Lottery Number Patterns: Analyzing Results Reveals The Unusual

Analyzing lottery results and patterns

[Q] “I’ve been analyzing all my past lottery results over the years and whilst I know these things are supposed to be random, there are lottery number patterns.

Some numbers have definitely been drawn more often than others, and some have definitely appeared in the jackpot combination more than others. Should I play those numbers?”

[A] You’re absolutely right. Patterns do appear when you analyze lottery results.

The important thing is knowing which patterns in lottery numbers are useful. And which patterns are nothing more than distractions.

Is the Lottery Random or Is There a Pattern?

The annoying thing is random lottery numbers can sometimes make patterns!

Do you remember rolling a dice at school and charting the results? You tallied up each number as it was rolled, and then drew a little bar graph of the results. And the graph made pretty much a straight line. Proving that all the numbers had the same chance of being rolled.

Or did it..?

Actually your graph was pretty wonky – oh yes it was!

But don’t take offense, I’m sure you drew your results graph just as well as I did. 😉

Because all of our graphs were actually pretty wonky. And wonky in different ways too. Some had rolled 1 more often, some had rolled 6 more often. Everybody was different.

If we put all our results together and drew one graph for all of them. Then we’d have a smoother line. But even then, still not perfectly straight.

We all get caught up in what we think we learned about ‘averages’.

But the fact is if you take any set of past results from any lottery for any period in time, you will find the same thing. Some results appear more or less often than others – a wonky graph.

And that’s because annoyingly this is exactly the sort of result that is entirely normal for a random process. If this were not possible it would not be random (huh?, maybe read that sentence again 😉 ).

How Random Are Lottery Numbers?

With true randomness if you repeat the ‘test’ enough times then every possible set of results would happen. Not just every possible combination. But every possible series of results (different wonky graphs). So everything. From never winning a single thing on the lottery. To hitting the jackpot every single draw for your whole life!

Now mechanical lottery machines are designed to be pretty darn random (technical term 😉 ).

But they are not ‘true random number generators’. That means they are not ‘perfect’. They are simply considered good enough for the job by the lottery companies.

So there is some potential that certain numbers have been drawn more often than others for a good reason. Proving this however is practically impossible. Because the difference would be very small, and there isn’t enough draw history to prove it either way.

So is there a pattern to the lottery?

Yes and no.

Patterns will always show up the more you analyze the results.

But that doesn’t mean they are really there. Just because the current state of play is ‘less likely than the true average’ does not prove there is anything unusual going on.

The weak point in the chain here is actually our brains – they love to see patterns in randomness. That’s the nature of our brains, we just can’t help trying to make a nice comfortable order out of things.

And when we’re analyzing numbers then we’re even worse!

How To Study Lottery Patterns

So the bottom line of all this what are winning lottery number patterns?

And that’s not as easy to determine as you might think. Because, as we’ve covered, random does weird things anyway.

You have to start with ‘does this make sense’. Why would something in the real world (not in your spreadsheet!) make that pattern happen?

Then you have to think about whether that pattern means anything useful in terms of your chances of winning something. Yes, there may be more possible combinations that meet a certain pattern. But this doesn’t matter when you don’t win anything for matching the pattern – you have to match the actual numbers drawn to win, not the pattern they make.

We get into this kind of thing (and a whole lot more) in my Lottery Strategy Group. It’s not for everyone as you need to be willing to throw away a lot of things you thought you knew about playing the lottery. As sadly there’s definitely a whole lot more bad information out there than good.

Read More:-

Predicting Lottery Numbers From Past Draws

Are Winning Lottery Numbers Repeated?

Is the Lottery Really Random or Is There a Pattern?

120 Comments so far ↓

  • Joe Nader

    There are over 8 million different combos for 6 numbers out of 45 numbers. All these 8million combos can be labelled as patterns. For example, all 6 numbers are odd/even, 5 odds and 1 even, 4 odds and 2 evens… etc. If we call these patterns, then there are hundreds of thousands of pattern 4 odds and 2 evens, similarly, there are hundreds of thousands of pattern 5 odds and 1 even.

    Which pattern to choose? Just stick to one type of pattern and play and cross fingers that one day the pattern you have chosen is going to be drawn? If your pattern which you have chosen is drawn, which 6 number combo of this type of pattern will it be? Remember there are hundreds of thousands of 6number combo of the type of pattern you have chosen.

    Conclusion: yes there are patterns but which pattern is going to be drawn say next week, we do not know!

  • Robert

    Was wondering if you still read these comments.

  • Bravo

    The raw way to play lottery is very simple but most people won’t accept it. We all see lottery as a difficult game but the best way to approach it is very simple and raw, all you need is to find ways to prepare your own numbers, arrange them logically and play the same number. No perfect system other than that. I’m not replying this to anyone but giving this as the best method to everyone. Wish you all good luck.

  • Julie

    Then how can Richard Lustig and others claim to have unlocked the Lottery Code?

    • LG

      Richard has won a lot less than you think (details are here). For example, most of us wouldn’t consider a prize worth $3,594 to be a jackpot or major prize… yet he counts it as one of his ‘7’. He also isn’t claiming any wins since 2010. So the reality is a vague shadow of the hype 🙂

  • Joe

    Hey LG,

    I came across your blog, by looking to verify my theory that lotto is random and one cannot look for patterns. It’s a really good blog.

    Then I have read your recent comment:

    “There is some wiggle room in this (the post is 9 years old!) – this is all true assuming a perfect random draw. Whether it is possible to operate a perfect random draw, and degrees of randomness is a whole other debate though.”

    and it threw me a bit off-balance. So, what are you saying now, that after 9 years of research – you came with the idea that the lotto is not a 100% random? Previously, you talk about the machines with tight tolerances, the temperature in the studio, the passing truck vibration, etc, etc, which as far as I understood – just add more noise to the already random drawing of the balls.

    Could you please, elaborate on your comment?

    • LG

      Hey Joe

      Sure – simply that creating a mechanical machine that is ‘100% guaranteed random’ is pretty much impossible. Mainly because even proving it is impossible! How many draws would you have to run to prove beyond doubt that it was perfectly random (and how long would that take… and could running that many draws introduce a bias from wear and tear… etc etc).

      But don’t think I’m taking a u-turn here, I’m really not 🙂

      By wiggle room I just mean that the lottery company consider their machines ‘random enough’. It’s theoretically possible that there is some mechanical bias there. But anyone who claims to have PROVEN it is talking nonsense, because 1. it’s never going to be big enough to be proven, and 2. you’re never going to have enough data to prove it anyway.

  • Joe

    Past numbers are useful. You can check to see if you happen to have chosen a previous number set. What are the odds of the exact same number being drawn twice.

    • LG

      In pure math terms – exactly the same chance as any other combination being drawn.

      Just like when you roll a dice. If you roll a 6, what are the odds of getting a 6 again? Still 1 in 6 isn’t it 🙂

      • Greg

        Yes, but the chances of getting 2 sixes in a row are 1/6 x 1/6 or 1 in 36 however I think that’s called “the gambler’s fallacy” or something like that. So whilst each roll is independent of the previous rolls the chances of a specific sequence is small?

      • LG

        Yes, but the chances of any specific sequence are small. 6 and 6, 1 and 6 or 1 and 3. They’re all 1/6 x 1/6.

        It depends on what you’re calculating. The odds for the next roll, or the next two rolls.

      • Greg

        Further to your comment about the chances of any specific sequence being low, I agree, and tried a small experiment by generating a column of random numbers (integers in range 1-6) in LibreOffice Calc and got the following results: number of times 6 was followed immediately by another 6 was 31 or on average 1 in 32.258 times which given the small size of the sample is “close enough” to the 1 in 36 expected then I modified it to check how often any number was followed by the same number and that occurred 161 times or 1 in 6.211 times which, funnily enough, is pretty close to the 1 in 6 chance for any specific number to be drawn which bears out LG’s earlier comment!

  • Aristillus

    It is important to understand that no one, and I really do mean ‘no one’ can design or come up with a system that can predict what numbers will be drawn, even factors of probability cannot be used to draw particular conclusions as to which numbers will be drawn.
    Every new draw holds the same probability value for each number. The only issue is that the probability of drawing a particular number increases with each drawn number.
    So for instance, you have six numbers picked and paid for towards the next lottery draw. Prior to the first number being drawn by the machine in a lottery that draws 6 main numbers and a 7th ball as a ‘bonus ball’, all numbers have the same probability value. So if the lottery is 6 from 49, the probability value for each number that could be drawn first is, remarkably enough, 1 in 49.
    When the first of the 7 numbers is drawn, the probability value for the next number becomes 1 in 48, and for the third drawn number it is 1 in 47, whilst the fourth is 1 in 46, the 5th is 1 in 45, the 6th is 1 in 44, and finally the 7th ball (as bonus ball) is 1 in 43. You cannot summarise a probability value that can score a target number to be draw so that one would pick it. Patterns of probability only emerge after the event, and with lotteries, they cannot and should not be used to try and identify numbers that might be drawn in the next round. Past results are not affective on present or next round of number drawings.
    With each round of new drawings, all probabilities reset to null values. Play the lottery for fun only, and never expect to win, only expect someone to win, and if you are very lucky, it might be you, but don’t count on it.

    • LG

      There is some wiggle room in this (the post is 9 years old!) – this is all true assuming a perfect random draw. Whether it is possible to operate a perfect random draw, and degrees of randomness is a whole other debate though.

  • Steve

    Do you know what I get the whole maths thing and can’t argue with it logically so I won’t try. I’m not sure though I believe it is truly random in fact I don’t think anything is, random that is. There has to be something influencing things, what, I don’t know. I haven’t checked this so Here’s a random comment to sit directly opposed to your NOT random lottery! The Number 13 I bet that’s languishing near the bottom of the list in the most drawn number stats in the majority of lotteries around the world. I hope to god I’m right as this goes against everything my normally logical brain is telling me and deserve all the slating that I’m going to get. If I’m wrong I’ll return with a sensible answer.

    • LG

      There’s no reason why no. 13 would be drawn any less than anything else just because it’s no. 13 – after all, what could possibly influence that? (If you swapped the numbers on ball 13 and ball 7 would that then change the effect..?)

      But maybe you meant picked by players less often? Although if you’re thinking ‘unlucky’ number therefore it gets picked less, you also have to consider which countries lottery you’re playing because the concept of lucky numbers varies greatly depending on your culture. In Russia odd numbers are considered lucky, in Italy 13 is a lucky number. In China not only is 13 not recognized as unlucky, but 7 is also seen as unlucky!

      There are also a lot of people who pick 13 because it is considered unlucky by many in the belief that therefore nobody plays it. 🙂

      • Greg

        From a purely statistical point of view, there is no reason that in a fair game any one number should be picked on average much more or less than any other number (although there will always be a “spread” called the bell curve after a few draws). However there is a psychological phenomena that I like to call “the new car” syndrome which is that when you acquire a vehicle no matter how different it might be from popular choices, it suddenly seems like there are a lot more of the same make and model out there and I guess that it’s because you NOTICE them more since it has meaning for you, the same with favourite/lucky numbers you pay more attention when they are drawn?

  • Danilo

    I understand your point that there might not be a significant pattern in balls being drawn as they all are equal. However, please remember that balls are labeled and arranged in x ways every time due to ball sets. In addition, at least in FL Fantasy 5, the chamber on the machine blows each ball at 400 cu/m and balls weigh 2 grams. With this setup in mind, don’t you think that a pattern is definitely possible? As speed, weight and ball sets are constant. The only thing that is manipulated and we all know is the prior “testing” to a game being drawn. I’ve been tracking this specific game for ten months now and have found that at least twice or three times a month a pattern of three out of five numbers will repeat itself. The goal here is to know when that specific pattern will play again and play all possible combinations for the two missing numbers which in this case is about 600 numbers. I dont spend my money every day but I do analyze this game on a daily basis. Oh and let’s not forget that d/t=v and so does v/t=d and so on. In short, for the Fantasy Five I do see a pattern that I am working on figuring out.

    • Danilo

      If the world revolves around the sun every 365 days and this pattern still continues. Then in my opinion, I have no doubt that lottery games have the same laws applied. For instance, if you look back at games played in the 1990’s when the Fantasy 5 was 5/26, amazingly you will find that many times winning numbers repeated. Then, ever since the game odds were increased I still have not seen five numbers repeat itself. But have surely seen 3 out 5 repeat itself very often.

      • LG

        But the earth doesn’t have 35 other planets all colliding into it multiple times per second. So it’s orbit is fairly reliable 🙂

  • Pascal

    I believe in past result for a clue simply because past result can give you a particular pattern to stick to. All syndicates operators must build their system on a pattern that has won a jackpot before from the past results. The same theory is used by Wall Street gurus ie charts, graphs etc. I have a clue for EuroMillions but we will need at least 100 people to win the jackpot every month. Yes I mean it.

  • Larry

    I was just reading this on patterns. I’ve developed some code utilizing Excel and the past drawing numbers. I play mainly Texas Two Step and Powerball. I win Many small pots at least 6 times a month includIng $7, $100 and $10,000 so…, IMHO they paint a pretty picture.

    • LG

      Hey Larry

      But it doesn’t paint the whole picture though.

      Last year a woman bought her first ever lottery ticket and won $1m on Powerball. If she said she used a spreadsheet to pick her numbers, would that mean she had a working system..?

      I know that’s an extreme example. But the point is, you can’t say your spreadsheet makes any difference unless you prove there is some statistical significance to the results.

      We’re easily drawn into placing extra significance on wins, but without the full picture I can only congratulate you on your luck – not your spreadsheet 🙂

      For fun, why not also play the same number of quick picks alongside your spreadsheet based selections, and see how they compare? You don’t have to buy them, you can always just play them on paper.

    • Jl1358

      Similar to Larry’s original post what about strategies that focus on small wins and not the jackpot. In IL the local game plays twice a day by selecting 5/45. Selecting 5 of the 5 winning numbers of course gets you the jackpot. But getting 3 out of 5 gets you $15. if you look at this from a roi perspective say we could spend $10 to make $15. Sounds like a great return. This means we’d have ten chances to successfully pick 3 winning numbers and still get a 50% return. Has anyone tried to develop strategies to grind out small winnings consistently overtime?

      • LG

        If you could guarantee turning $10 into $15, then you’d spend as many $10 as you had every single time. But I get what you mean 🙂

        It sounds like you’re describing wheeling systems. A well designed wheel will be optimised for certain conditional win guarantees. I recommend Bluskov’s book here for wheeling systems. Just forget anything you may have been told about wheeling – it’s typically vastly overhyped, but it is still useful.

  • Brian

    Most of what you say is true. However, the past results do ,indeed, have something useful for us. Personally, I’ve been doing so with great success. In fact, if we didn’t rely on past draws then we would have very little to go on. Therefore, we have to .

    • LG

      Sorry Brian but in all my years I’ve never seen anyone prove any value in past results for prediction.

      People often think they have ‘something’ but it always turns out to be either 1. they don’t know how to identify a significant result, or 2. they have convinced themselves that ‘it works sometimes’ which is just luck at play (and points to 1. again!).

      Of course you may have something different… But in reality it’s totally logical that past results cannot help – it is the way the game is supposed to be by design. And any potential bias is so small and changeable itself that it’s totally untrackable in reality.

  • Doug Boseman

    I had a theory about the balls with more paint on them being either more likely or less likely to come up or out (are the machines designed to account 4 weight) if not random is out of the question. Every edge is a lot of help add them all together and I have won the jackpot! What took yall so long to even discuss this?

    • LG

      Hey Doug,

      It would be great if we could rely on factors like this to give us even the tiniest edge :-).

      But lottery companies have machines and balls built to very tight tolerances. They monitor and audit them. And they change/repair them without notifying us. You can even argue that heavier balls would wear faster and therefore end up losing any bias over time..!

      Then there’s all the changeable factors we can’t even begin to monitor.

      I’d love to join the ‘believers’, but (significantly) none of them have ever been able to prove any bias has given them an edge. And I just don’t love playing with spreadsheets enough to join them for the fun of it 😉

  • Cynthia

    We must also take into account that before the official numbers are drawn the machine is checked for accuracy at least 3-4 times so you may have had the winning numbers in those draws. Just didnt count.

    • Twentyonefeet

      How would doing drawings test for accuracy? Accuracy in what? You throw some balls in the machine, let it run long enough to mix em’ up, and then hit the button to let the balls pop out. And running it “3-4 times” sounds like it’s fixed for a particular result. Of course, I would not be surprised to learn there are little tiny electro-magnets in each ball that can be activated remotely.

  • Jon

    I don’t know why the odds of hitting the jackpot are set at 1 in 175,711,536 ? That seems to be way too high and contradicts the n! principle of available combinations. Why is it not 1 in 21,085,384,320 as given by 56x55x54x53x52x46 ? I’m not interested in just hitting any winning number, but just that one jackpot number. Either case, a person’s chances of taking all the vacuum cleaner bag’s dust, compressing it infinitely, and creating their own little Universe is better than hitting the lottery. However, if one is not holding a number, then the odds are |O|,

  • Chris H

    Maybe the balls were meant to be designed the same way, but some are slightly heavier than each other and that alters the results because nobody can make a perfect copy, there is always a flaw in the second or third and so forth.

    • LG

      That’s certainly possible. Although they are going to be made to very fine tolerances, and checked regularly. But that’s just 1 of many, many tiny factors that could affect a draw. And a lot of those factors are not static either, they change over time – e.g. a slightly heavier ball will wear more quickly. Then there’s the temperature of the studio, the speed the draw machine motors are running, vibrations from a passing truck, and so on.

      Add all those external factors into the mix and things just get even more random.

  • Keen

    What a debate, Lottery Guy? Ever wondered since it’s so random why 3 or more persons never won, except they pool play & at no given time nowhere in the world the machine didn’t pick a number that a lot of persons had? Food 4 thought.

    • LG

      Hmm, it’s actually not strange really. A typical 6/49 game, for example, has over 13 MILLION different combinations – so the chances of lots of people picking the same combination is pretty tiny. Some combinations don’t even get picked once, which is why sometimes nobody wins and you get a rollover draw.

      So it’s really not surprising that most of the time the jackpot is only won by one person, or just a few people. Unless a very ‘popular’ combination of numbers is drawn, and then you tend to get greater number of winners. A good reason to avoid picking too many popular or ‘lucky’ numbers 🙂

      • RC

        Well there is an explanation for that! If the numbers are smaller they are picked by lots of people. As some people think that their birthday is a Good Number (Less then 31) and month (less than 12) and total of the birth year (1934 = 1+9+3+4 =17=7+1=8) and other things. If all the nos are on the higher side, chances of anyone winning is actually small! This pattern is how people think while choosing the no, and not the pattern for machine drawing it!

      • LG

        Exactly RC – and that’s an example of what I call popular combinations. Along with lucky numbers and various other patterns people like to use.

        Just for clarity. This doesn’t change the chances of a particular combination being drawn or not drawn. It just affects the likelihood of how many people have actually picked it.

  • Simon

    The numbers are repeating randomly. If we eliminate that then we come up with real numbers.
    If you are interested you may send 15 days draws for California Fantasy Five. I will send you the analysis of what will happen next and each avenue you take at least to have three numbers in each column.
    In California Fantasy Five we have 39 balls, and we need to choose 5 numbers from it.
    In the basket most researcher in prediction never take out numbers or balls from the basket. In real the cube or the balls in the basket get less and less in dimension. Then the chances are big two or three numbers come together, just like magic. It is like you take your blood test and analysis. This is nuclear engineering in my graduate schools.
    If you interested you may send the first prediction is free, but after that it will be $50 for each request.
    The random numbers have pattern if we do certain filtration. I have studied Fuzzy math for 14 years.
    I am an abnormal data mine researcher. I am looking for investor too.
    All answers to the prediction will be by fax.

    • LG

      Are you serious Simon..?

      You’re honestly telling us you can reliably predict the results, yet you want $50 from everybody…

      (Did you happen to read my post, or comments here?)

      • Simon

        you do not understand the way I do things
        nobody beleives ,even the super scientists
        just listen ,see my results
        I do predict scientifically
        what you have to lose to test me.?

      • LG

        There’s a very good reason nobody believes you.

  • Tyler

    Lottery Guy I completely agree with your argument. I think anyone who doesn’t agree just is just simply not thinking how the machine works. Not that I know much about how they work but I do know when you see a drawing all the balls bouncing around there is no way anyone can predict which ball will fall through the hole and in which sequence (unless some balls were weighted which of course is not legal)

    Lets say you were to graph lottery results (and I am sure someone on the Internet has). You may find a pattern in say 100 lottery results but the more trials performed the closer your graph will become a straight line (not any number more likely to occur than the next).

    I am kind of ashamed to say that I stumbled upon this site because I was trying to find my own patterns in recent lottery results. I now feel like an idiot 🙁 but then thought of statistics class back in high school and working with a random number generator and graphing the results of a die.

    Thank you lottery guy for opening my eyes before I waste my time finding patterns that aren’t there. I haven’t subscribed to your lottery tips but my personal tip to anyone that reads this… JUST GET A QUICK PICK! 75% of lottery winners come from quick picks. You cannot beat statistics.
    Thanks again 🙂

    • LG

      Hey Tyler,

      Yup. And you’re right, there’s not much wrong with a quick pick 🙂

      People often get obsessed with picking numbers, and then totally miss out all the big picture strategy stuff – like choosing the right game for them to start with! Virtually none of the trashy lottery systems out there even begin to cover this stuff. That’s why I’m putting together my own strategy group. You can’t pick numbers more likely to win, but there’s plenty you can do before you even reach for a playslip.

  • W Rogers

    Lets say that in a 6/45 game I have noticed in the past 2 years, 1 year, 6 months & 3 months that there are more 3/3 combinations of odd/even draws. Couple that with the fact that 72% of the drawings have total sums between 100-200. I wold say that forgettin the numbers painted on the balls there is a more likely than not that these facts will repeat Therefore I feel that using this in some selection strategy my increase my chances by a small amout.

    Picture the ocean being a giant pool of numbers. And the fish that swim in them are just numbers. If i randomly pick a place to fish and I catch more barracuda than say papio and bonefish I can reasonably expect to catch a barracuda the next 10 times out as compared to the other species. Probably a bad analogy but what I am tryin to alude to is that i may not be able to catch the correct sequence BUT I can reasonbly expect to catch a certain ratio of one to the other

    • LG

      Yup, bad analogy :-). There’s a reason certain breeds of fish hang around certain areas – so it’s not a random process.

      Forgetting there are numbers painted on the balls is probably the best way to understand why none of these patterns have any value in trying to predict results. Balls fall out of the machine randomly, by design. They don’t remember whose turn it is to come out. They don’t remember to make sure they add up to certain sums or averages. They don’t know who is odd or who is even.

      Any ‘trends’ you see are just passing patterns in a random series of results. Which are of no use at all in predicting what comes next. If you roll a dice enough times eventually you will get 3 sixes in a row – but it doesn’t tell you anything useful.

      I know everybody wants to believe differently, but that’s just the way it is by design, and by law. Nobody has ever successfully predicted a lottery result and they never will. Not in a legal lottery anyway 🙂

    • Rigon

      I understand exactly what you’re saying and where you are coming from W Rogers. The only reason why the Lottery Guy would have a difficult time with it is because if what we were saying was true then of course, he’d have to see the winnings to believe it. The one main reason why I couldn’t prove it to him is because I simply just don’t have the money to purchase a large sum of tickets on the theory you and I have. Our theory would work most excellent with people who pool their money to play. I’ll agree this much with the LG, it is random, but you can’t deny that certain patterns of odd/even numbers do appear more often than others throughout the year.

      • LG

        Patterns will always appear in historical results – but that’s just what random does. Those patterns won’t help you predict future results.

        If you roll a dice enough times you will get a series of the same number 5 times in a row, but it doesn’t mean that number is suddenly any more or less likely than anything else on the next roll.

        I’m going to talk about this kind of thing a lot more in my upcoming private strategy group – shhh… it’s a secret for now… 😉

  • Kim

    I do have a couple more questions for you lottery guy. How in the world did you become the lottery guy? Is this how you make your living or is it a hobby? Just wondering.
    I also wanted to get your thoughts on something else, so I guess it’s not a question. I saw an interview with Sylvia Brown the psychic and she was asked if she can be used by the police to find missing people or predict upcoming doom, why she can’t win the lottery and her answer is it wouldn’t be fair to use her powers that way. I say she made an ass out of herself, what do you think?

    • LG

      1. I got really hacked off at the amount of ‘lottery system’ garbage being peddled online by er, ‘people of low morals’ shall we say, as well as the amount of misinformation being spread usually by well meaning but misguided individuals (and often the media too!). So this site was born. A lone voice of reason in a wilderness of garbage and shady product claims :-). It’s an obsession. Guilty as charged.

      2. Absolutely. It’s the same claim all psychics rely on (don’t get me started on psychics…). It’s like a bad magician – it only works if you don’t look too closely.

  • Tiz

    True say…? randomness / predictability. However the brain has discovered many things:

    Pythagoras discovered his ‘theorem’, Albert Einstein – ‘E=MC2’, Paul Dirac – ‘antimatter’, James Watson and Francis Crick – ‘the structure of DNA’.

    Naturally then whether it is colour, shape or number a system is waiting to be found to forecast the next draw.

    • LG

      That’s just plain daft Tiz. Those things have nothing to do with being able to predict the lottery or any other random event.

      The lottery is random because that’s how it’s been designed. It’s meant to be random and unpredictable – that’s the whole point.

      To put it another way. If in a parallel impossible universe someone did find a way to predict the lottery, they would immediately cancel the game. Because not only is a predictable lottery illegal, it’s also totally pointless. What, everybody buys the prediction system, and we split the jackpot between a few million people every week??

      There is no system to predict lottery results because it simply cannot exist – ‘the brain’ designed it to be that way!

  • Rigon

    I disagree with this statement.

    “So the real question here is not which numbers to play as a result of all this analysis, but whether the past results have anything useful to reveal to us in the first place. And the fact is, they don’t.”

    The past history does tell us alot. You just haven’t seen it yet.

    • LG

      You’re entitled to disagree – but you’re wrong 🙂

      There is simply no reason at all that past draws would, could or should tell you anything useful about what numbers will appear for any future draw.

      If it were any different that would mean the draw is not random. Which would mean the operators were running an illegal lottery. Lotteries are required to be fair by law. Are you claiming to have spotted something that the lottery company with all it’s staff, analysts and auditors have missed..?

      There is no way any lottery company would want even the slightest possibility that their draw could be predictable and therefore not random. Those high paid lottery execs really don’t like the idea of being sent to prison!

      • Rigon

        What I’m saying is that history does help in making somewhat of an educated pick when it comes to patterns not just looking at most hit numbers. It’s still a random draw and your odds are much better than just gathering up a few most hit numbers and hope they all come out. To say that history doesn’t tell us anything is not accurate. When tornados made their way through ” tornado valley” it didn’t get it’s name because a few of them just happen to roll in within a few weeks. History told us this is where tornados roll through. The weather pattern throughout the years made weathermen psychic or maybe not.

      • LG

        And what I’m saying is you’re actually wrong, 100% :-). And it’s a very common misconception (that most of the junk lottery system sellers rely on!).

        Thing is, you simply can’t have it both ways – the lottery cannot be random and slightly predictable at the same time!

        There is nothing in the past results that tells you anything about what comes next. Any patterns you see are pure illusions in a sea of randomness, and are useless for predicting anything.

        This is not a weather system!

      • Kim

        I think everyone has some very valid and interesting points. This is really a subject that keeps the mind sharp! To determine the infinite number of ways these numbers are picked truly makes the lottery about more than money, and an interesting debate.
        Thanks for all the opinions. I really enjoy them.

      • LG

        We certainly get interesting opinions which I fully welcome – but that doesn’t necessarily make them valid 🙂

        Opinions are great, I love an open debate. But nobody can deny certain facts just because they prefer to believe otherwise (such as the fact the lottery is random and unpredictable).

        You can claim the moon is made of cheese all you like, but unless you provide a slice of moon cheese to prove it, you’re just a crazy voice in the wilderness. No matter how many crazies are out there with you… howling at the cheese moon 🙂

      • Dr Chris Rane

        I think its plausible that we are affecting the results, like anything else in life on a quantum level when you observe something it changes, we cannot either prove or disprove that our though affect our reality as we cannot prove that something is right or wrong its only correct within standing parameters, and whomever defined the parameters before that, the difference between a philosophy and science is that you can test science; but only on our established level of understanding – if you take into account the fact that we have established our entire scientific system on 6% of the universe the other94% being dark matter and dark energy, I think its not an unreasonable statement for Rigon to say you haven’t seen it yet; more so its arrogant of you to proclaim that he’s wrong when no one can technically be right or wrong when nothing is concretely defined as it never will be, everything is just theory based on predetermined “facts”

        Thanks

      • LG

        Yes ‘Dr Chris’, I’ve often noticed that when I observe grass it looks green, when everyone knows it’s really purple.

        Now must look up that Quantum Predictor function in Excel…

      • Dr Chris Rane

        Maybe you should read a few books by Oliver Sacks then, and maybe learn about Synesthesia, as clearly everyone perceives everything the same way.

      • LG

        Thanks ‘Doc’ but I’m aware of synaesthesia. It’s a fascinating condition, and makes a great documentary. But I don’t see the relevance.

        Personal perception doesn’t change whether the numbers on your lottery ticket match what came out of the draw machine. They either do or they don’t. You won’t get far trying to argue any differently with the lottery claims office.

      • Kim

        I asked a question on Dec 22nd regarding a Powerball ticket and it has ended up in a debate that has taken a few ugly turns. As of now it appears that Lottery Guy and the Doc are in a debate, and given I am not the slightest bit interested in this debate, I will say that Lottery Guy, though you got on my nerves you do make far more sense than Doc (see I can be nice). Having said that. It’s been fun, but I am bowing out!
        Good luck and happy debating!

      • LG

        Thanks. I think 😉

    • Kaptin

      Rigon, you do not understand what the term “random” really means. Go to University. Take a statistics course. Read a book.

  • Kim

    I bought a mega millions QUICK PICK in arizona, the numbers were as follows, in this order. 21 22 23 24 25 mega plier 26
    What are the odds of a computer doing that number sequence?

    • LG

      Well believe it or not, the odds are exactly the same as the computer spitting out any other combination!

      Or in other words 1 in 175,711,536. Which is also the odds of winning Mega Millions of course. (Because the quick pick machine is really just doing it’s own mini lottery draw to produce your ticket).

      You see, it’s only us humans who place any significance in numbers being in sequential order (or multiples of another number, or all evens or odds etc etc). To a computer, they’re just different symbols. They could just as well be shapes, or colors.

      It looks and feels really significant, but mathematically it really isn’t. Weird huh.

      • Kim

        Thanks for the info. Like I said to Mr. 11 I was curious enough about the odds or lack there of, to toss it until I knew. Just a “point to ponder” I suppose. Thanks for the feedback! 🙂

  • Mr. 11

    Lottery Guy is 100% right. The chance of drawing 1,2,3,4,5,6 is just as random as drawing say 8, 11, 17, 26, 29, 43. Reason being is that it does not rely on the previous draws since it is completely random. Take coin tossing for example. Of course it is not 50/50 out of 10 times tossed. Sometimes I will get 2 head and 8 tails, 6 heads and 4 tails, etc.

  • Dave

    “Randomness” occurs in clusters and averages catch-up when behind. I see this happen all the time. I agree with your big picture long-term view of lottery randomness, however, my life-time compared to the lottery’s life-time will be very short. Playing randomness clusters and chasing numbers that are behind averages helps to hit a few numbers in order to break even until I hit the big one, if that ever occurs.

    • LG

      But you can’t predict when a ‘cluster’ has ended, or when the averages are going to ‘catch-up’ :-).

      So you’re just back to randomness again.

      • Dave

        False, you can predict. If a number has been out for an abnormal number of drawing, say 30+, when it does hit, it most likely will hit again within a few drawing. If not, then once it hits again, it will come alive and begin its cycle to catch-up the average. I’ve seen this and used it many, many times, hitting the number.

        Also, look at most of your Pick 5 lotteries. How many times do you see numbers that repeated in the previous drawing or skip one drawing? Lots.

        I know you belittle “pretty patterns” as a means to hit the lottery and suggest that the same chance of success can be achieved playing random numbers, but I can assure you identifying abnormal variances or occurrences is not less successful than choosing random number. After all, your random picks may happen to follow another’s pretty pattern pick. To each his own.

      • LG

        But Dave, your definition here is so general that it lets you see what you want to see.

        What is an abnormal number of draws for a number not to appear? 30+? What about 20..? Then you have a rule for if it hits, it will hit again. But it’s only ‘likely’ and within a ‘few’ draws. But it’s ‘likely’ that any number will appear within a ‘few’ draws.

        If you’re only looking for something on occasions where you’ve determined it’s significant, then sometimes you’ll see the result you’re looking for. And where you don’t see it, you’ve got another rule to fall back on! (It’s the infrequency illusion)

        I agree your approach is not less successful than using random numbers, but it’s no better either.

  • Joe

    I refer to numbers 1 to 45 as a spectrum (reference or domain), I call it as such because of my engineering background.

    One has to keep in mind that the SIX drawn balls from the barrel HAS NO IDENTIFICATION. In other words, six blank being dropped out of the barrel.

    If one wants to look for patterns out of the past draws then he will not get anywhere. This is because ALL POSSIBILITIES (Patterns) have EXACTLY equal chance of dropping out of the barrel. Even 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 45,44,43,42,41,40.

    Each set of 6 numbers that are being drawn are actually part of the 1-45 spectrum JIGSAW.

    Like a jigsaw puzzle, there are over 8 million jigsaw pieces that need to put together in its exact location (spectrum) in order to complete
    the picture.

    Suppose your child was given a homework to draw a picture of a house a car some trees some clouds a sun etc. Once the drawing is complete, now cut the picture into 8 million different pieces of different WEIRD SHAPES. Each of these pieces represent a 6-number lottery draw.

    Weird shapes is a metaphore for lotto PATTERNS.

    I wanted to elaborate more, but have run out of time for now, perhaps some other time.

    Hope the above is of some value !!!

    • LG

      Agreed! I use a similar model to explain why patterns are not significant.

      Think of the lottery as a huge draw machine with one ball for every set of possible results. So each ball has a combination of 6 numbers written on it. That’s how lotteries work.

      Now does it make sense to analyse lottery numbers… 🙂

  • Rabelais

    Some random browsing brought me here. Lottery-Guy, I enjoy and applaud your calm insistance that people are deluding themselves. The best strategy with lotteries is not to indulge and thus save hundreds of pounds. I’ve checked my hypothetical set of (arbitrary) numbers and I have saved £1,220. And that IS a fact 🙂

  • LG

    Yes you can see historical patterns in randomness. But any patterns, long or short term, are entirely useless for predicting what comes next. It’s how lottery games are designed, and there simply is no evidence to prove otherwise.

    Enjoy learning Excel though. It won’t help you win but spreadsheets are pretty cool – all hail Visicalc that brought the spreadsheet to the masses.

  • Dave

    I’ve given what you have said some thought. If the longest running lottery in the world has only 15,000 drawings then I should be looking for the short-term patterns. I understand randomness, but randomness often occurs in clusters. If you look at all the possible combinations that can occur you are applying a long-term analysis to a short-term game which would be my lifetime.

    Also, I concede there are no perfect patterns to be found in past lottery drawings but I can’t help but see occurrences, like numbers that repeat the very next drawing or numbers that are dormant and become awake hitting several times once they hit twice within a few drawings.

    There is no perfect sure fire way to predict the lottery but I believe there are smarter ways to pick numbers than out of thin air. I can often pick at least one or two numbers that I’m sure are going to hit and they often do. I just need to get lucky on the other four or five. But I only need to get lucky once.

    Besides, I’m learning a lot about Microsoft Excel in the process, that alone is worth the time spent investigating patterns and occurrences. To me, it’s fun, maybe one day it will pay off.

  • LG

    Consecutive numbers = “pretty pattern”

    I agree, it’s never been drawn. But just like millions of other combinations (literally millions) that have never been drawn. You’re not wondering about most of those purely because they don’t make a pattern when you put them in numerical order.

    Like I said above, the longest running lottery in the world has only had 15,000 draws. Most have been running a lot less than that.

    There are many millions more lottery combinations than there have been draws.

    So it’s actually of no surprise, or significance that consecutive numbers have yet to be drawn.

    • AlmaSam

      Lottery-Guy, I understand what your saying, but I also think what Dave is saying has merit.

      The closest I’ve seen to a straight was on May 6, 1989. The Arizona Lotto ‘The Pick’, a 6/44 lotto, had the following draw: 1,2,3,4,5,17. That’s pretty close.

      However, even if it had ben 1,2,3,4,5,6, it would have been extremely rare, and I believe playing those numbers is less likely to give me a 4 or 5 out of 6 on a regular basis. Therefore, it’s not a combination I would play.

      For me, it makes sense to eliminate some of the combinations, not because they are impossible, but because they are less likely to happen tomorrow. For example, in a Lotto 6/44 you get six numbers drawn. One of those numbers will be the lowest, and one the highest. The others will be somewhere in between. I’m not talking about the order of the draw, just about arranging the numbers from lowest to highest, giving you 6 positions. Now in the previously mentioned Arizona Lotto ‘The Pick’, the lowest high number since 11/2/1988 (I don’t go further back because the previous numbers are not sorted from low to high) was 13. Therefore, while 6 – 12 could, in theory, appear as the high numbers, the history tells me they are less likely to appear in that position tomorrow. Of course I would still play those numbers for a lower position, just not the highest position. Likewise, during that same period, the highest low number was 29. It seams to me unlikely that a number higher than that would appear, in the lowest position, tomorrow, though not impossible. Therefore, I would not play a number larger than 29 in the low position.

      Does my logic make any sense Lottery-Guy?

      • LG

        Sorry, but no, it doesn’t make any sense 🙂

        The numbers are just markings on the balls. There is no reason that any particular combination of balls should be any less likely than any other. What if the balls were just different colors instead of numbers? See what I mean?

  • Dave

    What ‘pretty pattern’ would that be? I’m merely suggesting out of the MILLIONS of drawings that have occurred since the lottery became a concept of man, I nor anyone I know has EVER seen or heard of a consecutive winning combination.

  • LG

    Hi Dave

    What are the odds when you combine all the worlds lotteries of having five consecutive numbers?

    Exactly the same as them having any other combination!

    The only reason it’s even on your mind is because you’re attaching significance to a ‘pretty pattern’. There are millions of other combinations that have never been drawn anywhere in the world.

    Remember, it’s actually balls that come out of the machine, not numbers – the numbers printed on them just help us decide who won.

  • Dave

    I understand what you are saying but every Pick 5 and Pick6 lottery has the numbers 1,2,3,4,5 in addition to 2,3,4,5,6,7 and several more five consecutive combinations.

    I’ve never heard of a 5 consecutive number winning combination.
    It’s just interesting that out all the lotteries combined, none, have had this occurrence to my knowledge.

    Wonder what the odds are when you combine all the lotteries in the world of having one five consecutive winning combination.

    If you took the lottery with the lowest number of playable numbers and based it on that with the all the drawings to date with every lottery with at least that minimum number of playable numbers.

  • LG

    Hey Dave,

    The longest running lottery in the world has had less than 15,000 draws. Most have had less than a couple of thousand draws. And there are nearly 14 MILLION combinations in a 6 from 49 lottery.

    So it’s actually no surprise at all at this stage that there are combinations that have never been drawn anywhere in the world.

    In fact, there will be millions of them!

    Of course the newspaper headlines will explode with how amazing, astounding and incredibly improbable it is when 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 is drawn somewhere… But they won’t when 6, 23, 27, 34, 35, 37 is drawn for the first time anywhere in the world…

    The only difference is the lack of what our brains recognize as a pretty pattern..!

  • Dave

    Just curious, of all the lotteries in the world and the millions of drawings that have occurred over years and years, has any lottery anywhere produced the lowest consecutive result for their game? ex. 1,2,3,4,5 or 1,2,3,4,5,6.

    It would seem that if randomness is truly at play this event would prove it. I realize the astronomical odds but certainly one lottery somewhere it has occurred or has it?

  • LG

    Danny,

    Common sense..? Nope, common misunderstanding.

    And completely wrong I’m afraid.

    You’re placing significance on these combinations because your brain can make a pretty pattern. But the balls don’t know they’re making a pattern – so why would they be less likely to come out that way?!

    The fact is there is no such thing as unlikely combinations, in any lottery.

  • Danny

    Patterns in randomness aren’t even worth thinking about, the odds on the relationships between the numbers are the only thing I’d worry about.
    EG: the likelyhood of all even or odd numbers occuring, or consecutive sequences.

    Imagine you were a book keeper; what would your payout be for, effectively a ,”straight” , on winning – 1,2,3,4,5,6 ? Higher than just some lucky dip? Yes

    Common sense really

  • LG

    Hi Ian. Well that has to rate amongst the wackiest theories I’ve heard…

    A quick look at the frequency of balls drawn shows 36, 37, 41 amongst the least drawn balls. So I don’t see any evidence to backup your theory?

    (Who says the paint is more abrasive than the ball surface anyway..?)

  • Ian

    Years ago I bought a statistics and probability book and random does come in waves! The lottery balls seem to throw up many more high numbers than probable… Why? because there is more higher abrasive paint on the numbers and the larger surface area paint on balls fall because the abrasiveness slows down spinning… ie; 44, 38, 23 and so on, look at the stats for frequent balls etc, very interesting. Ian

  • LG

    Hi Les Jed. Having fun is definitely key. If it isn’t fun I’d recommend finding a different game to play. Winning is nice too though. Be lucky.

  • Les Jed

    Hi, I have been playing using Excel with Lotto 649 and Super 7 in Canada for many years. I have the data from day one of each lottery. I must admit I have never won a significant lottery so far. However I am having fun and that is really the point of playing a lottery. I study time between numbers winning, the most frequent numbers winning and losing, how many numbers drawn in the current draw that were in the past 6 draws, charts and so on. Good luck to everyone and don’t forget if you are not having fun then it is not worth it!

  • Sparx

    If you look closely there is a Delta Function. And that 90% of the numbers are 1 to 15.

    • LG

      Hi Sparx. It’s a bit confusing because there is an Excel function called DELTA, which actually just tells you if two numbers are equal or not.

      But ‘deltas’ more generally refers to the difference between two numbers, i.e. the delta of ball 8 and ball 15 is 7 etc.

      And this is the problem with spreadsheets… people often apply all sorts of numeric manipulation on lottery numbers, because, hey, they’re numbers right!

      When they’re not really. They’re just balls bouncing around.

      So it doesn’t really make any sense to start applying deltas to results analysis. The deltas/differences will tend to fall within a certain range, but only because there are a limited range of numbers in the game. It doesn’t mean anything useful 🙂

  • LG

    Hi Dan

    Not sure who you were commenting to..? But jackpots obviously have tough odds (surprise, it’s a lottery!) but as I’m pointing out here – adding enormous complexity to selecting numbers does nothing to actually help you win. And that’s just the same if you’re doing it for your own ego, entertainment, or if you’re paying money to some charlatan to buy that ‘system’.

  • Dan

    This is all good and well this win rate, blah blah blah but I bet none of you have scooped a jackpot. Keep working on it though, lol.

  • LG

    But surely Teufel whatever method you use to pick a subset of numbers – you’re going to find some of the winning numbers appear in that subset..! That’s random numbers for you.

    But bottom line… beneath the complexity of what you’re doing, does it actually make any difference to your win rate versus choosing numbers randomly?

    The answer to that has to be ‘no’..?

  • Teufel

    A rundown for the pick 3 game of …1… thru ..0.. which equals 30 digits by adding a fourth row or a total of 40 digits gives a pattern of predictability when I create a 5 x 6 rundown of the same numbers or a 6 x 5 of the same sets. The answer to each days win shows in these constructs. I know which day (s) to use and how to use them. They all came from a piece of past history and not in the order that the clues or patterns were derived. I do not “chase patterns” per se but the resulting end use of the created pattern shows me where the win will fall. Many people have brushed me off but I work with simplistic ideas and because they are so simple players tend to try and make rocket science of common abstract thinking. Those folks that have asked me usually blow the whole pattern instead of using the instructions that I give which are six items. I let the players choose their own numbers from the very short list that I give to work from. The pattern that I use sets the rundown and the rundown is converted to a …5 x 6… or a …6 x 5… setup. Once done this setup is good for seven days and all of this came from past history and logical thinking.

    Teufel…

  • John Faulkner

    This is a great blog and I agree 100%. We cannot say often enough that it is impossible to predict future lottery numbers based on past results. In fact there is no way of predicting lottery numbers, period.

    However it still matters what lottery numbers you pick because some numbers lead to bigger prizes if you do win.

  • Teufel

    The past is just that – the past as far as exact repeats go. Yet, depending upon the type of pattern that you chase and record the past sets can yield information as to how a certain pattern was accomplished but not necessarily the exact data. Unless that you use an assorted amount of pattern predictability in your tool kit, you won’t understand what it is that I am saying.

    Teufel…

    • LG

      Hi Teufel. So you’re saying you can use tools to predict patterns in the results, but not any actual results..?

      Sounds to me like you’re just predicting ‘patterns’ that randomness dictates will be there (like people who chase sums and deltas and such like). So apart from being of passing interest to us geeks who like numbers, it doesn’t actually give any benefit in terms of chances of winning?

  • Al

    Hi all,

    Try using Excel function LINEST(chronological list of the lowest numbers drawn), combined with SLOPE and Y-INTERCEPTION.

    This way I predict 4-5 out of 6 numbers to be drawn. I also include adjacent numbers (i.e. if predicted number is 11, I include 10 and 12 also).

    When done above for all 6 numbers, I get about 15-20 numbers to be wheeled.

    I usually hit 4-6.

    • LG

      Hey Al. I wasn’t clear on how many lines you’re actually playing, or what your win rate is.

      It’s not wrong to be predicting lottery numbers from past draws with Excel. And hitting 4-6 sounds great.

      But presumably you mean 4-6 of your pool of ’15-20′ numbers that you’re wheeling, right?

      Which doesn’t necessarily mean you’re winning anything. Or that those numbers are doing any better than random luck (depending on the size of the wheel/how many combinations you’re playing).

      So 2 questions:-

      1. Forgetting all Excel math a moment – if you compare the actual number of combinations you are playing against the odds for the game you’re playing – how do you compare to ‘average luck’?

      2. If you’re predicting a number 11, what’s the thinking behind picking 10 and 12 too (the balls don’t ‘know’ they are adjacent numbers)?

    • DrGonzo

      Hey Al,

      Can you email me a copy of that spreadsheet that you use?

      Thanks in advance.

    • Jeremy

      Al,

      I’m an excel guy myself and very interested in testing your system in the current lottery that I’m trying to crack, could you send me the spreadsheet that you have mentioned here, using LINEST combined with SLOPE and Y-INTERCEPT.

    • Aneta

      Hello,

      I was trying to find out the way how to use the LINEST function. Could you provide me with further details, please?

    • Amoah

      Please can I get a copy of using LINEST combined with SLOPE and Y-INTERCEPT.

    • Jay

      Please can you explain in full details how you do it? You seem to be the only person making sense and promising. I have tried almost all mathematical formula and sequences I know of but I still couldn’t get it. Please, I’d be so glad and grateful if you can help me, I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
      Thank you…

    • Robert Cianfrano

      Hi there does this really work?

    • Bryan

      Hi Al
      Can you email me a copy of the spread sheet? Been trying to predict at least 3 numbers out of 6 to be profitable.

    • LG

      Look folks – firstly, this is not a ‘spreadsheet dating site’. 😉

      Second – Al disappeared THIRTEEN YEARS ago. He never responded to my questions, never provided any clarification or any evidence of what he was claiming. Ask yourself why.

      You need to be demanding more than ‘oh, it looks like clever math therefore it must work’. Because it’s BS until proven otherwise. Excel spreadsheets are great but just because it uses some clever formulas does not mean it makes any sense in the real world. You need to know why they are saying ‘do this’ and ‘use that formula’, and ask how that relates to the real world. Because if they can’t explain that then they’re just fooling themselves.

      Oh, and ‘it seems to work’ is not an answer. 🙂

    • DJOMAN N'dri

      Can I have your Excel file?

  • K.C.

    I have been working with the lotto for the last 3 years and there is a way to forecast with a 20% to 25% accuracy what the numbers will do.
    Some people might think that is not possible, but I know for sure that there is a way for an educated guess of what numbers are supposed to appear.
    So far I have been hitting:
    80% of the time 2 out of 3 on Pick 3.
    40% of the time 2 out of 4 on Pick 4.
    20% of the time 3 out of 5 on Pick 5.
    I have not hit the big pay-off “Yet” but it’s very promising for somebody that 3 years ago would not spend a penny on the lotto.
    Good luck to everybody ( LUCK..?)

    • LG

      Hi K.C. – those figures do look a little guessed – 80%, 40%, 20%..?

      The important thing here if you’re evaluating what you’re doing, is to know what you’re comparing with. What results would you expect from random luck. And how does that compare with what you’re getting. Otherwise you can get hit by the the infrequency illusion

      It’s hard to comment further on the figures you’re quoting as there isn’t enough data here. I mean, it’s easy to 3 out of 5 every single time on Pick 5 – if you play a large enough wheeling system.

      But good luck.

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