Do the Platinum Statistics allow you to sort by Ball Set & count Practice Draws?

Reply #13

BobP — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:04:35 GMT

Order can often be found within chaos. Look at rapids in a stream. The water is in total chaos and yet perfect whirlpools are repeatedly formed.

IMHO, the lottery would be somewhat more predictable with one machine and one ballset loaded in the same order each time.

It would be interesting to have all the information for one game, say PowerBall because it's coming ever closer to being a national game the most subscribers have access to.

They would literally have to setup an ind... [ More ]

Reply #12

Stew12 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:07:29 GMT

The only downside might be the plethora of complaints people will most likely file when their tickets are drawn in the pre-test draws, and not in the official draw. If that data is widely available, I am willing to bet there will be some people who might make a stink. 90% of the population probably has no idea there are draws before and after the official draw.

Reply #11

Todd — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:22:04 GMT

I definitely understand your feelings on that, but it's for precisely that reason that I feel the lotteries should all release that information, and make it easy to access.

By keeping that information hidden, they open themselves to suspicion. People ask themselves, Why are they keeping that data private if there's nothing to hide?

While some people may feel that the lottery is totally random, others feel just as strongly that it is not. I may personally feel one way or the other, but I d... [ More ]

Reply #10

four4me — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:13:04 GMT

Thanks Todd for your input.

Also i forgot to mention the after draws the lottery has pre draws the actual drawing and the after drawings. All which are audited and filmed.

I can see why some people think this information is valuable. However i doubt seriously if that information will get anyone closer to a win than there gonna get using the actual drawing data.

A random lottery drawing is just that random but for some reason people think that the lottery is doing things to pr... [ More ]

Reply #9

Todd — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:44:56 GMT

That's true.

I suppose the one thing pre-draw data could be used for would be for an analysis of past drawings. It would certainly provide a much larger set of data from which to look for any possible pattern, trends, and/or tendencies.

From a logistical standpoint, you're right, it would be difficult to get something like that on a regular basis, but more than that, it would be spotty, because very few states bother to report that level of detail.

We definitely would not be able to kn... [ More ]

Reply #8

four4me — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:37:40 GMT

I'm glad Stew answered most of these questions because for all it's worth how can Todd input numbers from pre tests that he has no knowledge of because that information isn't available until after the draw. And would for all intensive purpose be useless for the next draw because they will do more pre tests before that draw.

How could Todd know before the draw which machines are going to be used along with ball sets. Can we differentiate using statistical analysis which balls sets were in... [ More ]

Reply #7

Todd — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:18:46 GMT

No, none of those things are available. Most of the time, the raw data is not even available, in which case I'd recommend contacting your state lottery and requesting that they make all such information publicly available on their web site, in an electronically-readable format.

Reply #6

Stew12 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:11:54 GMT

Well, I'd say that 2% of the top prize is significant. I'd say that 2% improvment from your hour or two of work is in effect, worth millions of dollars.

..which is why we're all here

Reply #5

TotallyDavis — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:54:37 GMT

You're right, a true 'perfect' system would find the hottest numbers, and then the numbers that were likely to appear with those numbers, and then create a three dimensional field with the strongest possible combinations suggested.

Ok, and sure, maybe any improvement in your odds from anaylyzing the lottery is just your imagination, but maybe not.

Let's say that by analyzing all that and coming up with what you think are good numbers you improve your chances by just 2% above everyone else.... [ More ]

Reply #4

Stew12 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:44:39 GMT

Yeah, but can you call your predictions truly accurate if you don't take this information into account?

Maybe not, but with all of the other variables involved its [theoretically] impossible to make repeatable, accurate predictions for a game that is [theoretically] 100% random.

Don't get me wrong though, I love to try and beat the system with statistics :)

Playing the five 'hottest' balls in a lottery (let's say Powerball) will not help you much because those hot balls might belong to... [ More ]

Reply #3

TotallyDavis — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:39:52 GMT

Yeah, but can you call your predictions truly accurate if you don't take this information into account?

Playing the five 'hottest' balls in a lottery (let's say Powerball) will not help you much because those hot balls might belong to different sets, and you might be better off replacing certain numbers with others depending on the set.

If you can't afford to play a set of numbers for each set of balls and all the machines they could be played in, perhaps you could just run machines or bal... [ More ]

Reply #2

Stew12 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:35:52 GMT

Another problem with attempting to use this information in your number selection is that the machines and ball sets are not announced before the draw. You would have to have different predictions for each different set of balls and machines (5 machines and 4 balls would be 20 different prediction sets) and take a guess on which to play (5% chance of getting it right). I forget how many they said they were using for Powerball now. Coming up with 1 set of accurate predictions is tough enough, neve... [ More ]

Reply #1

Stew12 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:33:37 GMT

I don't think many places record their test draws in the same database as the official draws, which would make it difficult for sites like this to automatically have access to the information. As far as I know, Powerball only records their test draws and ball set/machine combos in a .doc file. Importing data into a site like this from .doc files all over the world containing test draws would be impossible. ..Maybe Todd has some different insight though.

Do the Platinum Statistics allow you to sort by Ball Set & count Practice Draws?

TotallyDavis — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:15:19 GMT

I am considering a Platinum membership here, but I am hesitant because I'm not sure about the statistics that you can get.

To truly make the best number picks you need to be able to distinguish between draws made with different ball sets (for lotteries where that information is available) and the more data, the better. Some lotteries (like Powerball) do practice draws with the machines that are published.

With the Platinum statistics do you have the option of factoring in the practice dra... [ More ]