I've been attempting to predict winning lottery numbers for more years than I can to admit. Early on I was using a Texas Instruments TI 55 II, then purchased my first Apple 2e (remember those?).

Anyway, I was writing programs in BASIC! Lottery Distribution Analyzer. I remember it well . . . and, well, I got lucky--once. Shared $680 dollars with a fellow worker and partner in the prediction project.

After many really unsuccessful years, I gave up playing (at $20 to $40 per week, it got old real quick when nothing was coming in). However, I never lost the desire to follow up over the years with newer and better (on paper) attempts to find the Prediction Grail. But one thing has stuck in my head during these past few years: should I use the numbers as-drawn in my attempts to predict the next outcomes, or use the numbers in numerical order, you know, the way the TV news presents them, or the way they appear in the newspapers the next day?

That's where I'm stuck. What is your method: as-drawn, or numerical order?