I've been tracking Texas lotteries since it all began back when.
I, too, once thought that if could track the data according to machine and ball set that I might learn something useful.
I struggled with it, but finally decided there had to be a better way.
As an aside, in Texas the lottery machines are tested prior to each drawing. With Cash 5/37, the machine and ball set is determined by a random drawing. Four combinations are obtained. If one or more numbers comes up in two or more combinations, they do a 5th test, etc. These combinations are later posted on the website. All of the details are there. But, this is done later in the evening and there is very little time to do analysis and get to the store before draw sales stop.
I call my better way Alpha-Numeric Substitution. It's a two-step process where I first decide how many of each balls will be in the winning combination, and then, using various trend charts, decide which numbers to assign. An example, if I decide that the winning combination will have 2 single digits, a teen and two 30s, then the appropriate alpha-sequence would be AABDD. No attempt is made to convert the numbers in the order drawn, which would really complicate matters.
In Texas, you win $2 if you correctly match 2 of the 5 numbers.
I realize that converting the numbers to an alphabetical sequence sort of skews the data, but this is necessary in order to better analyze the results.
In 5/37 there are 56 alpha -sequences. 35 begin with an A, 15 with a B 5 with a C and one with a D.
These 56 sequences represent the 435,897 combinations in the game. Keeping track of so many combinations is difficult but easier using substitution.
Another example, sequence ABBCD is the most frequent, followed by ABCCD. Sequence AADDD has come up once! AAAAA has never come up. BBBBB has come up once!
The trend charts I use, and there are several, break the sequences down into sub-sequences - for better analysis.
I have pair charts for each of pairs in the positions 1.2, 2.3, 3.4, 4.5.
Overall, AB has come up more frequently than any other pair. BC is a close second. AC and BD are much less frequent.
Triples are logged in positions 1.2.3, 2.3.4 and 3.4.5. ABB, ABC,BCC, BBC, CCD, CDD are very popular, overall, but less so when
analyze according to positions. For example, ABB is most frequent in P1.2.3, but less frequent in P2.3.4. It has only come up 6 tims in P3.4.5. An explanation for this is that the sequence AAABB, which has come up 5 times since this game started.
In practice, I use the trend charts to decide which sequence might be a winner.
I will provide the details of how I came up with the correct sequence for the August 25 Cash 5 drawing, but unfortunately, didn't have the correct numbers, in a follow-up post.