximation of reality. While the Poisson distribution underestimates reality in both cases, we believe that the results obtained can be confidently used to predict these lottery events.

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Poisson Distribution Example of Use in Lotteries - Part 2

Part 2: Introduction
Last week we introduced the Poisson Distribution stating that it is used in statistics for quantifying the probabilities of discreet  random events. In our post Using Poisson Distribution to Understand Lottery Events - Part 1, we described its mathematical properties, formula, and variables. In this article, we will provide an example of how the Poisson Distribution can be used to help us understand events related to lotteries.

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Example: Estimating the Probability of Multiple Jackpot Winners.
In this example, we will estimate the the probability that there will be 0, 1, 2, ... 5 winning tickets in tonight's Mega Millions lottery drawing which offers an annuity jackpot of $84 million.

In order to do this, we must first calculate the "expected number of winners" as defined in How to Analyze the Lottery. There, we learn that we need 2 pieces of information:

1. The expected number of ticket sales, and
2. The total number of unique combinations.

Using Mega Millions Lottery Sales By State, we find that last Friday's ticket sales were 25.4 million when the jackpot was $72M. Using a simple proportion, we will expect tonight's tickets sales to be 29.6 million. Then, from our Lottery Power Picks website, we find that there are 175.7 million combinations. By dividing the expected number of ticket sales by the total number of available combinations, we calculate the "expected number of winners" to be 0.169. In Poisson Distribution terms, this number becomes the known mean, or constant variable r = 0.169

Next we construct a table where: the mean variable r remains constant; and the variable k (which represents the random number of winners) ranges from 0 to 5; and, the associated Poisson probability is solved as variable p(k).

r	k	p(k)
0.169	0	0.8445
0.169	1	0.1427
0.169	2	0.0121
0.169	3	0.0007
0.169	4	0.0000
0.169	5	0.0000

Thus reading our table, we learn that there is: an 84.45% chance that there will be no winners in tonight's Mega Millions drawing; a 14.27% chance that there will be one winner; a 1.21% chance that there will be 2 winners; a 0.07% chance that we will have 3 winning tickets; and virtually 0.0% chance that there will be four or more winners.

So, we'll look tomorrow at the Mega Millions drawing results to determine which of our random scenarios occurred.

Using Poisson Distribution to Understand Lottery Events - Part 1

Introduction
The Poisson Distribution is a statistical model used to project the probability of the occurrence of discreet events. Recently, we have discovered the use of this model in an article, How to Analyze the Lottery, by John Corbett and Charles Geyer. In it, the authors explain how a Cash/Annuity lottery works by evaluating the probability of single and multiple winners.

Based on their work, we have explored the potential use of this model to understand other lottery events.

Thus, to present this information, we are splitting this discussion into 3 parts:

• Part 1: Definition of the Poisson Distribution
• Part 2: Examples of Use
• Part 3: Comparison of Expected Probabilities Verses Actual Events

Today's article Presents Part 1 of our Analysis.

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Definition of the Poisson Distribution
The Poisson Distribution  is a statistical model that expresses the probability of a random event occurring in a fixed period of time when:

• The there is a known average of occurrences
• It is possible to count the number of times an event has occurred
• Each occurrence of an event is independent of the previous results
• Expected events (except the average) must be a whole positive integer

As a formula, the Poisson Distribution is written as:

Poisson Distribution

where:

k = the whole integer expected random event event

r = the known mean or average (often represented as lambda)

e = base of natural logarithm (2.718282)

p(k) = the solved Poisson Distribution probability of event "k"

Note that depending on the text referenced, the variables may be different, and the representation may be slightly different as well (showing the e^r term on the top as e^-r).

The graph below illustrates a sample Poisson Distribution. The vertical y axis shows the probability of an event happening. The horizontal x axis shows variable random occurrences. Note that the probabilities are skewed towards the left where the average occurs. Additionally, the horizontal axis is boundless. Meaning it must never have a discreet limit.

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Potential Uses in Lottery Analysis.
When analyzing the lottery, the Poisson Distribution has several applications. For example, we may use it to quantify the probabilities of:

• Multiple Winners in any Single Drawing, or
• The the Number of Drawings before a Jackpot is Won

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Next Week's Publication - Part 2
As stated above, this will be a three part series. Next week we will illustrate the use of the Poisson Distribution by showing how to estimate the number of winners and the interval between winning jackpot drawings.

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To Learn More, please visit:

• UMN: How to Analyze the Lottery
• UMN: The Poisson Distribution
• Stirling's Approximation for n!
• Wapedia Wiki: Factorial (1/2)
• UMass Statistics: The Poisson Distribution
• Intmath 13. The Poisson Probability Distribution

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Next Weeks Bimonthly Article Announcement - Poisson Distributions

I've been reading a lot about probabilities lately and have discovered a few great articles pertaining to Poisson Distribution.

So, I've started working on a post which will be titled:

Using Poisson Distribution to Understand Lottery Events

I thought this would be easy, but the more I've researched it, the more I am learning. So for now, I expect to have this complete and published next week.

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

Euro Millions Jackpot Set to €129 Million this Friday

Image by Ingvar_Sverrisson via Flickr

For the 7th time in its history, the EuroMillions Jackpot is above the €100 million level. However, this is not a record.

During 2006, the jackpot reached €180M twice before being won. These were the only times that the jackpot grew naturally from drawing to drawing. All others times the jackpot was artificially set as a bonus level amount.

Since '06, three €130 million jackpots were up for grabs. One was in September 2007 and shared by 3 winners. The other two were in 2008 and there were no winners of either of these.

The jackpot never reached €100M in 2009.

But this is the second time the jackpot was established at €129 million in 2010.

So, lets cross our fingers and hope that one of us wins the EuroMillions €129 Million jackpot this coming Friday.

Lottery Wheel Payout Calculator --- Coming Soon

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

With the completed development of our Hot Cold Lottery Number analysis pages and seeing their growing user visitation counts, six questions continually return to our minds. Specifically, we've wondered:

1. If I only play Hot Numbers, how many combinations must I play?
2. How much will these combinations cost?
3. How much will I win in total if I match 0, 1, 2, ... white balls?
4. If I repeat these combinations for a group of bonus balls (Megaball, Powerball, etc), how much will I spend?
5. And, how much will I win altogether?
6. Finally, if I adopt this type of strategy, should I buy the Powerplay, Megaplier, Sizzler option?

To answer these questions, we're creating a new wheeling payout calculator that will be custom tailored to each of our covered lotteries. This will be an interactive tool that will allow our users to change their assumptions and the implications immediately.

The benefit of this calculator is that any assumed set of wheeling numbers can be used, i.e. Even Odd, Divisible by 3, 4, 5 to 12, your own favorite set of numbers, prime numbers, etc.

Development has already begun and we're excited about the possibilities of its uses.  Hopefully, we will have it completed shortly and have it released within the next month.

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Expect to See Paired Numbers Every 1 in 3 Lottery Drawings

If you're a fanatical dreamer about winning a big lottery jackpot, there's no doubt that you have considered playing paired numbers as a strategy for winning.

By pairs, we mean a drawing sequence that contains at least 2 numbers in a row: 1-2, 2-3, ... 55-56.

And if you study drawing results, you will notice that these type of numbers patterns occur very often. In fact, during the past 26 Powerball and Mega Millions drawings, we find this happened 10 times in each lottery. This equals or 38.5% of the time.

However, when we calculate the combinatorial  number of occurrences, we learn that there are:

• 1,364,200 paired combinations in Mega Millions (35.7% of the population), and
• 1,697,080 paired combinations in Powerball (33.9% of the population)

Based on these numbers, we learn that it is definitely normal for us to expect to see paired numbers approximately once in every three drawings.

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

South Dakota and Delaware Spend the Most Per Capita on Lottery Tickets (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-13)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-13 was: 

Using the answers of our past two weeks, we can divide a States lottery ticket sales by its population to determine:

• Which States sell the most lottery tickets per capita?
• Which States sell the fewest lottery tickets per capita?
• Do you think sales are based on population alone?
• Or, are sales based on the desire of people wanting to win a jackpot prize?

To answer the above, we referred to the Lottery Sales and State population links in the previous posts, and found that:

• The top 5 States (1-5) that spend the most on lottery tickets per capita are: South Dakota, Delaware, Massachusetts,  New York, and Georgia. The next five (6-10) are: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio.
• The States spending the least on lottery tickets per capita are: Idaho, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, and North Carolina.
• Based on the results of these rankings, we clearly conclude that sales are not based on State populations. For example, South Dakota spends approximately $0.853 per person on lottery tickets, but it ranks in the bottom 5 States in population. Whereas, California, who has the largest population, only spends $0.097 per person on tickets. 
• Observing the above results, we realize that a State's overall desire to win a jackpot prize plays an important role in the amount of lottery tickets that are bought in a State. Desire to win is important in the top 5 States and others. For example, Vermont spends $0.170 per person verses $0.155 in Texas.

JL.....

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Are Lottery Sales Based on State Populations? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-13)

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lottery Sales in General.

Our Trivia Question #2010-13 is: 

Combining the trivia questions and answers of the past two weeks, we can now determine:

• Which States sell the most lottery tickets per capita?
• Which States sell the fewest lottery tickets per capita?
• Do you think sales are based on population alone?
• Or, are sales based on the desire of people wanting to win a jackpot prize?

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, August 30th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

JL.........

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California and Vermont Have Largest & Smallest Lottery Populations (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-12)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-12 was: 

To help us understand whether states with the largest populations sell the most lottery tickets, we need to identify various State populations. So, last week, we asked:

• Which lottery selling States have the largest population? (most amount of people)
• Which States have the smallest population? (the least amount of people)

Based on the 2009 revision of the WorldAtlas.com , we found that:

• The top 5 States (1-5) ranked by biggest Population are: California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. The next five (6-10) were: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina.
• And, the States with the fewest number of people (ranking 43-50) were: Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. (Note that since neither Alaska nor Wyoming sponsor a state lottery, we have expanded this list to include the bottom five states that do have a lottery). 

JL.....

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What States Have the Largest Population? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-12)

Image via Wikipedia

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lottery Sales in General.

Our Trivia Question #2010-12 is: 

Continuing with last weeks theme, we now wish to identify which Lottery States have the biggest and smallest population.  This will help to give us a better understanding of whether lottery sales are purely a function of demographics or desire to win. So, we ask:

• Which lottery selling States have the largest population? (most amount of people)
• Which States have the smallest population? (the least amount of people)

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, August 23st, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

JL.........

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New York Consistently Leads Yearly Lottery Sales (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-11)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-11 was: 

Since lottery income has become an important source of hidden tax revenue, more and more States have been under pressure to increase sales and generate income. But, we wondered if the income received is simply a function of the population of the State. To help understand this, we first asked ourselves to identify:

• What are the top 5 lottery revenue generating States? (those making the most money)
• What are the bottom 5 lottery revenue generating States? (those making the least money)

Based on information from Data360's 2006 Lottery Sales by State, we find the answers.

• In order of yearly sales, the top 5 Lottery Sales are in: New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, and California.  Near these are: Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Michigan.
• The bottom 5 States, i.e. those with the least Lottery sales are: Idaho, Nebraska, Vermont, Montana, and North Dakota (the lowest).

Data for these answers can be confirmed by visiting the NASPL Sales and Profits Page which summarizes sales for Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008 as well.

JL.....

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What States Sell the Most Lottery Tickets? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-11)

Image via Wikipedia

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lottery Sales in General.

Our Trivia Question #2010-11 is: 

Lottery sales has become an important revenue generator for most U.S. States. Obviously, we assume that the states with the largest population sell the most tickets and make the most amount of money. To determine whether this is true or not, we ask::

• What are the top 5 lottery revenue generating States? (those making the most money)
• What are the bottom 5 lottery revenue generating States? (those making the least money)

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, August 16st, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

JL.........

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Our New Template

Last week, after months of reviewing a variety of background images, we settled on Google's Template Designer Simple Template with the bookshelf background.

We chose this for a few reasons:

• The classic color scheme.
• The title font.
• The bookshelf background provides a collective series.
• We liked it.

While the look may be a bit more professional and classic, our articles will always be progressive and informative.  Playing the lottery with the intent of winning a jackpot requires research and strategies. We hope that our articles continue to inspire you and help you fulfill your dreams.

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Huge Disparity in California's Mega Million Payouts

Image via Wikipedia

In last Friday's Mega Millions drawing, nobody won the jackpot, but 4 separate tickets matched all five of the white balls and claimed the 2nd place price. Two tickets were sold in Illinois, 1 in New York, and 1 in California.

Typically, the payout for this prize level is $250,000. This is true in all states except California, which determines the prize levels on a pari-mutuel basis. So, while 3 of the 4 winners will each receive $250,000, the one winner in California will only get $182,348.

That's a difference of $67,652 or 27% less!

In theory, one can argue that pari-mutuel payouts are most beneficial to players. But, looking at the 9 different drawing results for the month of July 2010, seven paid out substantially less than $250K, and only two paid out more than $300K.  The highest allocation was $342.9K, but there were no winners that time, so nothing was paid out.

While California's calculation of payout may be correct, I believe that players in California who win big prizes actually lose a lot of money to the State. Remember, the State sets the prize breakdown and doesn't share the leftover money with the players. So one must ask the question:

Where Does the Mega Millions Money Really Go?

JL......

Lotto Max: Why Only 49 Maxmillions Drawings?

Introduction
The most attractive aspect of the Lotto Max game is the MAXMILLIONS feature which is triggered when the Jackpot pool exceeds the C$50 million cap. For each million above that level, a separate Maxmillions number is drawn, thus giving multiple players the opportunity to win (or share) additional C$1M prizes as well. Therefore, it is no wonder that Canadian lottery players flocked to the game the past few weeks. With the advertised prizes of:

C$50 Million + 55 Maxmillions

for the June 25, 2010 drawing, tickets were selling at an unprecedented pace.

However, you can imagine the disappointment players experienced when only 49 MAXMILLIONS results were posted.

What happened to the remaining 6 

advertised Maxmillions numbers?

This post examines this question and attempts to provide answers to the bewildered population.

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Why Disappointment?
When a product is advertised, the purchasing public expects the seller to truthful in the product description and trusts that the product will be delivered as described. The advertised June 25th Lotto Max prize offerings were C$50M + 55 Maxmillions. However, only 49 Maxmillions were delivered. That's a difference of C$6 million and represents a large amount of money.

Additionally, the missing 6 Maxmillions numbers represented the opportunity for 6 more players to win a million dollars. By not delivering as advertised, opportunities were lost and dreams denied.

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Money Was Available for 55 Maxmillions on June 25th
The table below summarizes the Lotto Max money raised and paid out during the previous cycle. As shown, the advertised jackpot began at C$10M on April 30th and continued to grow until the C$50M cap was reached on June 4th. Thereafter, the jackpot remained constant and estimated Maxmillions offerings appeared from June 11th onward. Below that are: the 7/7 jackpot prize carry over amounts; the current drawing 7/7 prize pool; and the 6/7+bonus prize pools. These three rows are added together to determine the actual amount of money available to be paid out in that drawing. From the cash available, jackpot and the net Maxmillions payouts are deducted, thus determining the 7/7 money pool to be carried forward to the next drawing.

Table LM-1: Lotto Max Cash Raised and Paid
	Drawing	4/30	5/7	5/14	5/21	5/28	6/4	6/11	6/18	6/25	7/2
Advertised	Jackpot	10.0	15.0	20.0	30.0	40.0	50.0	50.0	50.0	50.0	30.0
	Maxmillions	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	20.0	45.0	55.0	0.0
Carry Over	Jackpot	10.0	15.7	21.3	27.9	36.0	46.0	62.8	72.0	75.9	31.1
	7/7 Pool	5.7	5.6	6.3	8.1	10.0	17.8	24.3	33.9	34.2	n/a
	6/7+Bonus	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	n/a
Cash	Available	15.7	21.3	27.9	36.0	46.0	63.8	87.0	105.9	110.1	n/a
Paid	Jackpot	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	50.0	n/a
Offered	MaxMillions	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	5.0	27.0	45.0	49.0	0.0
Not Paid	MaxMillions	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.0	12.0	15.0	20.0	0.0
Carry Over	to Next Dwg	15.7	21.3	27.9	36.0	46.0	62.8	72.0	75.9	31.1	n/a

As shown, there was C$110.1 million available for Jackpot and Maxmillions winnings in the June 25th drawing. This amount exceeded the advertised C$50M+55 Maximillions by over C$5 million.

However, the Lotto Max organization reduced the Maxmillions drawings by C$6 million, even though money was available. This does not seem like a rational decision since it had previously increased the Maxmillions offerings in the June 4th and 11th (shown in red).

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Why was the Maxmillions Reduced?
Realizing that Lotto Max had money to payout the additional C$6 Maxmillions, we have theorized 4 possible reasons:

1. Computer Error: The Lotto Max Game Conditions state: "and ILC will cause, immediately after the Main Draw, at least as many series of seven numbers (being seven different numbers) to be drawn at random from among all numbers from 1 to 49 (each such series of seven numbers is a "Special Series") as there are tranches of $1,000,000 in ..."  Perhaps this statement was misunderstood and the program that selects the Maxmillions drawings was erroneously written to stop at 49 drawings.
2. Duplicate Numbers Selected: Continuing on the above quote, perhaps 55 Maxmillions drawings were generated, but 6 of those resulted in duplicate numbers, and were therefore rejected.
3. Inflate Jackpot for Next Drawing: Lotto Max tickets sell when the jackpot is higher. By reducing the number of Maxmillions offerings, the additional C$6 million was intentionally used to help begin the next drawing sequence at C$30 million.
4. Estimation Error: The Lotto Max organization has tried to explain that all jackpot offerings are estimates. When revenue does not perform as projected, the estimates need to be revised upward or downward. After a review the Table above, it seems unlikely that irrational estimates were forecast.

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Conclusion
Having summarized the past 9 jackpot drawings, and understanding the results, we remain convinced that Lotto Max should have delivered the full 55 MAXMILLIONS drawings as advertised throughout the week prior to the June 25th drawing. Not delivering as advertised, players may become reluctant to spend C$5 for a ticket because they have lost confidence in the Lotto Max organization.

However, we do not believe that Lotto Max acted maliciously, nor did it attempt to retain income as a hidden profit. All money collected has been allocated back to the players, but not in the sequence as expected.

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Reference
All information derived in this article were obtained from the Canadian Lottery sites:

• ILC Lotto Max Game Conditions
• How to Play Lotto Max 

Maxmillions Discrepancy to be Described Tomorrow.

Like many people, we have wondered why there were only 49 Maxmillions drawings in the last Lotto Max drawing when 55 were advertised. To help understand this discrepancy, we evaluated the all payout results since April 30th, when the jackpot offering began at C$10 million.

What we discovered is that all monies have been reallocated back to the players, but not as expected using the Official Lotto Max Game Conditions.

At present, we anticipate publishing our results on this blog tomorrow. In it we will explain how the jackpot has grown in comparison to the written rules.

We have observed a few instances of apparent prize payout misappropriations which we cannot explain. Similiarly, we theorized why the Maxmillions drawing stopped at 49 and why the next Jackpot offering is set at $30 million.

As you can understand, we are cautious in summarizing the past 9 drawing sequences. Thus, it is important to verify our results once again prior to distributing our conclusions.

Lotto Max Hysteria Continues

There was no Lotto Max $50 million jackpot winner in last week's drawing, so this Friday's June 25th Lotto Max jackpot is $50 million plus $55 Maxmillions.

That means 56 possible new millionaires!

And naturally, Lotto Max Mania continues to roll through the country.

Using the past two estimated ticket sales for this weeks projections, we expect:

• A 25% chance of no Jackpot winner again.
• Of the 55 Maxmillions drawings, about 13 will not have a winner, 6 will have three or more winners, 24 will have two winners, and 12 will have single winners.
• Nearly 200 million combinations will be sold.

Considering that there are only 604,800 seconds in seven days (the time between drawings), more than 300 combinations will be randomly generated each second. And knowing that most random number generators rely on a seed time to start, there is a good possibility that many of these numbers may be duplicates.

But who cares. With so many top prizes being offered, you've got to give it a try.

If you live in or around Canada,

Play Lotto Max Now.

We're crossing our fingers for you!

Prime Numbers for Use in Lotteries (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-10)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-10 was: 

Prime Numbers are a small subset of numbers that all lotteries contain. Helping to educate our lottery players about various strategies, we presented the following questions last week:

• What are Prime Numbers?
• How can they be used for playing the lottery?

A simple internet search yields the answers to these questions.

• Prime numbers are those numbers which are divisible only by themselves and 1. The common set that lottery players will recognize are: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, and 59. Note that the number one (1) is not a true prime number, we include it in this subset for lottery purposes only.
• Since the use of this subset limits the number of choices a lottery player can make, the number of possible combinations is also minimized. For Powerball, all 18 numbers are playable. In Mega Millions, only 17 are valid; and in 649 games, only 16 are permitted.
• Additionally all but the number two (2) are odd numbers. Thus players choosing this subset will be playing mostly all odd number or odd plus 1 even number.

In our opinion, these numbers are important because players can systematically reduce their playing number field with confidence in knowing that the numbers have more than random significance.

JL.....