Should I play 1-2-3-4-5-6 or what?

According to Gail Howard a lot of playslips are already pre marked with those numbers which will give a low jackpot when they're finally drawn.

According to Terry Fisher there's no way in hell those numbers ever will be picked.

According to Robert Serotic those numbers are just as likely to be picked as anyone else.

Well, my reason for not playing those number is that I'm sure there's several thousand people playing those same numbers on one line each week. The jackpot will be worth only a few thousand dollars when that line finally wins.

Apparently Terry Fisher is either an idiot with no understanding of probability, or playing fast and loose with what "(n)ever be picked" means. With only 104 drawings per year it will take nearly 1700 years to have 175,711 MM drawings. If there were no duplication of winning combinations only 1 of every 1000 combinations would be drawn in that time. That makes it a pretty safe bet that 1,2,3,4,5,6 won't be drawn in 20 lifetimes, but that's true for every other combination, as well. Serotic is right that it has just as much chance as any other combination: slim to the least bit better than none.

If you had a good reason to think that it would actually be drawn, playing for even the smallest share would make sense. With all combinations having an equal chance it makes more sense to try to choose a combination that is played only by you.

Exactly, that's why I never play 123 in the p-3. My calculations show that with 2 drawings a day, it would take 572 years before 123 ever comes out.

With thousands of people playing that number everday, my share would be about 17 cents, so I never ever play 123.

Pac according to Florida's lottery web page cash 3 has a fixed payout.. and since 123 hasn't came out straight since Sat, Sep 2, 2000

50. straight = 250 bucks 1.00 straight = 500 bucks

They now have a 10 million dollar cap on the cash three game.

Pick 3 has 1000 combinations. 1000/ 730 drawings  a year at 2 drawings a day is once every 1.369 years.

Only in theory.

Just read what four4me wrote. They now have a 30 million dollar cap on 123.

You calculations are rong. Pick 3...so 3 times a 1000=3000X 2 drawingsX 365 days a year= 572 years.

Actually, 572 years, 8 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 8 hours, 46 minutes, and 27 seconds. But who's counting?

Pac

The ceiling on Pick 3 and 4 shuts the game off to any additional plays once it has been hit, but if a number that's locked does get hit, the people who did play it get paid the full amount.

The payoffs are fixed usually at something like $40, $250, $290 (straight box for $1) and $500 (depends on the state). They're not split like jackpots are.

I once received 17 cents on a straight bet because I shared it with 5072 other people.