Do some number combinations have better odds?

"If a person was going to play one draw, and one draw only, and could play up to 50% of the possible combinations"

Let's stop right there because logistics make it next to impossible to play 50% of the 5 million possible combos.

To make it more realistic, say you use 15 numbers (8 odd and 7 even), were positive 5 of those numbers would be drawn (don't know which 5), and played all 3003 combos. Would you throw out 77 of those combos because they were all even or all odd and risk losing the possible 3 + 0 and 4 + 0 winners?

If 10 of the numbers were odd, would you throw out 253 of those combos because only 5.2% of all the combos are all even or all odd?

I suppose the short answer would be..... yes.

One thing for certain is that in all of my posts I ASSUME the objective is to WIN THE JACKPOT. But around here this seems to be a mistake as I keep seeing post like your where you are asking if I would "throw out" a 5.2% chance of hitting a $7. prize.

After a while I start thinking that your just messin with me.

Just a possible quick tip to narrow down PB combinations from one draw to the next is the FORMAT of the numbers. I'm currently working on the repetitive nature of the formats. Example:

5/26/12 = Odd-Even-Odd-Odd-Odd

5/30/12 = Odd-Even-Even-Even-Even

6/02/12 = Odd-Even-Odd-Odd-Odd 

Just something to look at and consider for the next draw.

L.L.

Of course your looking at that, which proves my point. Any EEOOO or EEEOO combination make up 56% of the combinations and therefore are more likely to hit. Im talkin about 5/59

My first rule of thumb with these games is this: It cannot LEAD OFF with BOTH ODD AND EVEN. So, my advice would be to pick one or the other in the single digits i.e. 1,3,5,7,9, or, teens 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 (or Evens) and so forth, as a single lead off number. Remain consistent with the odd or even lead off numbers and you're bound to hit it at least every other draw. The remaining combination should, in my opinion, consist of EEOO,OOEE,EOOE,OEEO. The EOEO,OEOE seems to be the least drawn "Follower Combination" from what I can see. Three of a kind will prevail most of the time. Hope this helps.

D*amn it, man!!! I just might win one of these days!!! Hopefully you will, too!!!

L.L.

Cheers my friend    Tonight could be the night.

"So maybe I am just arguing the point, but it still doesn't make sense that a person would spend money on number combinations that only come up as winners 5% of the time."

You don't understand what actually happens. We're talking about the lottery, not horse shoes. You don't win anything for being "close" or for playing a combination that has the same mix of odd and even numbers as the winning combination. Nobody plays "combinations that only come up as winners 5% of the time" even if they think that's what they're doing. People play individual combinations that win or lose depending on how many of the individual numbers match the combination that was drawn.

If you bother to do the math you'll find easy proof. The type of combination that you think makes more sense may be drawn more often, but since there are more of them to choose from you have less chance of picking the right one. all even combinations are less likely to be drawn, but since there are fewer of them you have a much better chance of having the one that is the winner. You can even prove it experimentally in an hour. Take 3 of any small identical object and paint two of them red and one of them blue, then number them 1, 2 and 3. Mix the in an opaque container and draw one of them without looking and record the result. Repeat it 99 times. Since there are twice as many red objects you should draw a red object twice as often as a blue object. Let us know if #1 is drawn twice as often as #3 just because it's red.

Ronnie316

Mega millions has had 16 drawings with 5 even numbers and 10 draws with 5 odd.  There are 28 odd and 28

even numbers.  The odds for a draw having all 5 even or odd is exactly the same but you can see from the

history that the totals for each are quite different.  If the game runs long enough then most likely the totals

for each will move closer and closer to each other.  Odds tell us what we can expect over a span of drawings

but for a single drawing they are not so telling.   Paint all the odd balls red and the even blue and you could

expect  very similar results.  There are 98,280 five number combinations of 5 odd and 98,280 with 5 even.

since ther are 3,819816 total combinations then the odds for 5 odd or 5 red balls are about 1 in 38.

3,819816/98,280=38.87.  five blue or even would be the same.

RL

I just ran a few calculations on playing all the 5 odd and 5 even combinations for every mega ball drawing.

705 * (98,280 *2) = (705 * 196560) =  $138,574,800

Average jackpot for mega millions = $105,000,000 

there have been 26 drawings where all 5 numbers were all odd or all even

26 * 105,000,000 =2,730,000,000

$2,730,000,000 - $138,547,800 = $2,591,452,200  in winnings  thats 2.59 billion in winnings over the last 

10 years.  These are my predictions for the prediction board, and I will use the same 196,560 tickets for

the life of the game.  I think this puts me on top.

RL

what are you doing up this late RL?  Got your PB sets for tonight yet?

xaab

I have a sleeping disorder and only sleep around 2 1/2 hours a day average.  Sometimes I go 2 or 3 days 

at a time without any.  I might try a couple PB tickets tonight but since I have a 15 dollar limit that means

I can only play 5 $3.00 or 7 $2.00 tickets.  I have been working on a different version of the R-L-P option

and might give PB a try.

RL

Oh I forgot you rather play the 5/39 game than the big game.  I would agree too with smaller odds but with $177 million to retire on I think you should play 5 lines like you said.

xaab

I don't know what I would do with $177 million, maybe buy new tires for my pickup truck.

Might even pay someone to wash it for me.

RL

RL

Maybe $177 million is too small for you to know what can you do with it.  You probably need it to go up to $640 million like that mega million.  That's ok though because tonight I will win it and I'll tell you what I will do after.

xaab

I already have about everything I ever wanted, probably give most of it away if I won.

RL