OK, first some quick background. Brad Duke was a Powerball winner back in 2005. He won the headline grabbing Powerball jackpot of $220 Million, and after choosing the lump sum payout he more than happily banked $85 Million.

In an interview with Fortune Magazine in 2007 Brad revealed the incredible lottery system that was responsible for his big win.

Don’t worry, I’ll reveal exactly how it works right here.

Here’s what Brad did.

The Brad Duke Lottery System

First he took the last 6 months of Powerball results. Then he figured out the 15 most commonly drawn numbers from those results.

Then he used a wheeling system to combine those 15 numbers together.

In a nutshell, that’s it.

Here’s what is missing from Brad’s explanation though.

Firstly, he doesn’t tell us what kind of wheel he is playing. Is it an abbreviated wheel (potentially fairly cheap), or a full wheel (very expensive indeed for 15 numbers!). He also doesn’t tell us if he’s playing one Powerball number or covering all of them!

Secondly, he doesn’t say how many tickets he’s buying.

You can deduce from his comments though what the likely answer is when he says things ‘got bigger and more complex’.

So he actually started buying a lot more tickets, and as a result won more small prizes.

This, of course, is not a revolutionary lottery system. (Win Lotto Systems is based on the simple premise of ‘buy more tickets, and win more small prizes, while you wait for a big win’).

The Numbers Bit

If you play Brad’s system, you may want to arrange yourself a bank loan first…

Because even if you ignore the Powerball number, there are still 3,003 ways to arrange your 15 most drawn numbers. Cover every Powerball number on top of those and you’ve just bought over 105,000 tickets… feeling rich yet..?

So if for one very charitable moment we assume that analysing those past results actually worked, you still have to either stomach spending $210,000 on Powerball tickets and hoping you’re right – or choose a small amount of those combinations and hope you don’t eliminate the winning one.

Did Brad buy $210,000 of tickets for that draw? No.

Does playing the 15 most drawn numbers from the last 6 months even improve your chances of winning one jot anyway? No.

The Reality Check

The important thing to learn from Brad’s story, is this.

Brad Duke won the Powerball because… he was damn lucky. One of the hundreds(?) of tickets he bought for that draw just happened to be the winning combination.

Now he may believe that combination was more likely to come up. But that doesn’t make it true.

Remember: if the lottery was preditable in this way, it would not be random. And that would put the well paid Powerball Execs in a whole heap of legal trouble – illegal lotteries are not well liked by the legal system!

Still don’t believe me?

Think of it this way. Every week millions of players all over the world do similar analysis, over all kinds of different time periods – but never win!

That very same draw when Brad won the jackpot, hundreds of thousands of Powerball tickets would have been bought by people doing similar analysis to him.

So why didn’t they all share the jackpot? Because they weren’t lucky like Brad Duke!

Back To The Question…

So the idea of strong or weak lottery numbers is a total nonsense. They just don’t exist. There are winners and losers – but we only discover which ones those are after the draw is over and done.

Despite that, there are endless pointless lottery systems that are based entirely on analyzing past results. Do they work? No.

There is no secret formula to guaranteed winnings. No winner who can tell you the secret to how to pick the best numbers.

There is a very limited range of things you can do to improve your chances of winning (and I’ll happily give you those lottery tips and tricks for free).

But does that stop the lottery being fun to play? Of course not.

Good luck in the next draw, however you pick your numbers.

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3. Best Lottery System To Use…

But this is also on top of the normal jackpot draw, currently sitting at a cool €29 Million.

How come you’ve not heard about it.

Because only UK players get a chance for these bonus EuroMillions prizes.

(Tip: I’ll tell you in a moment how you can play in this draw from outside the UK – it’s easier than you think)

The UK has an add-on game called Millionaires Raffle – every EuroMillions ticket bought in the UK gets printed with an extra unique raffle number. And one of those numbers wins £1 Million every single draw (Tuesday and Friday).

The big deal though is this Friday (23rd December).

Because this Friday is Millionaire Friday.

EuroMillions (UK) are paying out 25 x £1 Million prizes for this draw only!

Now that has to be a draw worth playing.

There’s THREE extremely good reasons why.

1. For exactly the same ticket price, you now get 25 times the chance to win a million. On top of your chances of winning EuroMillions itself of course.

(Technically it’s not exactly 25 times because more people will play this draw than normal, so it may be more like 15 – 20 times, but I’m not complaining!)

2. This bonus game is a raffle (like a prize draw) not a lottery. Which means 25 tickets in this draw must win a million.

3. Only the UK play Millionaires Raffle. And they are only 1 of the 9 countries who play EuroMillions. Which means you already beat the other 8 countries to the money if you buy a ticket in the UK.

Buying EuroMillions Tickets From The UK

If you live in the UK, no problem, you can get your tickets anywhere and you’re OK. (Or you can buy online from the official national lottery site too).

Outside the UK, you still have some options.

1. Get a friend in the UK to buy tickets for you. Make that a trusted friend.
2. Buy online from a 3rd party ticket seller. Typical an expensive way to play, but sadly I couldn’t find any that bought their tickets in the UK anyway – so if you know one add a comment below and I’ll let everyone know.
3. Play in a syndicate that buys tickets in the UK. I’ve found 3 that do: Big Fat Lottos, Love My Lotto and Tips 4 Winning. All are good reliable syndicates so choose the one you like best.

Play This Draw – It’s A Gift!

Look, it’s not often you get these ‘Superdraws’ so don’t miss them when they come up.

This is a no cost way to instantly get a significantly better chance of winning. Which is just the right kind of occasion to be spending your squirreled away winnings pot.

You know, the ‘save the small wins for a Superdraw’ pot.

Unless you already spent it on pizza

Related posts:

1. Don’t Miss The EuroMillions Superdraw Jackpot This Friday…
2. EuroMillions Superdraw – 125 Million Euros, Friday 26th September 2008
3. NEWS: EuroMillions Superdraw Hits €129 Million

There is so much lottery junk online. Not just systems, but bad advice and poor information everywhere.

Just dare to ask what works in an online forum, you’ll get ten ‘experts’ swearing on their mother’s life that asking Felix the psyhic feline is the only way to win.

Then another ten who say system ‘x’ works because they never won a thing before, until they started playing using system ‘x’ and matched 3 out of 6 on the first try… whilst neglecting to tell you that they bought 20 times more tickets than they ever did before.

Results Mean Nothing

The thing is that individual results do not mean anything.

I know that sounds a bit backwards. But because the lottery is random, and so very hard to win – isolated results one way or the other do not mean anything useful.

You Need See The Big Picture

Here’s a good example why:

Take Gail Howards wheeling books – some of the oldest lottery systems online. The smartluck.com website hasn’t been run by Gail for a long time and now includes a fair amount of factually incorrect advice.

But the site is full of testimonials of people who have won jackpots. And they are real winners too. So the system must work then, right..?

Well, not exactly.

These people have NOT won because of any secret system. They won because 100,000 Gail Howard fans have been buying lots of tickets for 30 years (yes, over 30 years!).

And because they were told to play games that are easier to win (i.e. Pick 5).

What About The 99.9% Who Lost!

So what happened to the other 99,900 people who bought Gail’s books but haven’t won..?

Did they not bother to use it? Did they not implement the clever techniques properly? Or were they just unlucky.

How can they claim these are lottery systems that work if the vast majority do not win when they use them?

Smart Luck Or Plain Random Luck

If you use any system and win big, it just means you were lucky.

Now if everyone who used a system won big within, let’s be generous here and say 10 years, that would really mean something.

But it can never happen, because the lottery just doesn’t work in any way that can be ‘beaten’. It really is random and every combination is just as likely. One of the worlds best maths Professors (a real one!) actually stated this in a newspaper yesterday.

A better chance of winning is the best that you can expect from any system. And that is worth pursuing.

So Are There Any Lottery Systems That Work?

It really depends on what you mean by ‘work’, and exactly what those lottery systems claim to do.

So when I assess and test lottery systems, I’m looking at the value of the insights and strategies that they offer. But I’m also looking at what they claim they can do for you, and if they are making innaccurate claims or giving bad advice.

Testing does not mean using them for a week or two and drawing unhelpful conclusions!

So when you read my lottery system reviews, bear in mind that anything I do recommend has value.

Because I’m one of the very few voices online that won’t recommend lottery garbage for a sly backhander.

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Because you might just as well be feeding your money into a slot machine.

The best you can ever hope for with most Pick 3 games is a fairly small win.

And that’s the big prize!

But those lower tier prizes arrive regular enough to keep you playing… after all, you won again this week right..?

What happens to those small wins? They’re so small, they just go back in the machine.

You Never Really Win With Pick 3

But you never win big, because there simply is no big with the Pick 3 lottery.

Sure, you can play Pick 3 just for fun. But if you’re playing for the jackpot, then you’re playing the wrong game.

For most players, one of the main reasons to play the lottery is the chance of that ‘big win’. The life changing jackpot.

Pick 3 type games can never give you that.

So What Can You Do?

The real way to win the Pick 3 lottery, is to stop playing it and choose a better game.

[They won't advise you to do that at the lottery counter of course, or in those trashy Pick 3 lottery systems either]

But take your typical Pick 5 or 6 game. Not only do they have life changing jackpots pretty much every week. These games also have plenty of those smaller prizes too.

Now the odds are going to be tougher than they are with Pick 3 for similar smaller prizes, but they won’t be radically different.

But what you really gain is the chance of winning the bigger prizes too – at no extra cost.

The Right Game Can Make The Difference Between Winning & Losing

Wisely choosing the right game to play (for you) is the most important step any lottery player can take.

So how do you choose a better game to play?

Get my free lottery tips – and I’ll show you how exactly how, and take you through specific examples.

Don’t just play what looks the shiniest, or has the biggest jackpot when you reach the lottery terminal. Because that doesn’t make it the best game for you.

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Seriously, we’re talking gaping mouthed amazement when the Florida Fantasy 5 results came on screen.

14, 15, 16, 17, 18

A complete set of consecutive numbers.

That’s just totally impossible. What an incredible result. The game is clearly fixed… and other such nonsense could be heard from every direction.

The odd ‘lone voice in the room’ all across the State could be heard quietly trying to explain that this is honestly nothing significant in any way, shape or form. But nobody was listening. Because it’s more exciting to see something that isn’t really there.

Just like the same lottery numbers twice outrage back in 2009.

I know it looks like something really crazy just happened. But folks, it’s just our crazy perception (see repeat lottery numbers). There are 32 sets of consecutive numbers in a 5/36 lottery game. All of which are as unlikely to come out as the non-consecutive ones.

At best there are only a few hundred combinations that look exciting.

So it’s really not surprising when the 376,000 ‘boring’ combinations appear most of the time. We don’t see a pattern, it’s not memorable, so we don’t jump and down getting excited about it.

The Important Take Home Bit

Look more closely at the results though, and you’ll discover that 47 people picked those consecutive numbers.

Now normally only 1 or 2 people would win the jackpot on the Fantasy 5, and win a payout of a couple of hundred thousand.

Those 47 people who all thought they were clever picking consecutive numbers all now have to share. So they each win a very disappointing $4,581.

Don’t pick numbers according to any pattern. Because no matter how clever you think the pattern is, lots of other people do too.

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3. Why Playing The ‘Lost’ Lottery Numbers Is Actually Really Dumb

Enthusiastic ‘Lost’ fans who played the numbers collected $150 each.

The ‘Lost’ numbers are a set of numbers made significant by cropping up in various guises throughout the series. But most significantly appearing in an episode called ‘Numbers’ in the 1st season of the show back in 2005. The numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 win a jackpot in a flashback sequence for character Hurley.

Now the problem is that ‘Lost’ was hugely popular. That one episode alone was seen when broadcast by 18.8 million people in the US alone.

So it should come as no real surprise to find more than 25,587 people won the $150 prize in that draw.

Now, not all of those people necessarily played the ‘Lost’ numbers but given that a 3+1 match on Mega Millions typically pays out around 3,000 people – it seems there’s a lot of dumb people out there!

Why?

Because if the ‘Lost’ numbers ever hit the jackpot, you can expect to be sharing the prize with around 20,000 other ‘lucky’ winners.

On the other hand, those with a little more originality shared the jackpot of $380 Million… between the two of them!

The ‘Lost’ obsessives would be looking at a life changing sum of around $19,000 each.

Change your numbers guys!

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Most lottery retailers are honest decent people. And they get a real buzz when their store creates a big lottery winner.

But greed can do unpleasant things to some people.

A recent NBC broadcast warned of the danger of dishonest store clerks attempting to steal winning lottery tickets.

Here’s How It Works

You walk into your local store to check your lottery ticket. That could be a scratch-off ticket or a regular lotto game.

Heading over to the scan your ticket machine, you’re pleased to see “Congratulations, see retailer”. (Most machines do not tell you how much you have won!)

So you hand over your ticket to the store clerk who checks the ticket for you, and “bing”, you are indeed a winner. He hands back your winning ticket plus your meagre winnings.

Now the reality is, this dishonest store clerk just switched your ticket for another. Why? Because his machine told him you won a big prize, which he is going to claim for himself once you leave the shop.

How Rare Is This?

It’s impossible to say. The lottery companies themselves are very aware of it and are working hard to prevent it.

But they only investigate big prizes. It’s actually even more likely to happen for small wins where the retailer can simply say “sorry, no win this time” and happily claim your small win.

So How Do You Protect Yourself?

It’s actually really simple.

1. Always sign the back of EVERY ticket as soon as you buy it.
2. Check lottery tickets yourself.
3. Or simply play the lottery online instead.

By all means use a scanner to check for a winning ticket. But if it is a winner, go online or find a newspaper with the lottery results to check which prize you actually won.

UPDATE: This is on the increase – please warn friends and family how to protect themselves. And hit the Like button below to share on Facebook.

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Here’s a reminder why you should not get too carried away sharing the excitement of your big win…

A group of 30 factory workers and craftmen from Avellino in Italy won 33 Million Euros on Italy’s SuperEnaLotto in January 2008.

Now winners are normally anonymous in Italy anyway. But the SuperEnaLotto syndicate were obviously very happy with their win and were not quiet about it.

Unfortunately their good fortune reached the ears of the local Camorra crime clan, who asked around to find out the identities of the lucky winners – and then paid them all a visit. Not surprisingly they were successful in extracting 40,000 Euros out of a good number of them, presumably to help with their protection.

Avellino prosecutor Rosario Cantelmo said that police learnt of the pay-outs while investigating extortion rackets against other local businesses. Five suspects were arrested.

So when the day of your big win arrives, and the lottery company asks you to do a press conference, appear on TV or in a newspaper advert… say no and stay anonymous. Have a party to celebrate but don’t announce to the world why. Your life as a big winner will be a lot smoother.

Otherwise you too may find out what happens to lottery winners…

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[A] There are lots of interesting things you can do with old lottery results. You can apply all sorts of analysis on past results, and come up with lots of intriguing things.

Even the lottery companies do it themselves. Many official lottery sites have things like lottery frequency checker tools on them, so you can see how often each ball has been drawn.

But the problem with this kind of analysis, is that it’s entirely useless in predicting what’s going to happen next.

Here’s why…

Lottery Randomness Looks Weird

I know this sounds a bit Douglas Adams but the big problem with randomness is that it can often look so very unrandom.

For something to be truly random, all results have to be possible.

So for there to be any significance in some numbers appearing more often than others, there must by definition be something wrong with the draw process. In others words it isn’t random.

Yes, that’s theoretically possible – but bear in mind lottery companies put an awful lot of effort into ensuring their draws are random.

By all means fire up your Excel spreadsheet, plug in all the past results, and make charts of hit frequency. If you find that kind of stuff fun.

(No offence intended – I’m a maths and probability geek!)

But please don’t be fooled into thinking this kind of analysis will increase your chances of winning the lottery.

It won’t do your chances of winning any harm to play this way, it just won’t improve them any either.

For more help with winning and real stuff you can do to improve your odds, get my free lottery tips course.

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Mega Millions is different to ‘normal’ lottery draws. It’s a ‘power ball’ type draw which means it’s really 2 draws – and you have to win both to get the jackpot.

That’s normally a very bad thing for the player!

But if you want to know just how bad, here’s how you work out your actual chances of winning that big jackpot…

For Mega Millions, you have 5 numbers from 56, so let’s work out how many different possible results there are. And you do that like this:-

56 x 55 x 54 x 53 x 52 divided by 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1
= 3,819,816 possible combinations

The Mega Number Is The Killer…

You also have the ‘Mega’ number which is a separate draw of 1 number from 46. That doesn’t seem so bad, but it actually means there are 46 more ways those 3 million+ possible results from above can happen.

And that does something really nasty to your chances. Because to get the final result you multiply the two like this:-

3,819,816 x 46 = 175,711,536

And that means you only have a 1 in 175 million chance of winning the jackpot..!

It’s Tempting But You Can Do Better

The big jackpot attracts a lot of players. But that jackpot is so big only because it is so damn hard to win.

That’s by design!

The lottery company sell more tickets when the prize is big. But they only get really big prizes when nobody wins, so the jackpot can roll over again and again. And that only happens if the odds of winning are really tough.

And that’s why you only have a 1 in 175 million chance of winning that huge prize.

A Better Chance Of Winning…

Look at the odds for the other lottery games your State runs. Pick a game with a ‘big enough’ prize but better odds.

You can instantly get 5 or 10 times the chance of winning for the same money.

If you state doesn’t offer a game with a better chance, then check out these guys who run the Florida lottery pools. Play with them instead and amazingly your chances of winning are instantly 77 times better than the Mega Millions..!

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