Interesting comment re: Quick Picks

This is from:

The Lottery Book, The Truth Behind The Numbers  

by Don Catlin

2003 Bonus Books, Chicago

"Lucky numbers aren't so lucky when it comes to payoffs. Numbers such as 7, 11, and 13 get heave play, as do numbers such as 19 that are part of birth dates. What you want is a set of numbers no one else has. This way, if you do win, you'll be the only winner and won't have to split the prize. The best way to do this is to wait until the drawing time is near and then buy a quick pick, that is, let the lottery computer pick your numbers. Most, if not all, of these quick-pick schemes are designed to give you a set of numbers that hasn't been played up to that point in time. As any set of numberd is as likely to occur as any other set, so there is no disadvantage to playing this way."

p134

"Most, if not all, of these quick-pick schemes are designed to give youa set of numbers that hasn't been played up to that point in time"

That might be ideally but I'm prety sure it's not always the case.

p134

"Most, if not all, of these quick-pick schemes are designed to give youa set of numbers that hasn't been played up to that point in time"

That might be ideally but I'm prety sure it's not always the case.

There's no way of telling if its set up that way.  In any case, IMO it depends more on the game.  For instance we have a 6/39 daily game where the JP is $350,000 and it doesn't become parimutual unless there are more than 20 jackpot winners on the same day (which aint ever gonna happen) so you don't have to worry about sharing the JP. And the fact that the computer may spit out a combination close to drawing time that hasn't been played yet (if that is the case) doesn't matter....it has no better chance of being drawn than any other combination.

If it's a large JP game, in the millions, I wouldn't care if I had to share it.  You seldom see more than 2 winning ticket on those on the same day (at least I haven't that I can remember) -- So big deal, instead of ten million I get 5 million.  Since most people won't make that working in their entire life I think I could live with it and be glad.

"Most, if not all, of these quick-pick schemes are designed togive you a set of numbers that hasn't been played up to that point intime"

if that were true then it most likely doesn't matter when you get your QP because all the QP's after yours will be different, and that accounts for the vast majority of the tickets sold. it basically takes all the QP's out of the equation and your left with the extremely small chance of someone else picking the same numbers as you, unless of course you do a pattern or bdays or fortune cookie etc

and thats assuming this QP filter takes into account ALL entries no matter if they are QP or not, cause otherwise it would make zero difference 

How does buying quick pick tickets closer to the drawing make it more likely to be a winning ticket?

it doesn't, the guy is just claiming that it lessens the chance of someone else having the same numbers, which means you wont have to split the prize. not sure if u were confused or just making a point

There is no set rule or system..It's just dumb luck..It's ping pong balls.......

Actually, if you look at previous results, you will see that elimination of "bad" sets is possible for the next drawing, thus giving you a better chance of hitting the jackpot. Of course, what's considered a bad set depends on what factors you look at and what calculations you use. I see so many people here trying to use "prediction formulas". There are no prediction formulas. Just look at the previous results and you will see how you can eliminate sets that aren't very likely to hit the jackpot, and surprisingly, you can eliminate quite a bit of sets.

Nonsense by Catlin.  None of the Quick Picks make any attempt to check what was previously issued before generating your tickets.

First of all the Quick Picks are generated in the store machine. Think about how many Quick Pick tickets are being generated state wide simultaneously.  Imagine if they had to wait their turn to check the state computer to grab the next combinations in line. 

If the state did sell each combination in turn, there would always be a winner each time sales of Quick Picks exceeded the number of combinations in the game.  ergo fewer rollovers, lower sales, not what the lottery has in mind for us.

When you bought the Quick Pick, wouldn't make any difference in the quality of the combination toward winning.

Where do they come up with this stuff???

BobP

"if that were true...  ...all the QP's after yours will be different "

Good catch. Here's a much better comment than the one from the book. Most books about winning the lottery don't offer much useful advice, but are almost certain to blow smoke up your ass.

If there was actually a useful method of eliminating combinations that were unlikely to be drawn, that would be a prediction formula. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine which combinations are unlikely to be drawn. It's easy to fool the gullible people, because you can pick any million "unlikely" combinations, and random probability means that none of them is likely to be drawn. The reality is that picking an "unlikely" combination and having it drawn is exactly as difficult as picking a "likely" combination and having it drawn. Saying you're eliminating a bunch of combinations is just another way of saying you're good enough to pick a lot of losers.