Lottery Statistics

In lottery parlance, a Longshot is any lottery number that hasn’t hit in the last ten drawings. Most professional gamblers wouldn’t normally bet on a Longshot, but that is not so in the lottery. In the lottery, 25% to 40% of the winning numbers are Longshots. Therefore, you ignore them at your own peril.

On September 30, 2008, I wrote a post called, Lottery Statistics - The Amazing Race that rather emphatically made this point. I thought it would be nice to go back, almost a year, and see if the Longshot trends I identified then are still performing today. This post should go a long way in silencing the critics who claim these are just fleeting trends that you can’t count on.

The key to understanding the importance of including Longshots in your play list, is that most of the time you have absolutely no chance of winning the lottery jackpot if they are not included! A sobering thought. To prove to you that this is just a true today as it was a year ago, I’ll show you some THEN and NOW comparisons. Lottery statistics labeled THEN are from 9/30/08. Those labeled NOW are from 8/27/09

THEN - TX654 - Lotto Texas - On the average, it takes at least 1.82 Longshots to win the Lottery Jackpot. This is 30.3% of the winning numbers. In 92 drawings out of 100, it takes at least 1 Longshot to win the Lottery Jackpot.

NOW - TX654 - Lotto Texas - On the average, it takes at least 1.79 Longshots to win the Lottery Jackpot. This is 29.8% of the winning numbers. In 91 drawings out of 100, it takes at least 1 Longshot to win the Lottery Jackpot.

THEN - MM556 - MegaMillions - On the average, it takes at least 2.07 Longshots to win the Lottery Jackpot. This is 41.4% of the winning numbers. In 94 drawings out of 100, it takes at least 1 Longshot to win the Lottery Jackpot.

NOW - MM556 - MegaMillions - On the average, it takes at least 2.03 Longshots to win the Lottery Jackpot. This is 40.6% of the winning numbers. In 92 drawings out of 100, it takes at least 1 Longshot to win the Lottery Jackpot.

THEN - FL653 - Florida Lotto - On the average, it takes at least 1.80 Longshots to win the Lottery Jackpot. This is 30% of the winning numbers. In 90 drawings out of 100, it takes at least 1 Longshot to win the Lottery Jackpot.

NOW - FL653 - Florida Lotto - On the average, it takes at least 1.77 Longshots to win the Lottery Jackpot. This is 29.5% of the winning numbers. In 89 drawings out of 100, it takes at least 1 Longshot to win the Lottery Jackpot.

THEN - NY659 - New York Lotto - On the average, it takes at least 2.07 Longshots to win the Lottery Jackpot. This is 34.5% of the winning numbers. In 94 drawings out of 100, it takes at least 1 Longshot to win the Lottery Jackpot.

NOW - NY659 - New York Lotto - On the average, it takes at least 2.03 Longshots to win the Lottery Jackpot. This is 33.8% of the winning numbers. In 93 drawings out of 100, it takes at least 1 Longshot to win the Lottery Jackpot.

The obvious consistency of these trends over the last year with several lotteries substantiates what I’ve been saying. Lottery number patterns and trends are persistent; you can count on them. These, THEN and NOW comparisons should make believers out of all of you. If they don’t, then there is probably no hope for you. But, facts are facts and it is difficult to ignore them forever.

Tags: Longshots, Lottery Number Patterns, Lottery Predictions, Lottery Statistics by Professor Dolph
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Lottery Jackpots

In my last post, Lottery Jackpots - Don’t Bet on Tails #4, I showed examples of two lotteries whose Balanced Wager Scores are distributed exactly as I predicted they would; a Bell-Shaped Curve. So, to Improve Your Chances of Winning the Lottery, your Lottery Strategies should be: Don’t play wagers that are in the skirts of the graph. In other words, don’t play wagers whose Balance Game Scores fall to the extreme left or right on the graph. Don’t spend money on the skirts.

But, apparently not all of you are convinced yet. Two examples were not enough. It’s OK. I understand. So, here are three more examples. To satisfy the most people, I’ve selected the three of the most popular lotteries in the USA; the MM556 MegaMillions multi-state lottery, the NY659 New York Lotto and the FL653 Florida Lotto. Here they are.

MM556 Lottery

NY659 Lottery

FL653 Lottery

Again, as you can see, most of the winning numbers have fallen between values of 30 to 70. In future drawings, you can adjust these limits to suit your own tastes. Using this technique conservatively will Improve Your Chances of Winning the Lottery in nearly all lottery drawings and bring those Lottery Jackpots a little closer.

Tags: Lottery Jackpots by Professor Dolph
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Lottery Jackpots

Recently I’ve been discussing some basic Lottery Strategies that take advantage of a bell shaped curve of a lottery’s performance. I was hoping to stimulate some response but was surprised to see that, instead, I had created a controversy about Lottery Jackpots.

It makes my day when I see other lottery players getting excited about my favorite topic. Their passion for the lottery gets my juices flowing. But, in this case, for the sake of civility, a sanitized version of these complaints goes something like this:

The bell shaped curves are nice but Lottery Jackpots, the actual winning lottery numbers, don’t act like that!

Au contraire mon ami.

How can I put this nicely? Well, I can’t. Not only are my fellow lottery players wrong, they are wrong absolutely and across the board! ALL LOTTERIES, follow the bell shaped distribution, both in theory and, I state most emphatically, in practice. I hope that’s clear enough for everyone.

Now, you’re waiting for me to back it up. No problem. If you were sitting here with me at my computer, I would play one of my favorite games to make a point. I would say to you something like this: “I’m so confident in my position that I will let you pick any lottery at random. Then, I will use LONA™, the Lottery Number Advisor, to make my point.”

So, you choose the PowerBall 5/55 lottery. Here’s the graph of 280 drawings of the PB555 lottery. Notice the Lottery Jackpots, the actual winning lottery numbers, form a bell shaped curve just as theory predicts.

Not impressed? OK, pick another lottery. You choose the MegaMillions 5/56. Here’s the graph of 282 drawings of the MM556 lottery.

Are you a believer yet? No? OK, pick another lottery. You choose the Illinois Lotto 6/52. Here’s the graph of 264 drawings of the IL652 lottery.

We could play this game till the cows come home and the result will always be the same. In fact, I challenge anyone to show me an example of a lottery in the United States or Canada, where this isn’t true. Any takers?

So, where are all the Lottery Jackpots? They’re right inside of that bell shaped curve.

Tags: Lottery, Lottery Jackpots, Lottery Number Advisor, Lottery Strategies by Professor Dolph
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Lottery Strategies

As I said in my last post, Lottery Number Patterns and trends exist in all lotteries. All you have to do is look. But, not only are they there, they should be there. The fact that Lottery Number Patterns and trends exist should not be a surprise to anyone.

In probability theory there is a theorem called the Law of Large Numbers. It simply states that, as the number of sample or trials increase, the results will approach the expected mean or average value.

However, as the Wikipedia link above shows, in the short term, the average value can vary considerably from the expected value. That’s why in every lottery some numbers occur far more often than other number. For example, in the FL653 lottery, number 2 only hit 22 times while number 23 hit 42 times. In the OR648, number 16 hit only hit 23 times while number 19 hit 42 times. In the MegaMillions lottery, number 47 only hit 16 times while number 53 hit 36 times. Etc, etc.

How is it possible to find such wide variations in lottery number performance in EVERY LOTTERY? It’s possible because there haven’t been enough drawings yet for everything to average out; for all numbers to have occurred the same number of times. All lotteries are performing exactly as the Law of Large Numbers predicts they should. In the short term, wildly varying results. In the long term, all numbers will approach their expected mean or average value.

Again, the good news. The long term is hundreds of thousands of years. The short term is your lifetime.

So, Enjoy. Lottery Statistics show that those Lottery Number Patterns will be around for awhile.

LONA™ and I welcome your ideas and thoughts on anything lottery.

Tags: Lottery Number Patterns, Lottery Statistics, Lottery Strategies by Professor Dolph
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Lottery Tips The Results

I’m sure many of you are curious about the Lottery Tips I’ve been giving. Were they right on the money or more of the ‘out in left field’ variety. So, I’ve decided to go where no Lotto man or woman has gone before; way out on a Lotto limb.

I know, my competitors will think I’m nuts, but if you don’t believe in what you are doing, you’re in the wrong business. So, here goes. When Picking Lottery Numbers I’ll rank these Lottery Tips as Lotto Gold, Lotto Silver and Spit. Spit is Tips spelled backwards.

Remember, the Lottery Tips I have provided are only part of the story. For example, if one of my Lottery Tips provides three of the winning lottery numbers, other LONA™ Lottery Tools would probably provide the other three. So, if my first recommendation provides most of the winning lottery numbers, I’ve struck Lotto Gold! So, for scoring purposes:

• 4 or 5 correct picks/Pick 5                        5 or 6 correct picks/Pick 6                Lotto Gold
• 3 correct picks/Pick 5                               4 correct picks/Pick 6                       Lotto Silver
• Anything less/Pick 5                                  Anything less/Pick 6                          Spit

So, let’s have some fun.

The MegaMillions drawing was held on 8/29/08 and my Lottery Tip was:

• Cycle 32-41. Lotto Silver

The Powerball drawing was held on 8/30/08 and my Lottery Tip was:

• Cycle 17-26. Spit

The California Super Lotto Plus drawing was held on 8/30/08 and I gave two alternate recommendations.

• Cycle 1-10 Lotto Silver
• Cycle 5-14 Lotto Silver

If you want to know more about Cycles™, visit Lottery Predictions on the LONA™ website.

If you used any of these Lottery Tips, I would love to hear how you did.

Tags: Cycles™, Lottery Number Advisor, Lottery Predictions, Lottery Tips, Lottery Tools, Picking Lottery Numbers by Professor Dolph
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