The number picker's dilemma
 

“Do you go with the numbers that show up the most often because they're hot, or do you go with the numbers that show up the least often because they're well overdue?”

By Elizabeth Trotta | Yahoo! Finance – Wed, Mar 28, 2012 6:14 PM EDT

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mega-m...-numbers-.html

Neither. Numbers are never hot nor due.

There are two ways to profit from lotteries.

One is to pick numbers higher than 31, or at least higher than 12. Many people use important dates for their favourite numbers, and so numbers under 31 are over-picked, and if you do pick these and they come up, you risk having to share the winnings with more people.

The other way is simple.

Run the lottery.

Ohhhh,
I'm not a number picker,
I'm a number picker's bum
I'm only picking numbers
while the number picker's numb.

MegaMillions historical stats
 

Frequency Chart:

http://www.txlottery.org/export/site...343975900.html

How consistent is it with the article data? I see a couple discrepancies.

Big US multi-state MegaMillions jackpot tomorrow.
 

Is anyone buying for tomorrow's drawing? Never play?

If you are playing, are you a regular player or just when the jackpot grows large?

How do you choose your numbers or do you go with easy picks?

Good point - the third way to benefit - wait for jackpots.

are there any patterns with the lottery numbers for other states?

I don't play the lottery.

I'm leveraged in on this one - the office pool. :folks:

Never play.

i passed this time. Either I'll be the only one working here, or the only one with my $10.

I don't pay the tax on stupid people. Or maybe they aren't stupid. They just can't do math.

Okay, I admit that I have occasionally played, but mainly when a group of people at work decided to go in to a big batch of losing tickets.

I had an uncle who played a lot who would go on and on about his wins, a hundred here, a thousand there ... near as we could determine, he probably spent at least five grand a year on tickets and never made it back. But, you only remember the wins, right?

If the winner of the lottery gets "stoned to death" then the lottery is evil.

What if (s)he just gets stoned?

I play the Euromillions Lottery on the closest draw after payday. Sometimes twice a month, depending on finaces. Never more.

I always play "lucky dip" (numbers randomly selected).
I don't expect I'll ever win, but £2-4 a month buys a lot of dreams. And it's cheaper and healthier than a pint of beer.