I saw it again today. It makes no sense. But every self appointed half baked expert seems to want to regurgitate the same rubbish. And these are the people who want you to pay them to tell you how to select your lottery numbers..!
To avoid any chance of being sucked into the myth, I’d like you to suspend your normal perception of how a lottery works. Imagine the lottery draw is made using a lottery machine, full of lottery balls as normal, but there are no numbers on these balls - no markings at all in fact. In this draw machine there are 49 little balls but each one is a different colour - reds and greens and yellows and blues. But no other markings. None.
So, you win this lottery by picking colours from a colour chart - a bit like the old fashioned way of choosing paint (before we had clever ‘pick anything you want’ colour matching and mixing machines!). If six balls the same colour as the ones you chose get drawn, you hit the jackpot… and then you can start thinking numbers again, very big numbers 
Now would it seem sensible to you that the chances of any combination of 6 colours being drawn out of the machine, is exactly the same as any other combination of 6? Would it make sense to that there is no better chance of Red and Yellow and Pink and Green, Orange and Purple appearing..? Even though you may recognise the pattern of colours as being most of a rainbow (can you Sing A Rainbow Too 
?) it doesn’t mean they are more likely to appear!
So can anyone tell me why so many ‘lottery experts’ throw out combinations such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 on the grounds they are ‘unlikely combinations’? Yes, our brain sees a pretty pattern, just like the rainbow, but those balls don’t know anything about them being a pretty pattern. Neither does the draw machine. So just because you allocate a number to a ball instead of a colour why on earth would that make it less (or more!) likely to jump out of the machine.
So next time you see anyone selling a lottery system that claims to pick better numbers, can you please send them an email asking them why they exclude combinations like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Then send their answer to me so I can laugh as another self proclaimer expertly shoots themselves in the foot.
[Footnote: There is a reason not to select certain combinations of numbers, but it has nothing to do with chances of winning. More on that another time.]
Comments ↓
1 AlexC // Jul 7, 2008 at 9:25 am
Something to do with the law of probability or something like that.
Also picking 123456 is NOT a good idea because a LOT of people do actually pick 123456.
So if those numbers do come out there will be a lot of winners to share with.
2 m // Aug 9, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Alexc, the aim is to win not the number of people you share it with. If that were the winning combination I’d rather have picked it, than a wrong number.
3 Lottery-Guy.com // Aug 10, 2009 at 3:31 am
But as you can’t know which combination is going to win, it makes sense to try and pick a less popular combination.
4 don evans // Jan 2, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I have never won the lottery . The most I have won on the pick six was two dollars. I want to win it all. With your help.
5 Lottery-Guy.com // Jan 2, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Don
Start here with my lottery tips.
LG
6 Corné // Feb 22, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Hi Lottery Guy.
People are very sceptical about my strategy. This strategy is based on sharing the jackpot between two people. This is my strategy. Player A choose any 3 numbers between 1 and 49. Player B chooses any 3 numbers between 1 and 49. If both of the players hit 3 numbers than the players hit the jackpot.
I’m not good at picking all 6 numbers. Cause sometimes if I choose 6 numbers I only hit 3 numbers and sometimes I feel if I just combined my 3 numbers with someone else who got different 3 numbers than we would have got the jackpot. I know you will have critics about the sharing jackpot, but I don’t mind as long as I won it. I know the chances that both players have 3 numbers on the same draw day is rare, but it can happen. And it could be fun two players choosing 3 numbers each. Logically it’s more easy two people picking 3 numbers each.
7 Lottery-Guy.com // Feb 22, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Hi Corne,
You still have to match all 6 between you, so your chances of winning are just the same.
But if it’s fun to play that way, keep doing it.
LG
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