return for investment

On a 6/49 game "if" one could almost guarantee 4 or 5 with the occational 6 of the 7 numbers picked in a 26 number pool, almost every draw. What would be the best way to play them to get the best return. Should one play a 3 if 3, 3 if 4, or 4 if 5 etc. Wheeling seems to be the hardest part of playing the lottery.

  It would be interesting to know where the break even point would be if one could pick that many numbers in a 6/49 game. How many tickets would one have to purchase.

Results vary from 0 to 6 of 6. The wheel is as good as the prediction.

The denser and smaller the wheel, the bigger the chance on a high payout.
The bigger the wheel, the bigger the chance of no payout.

If you win a million and spent 1.5 millions, then you loose.

So in other words it doesn't matter if one plays 3if3, 3if4 etc. even if you could predict 4 or 5 of the 6 numbers the return would be less than the payout unless you can cut back on the quantity of tickets purchased?

Check the play slips or the game website.  The payouts are usually 5% or less of the odds of winning.  If you would normally spent a $1000 to get a certain win then the payout for it would be $50.  You have to beat the odds by quite a bit to show a profit.  Lotteries are for entertainment not for investments.

The way you (and most others) describe 6/49 wheels is not precise. Every wheel is defined by 4 parameters:

Win guarantee (W) - minimum guaranteed win, from 3 to 6;

Numbers that have to match (S for score) - the numbers actually drawn;

Numbers in the pool (N) - numbers distributed in the wheel.

Tickets (T) - the number of tickets (or lines) you have to play.

This is how I interpret these parameters: if I hit S numbers from the pool of N numbers playing T number of tickets I am GUARANTEED at least 1 (and frequently more) W win level.

Since you are interested in a 26-number wheel I have one ready for you: 3W,5S,26N,40T. This wheel guarantees that you will win at least 1 3-numbers win if you score (match) 5 numbers (S) out of 26 (N) with 40 tickets (T) played. I used this wheel for actual playing and it gave the best results: once we won over $500 for $40 and twice $200, not to mention smaller wins. The wheel is capable of delivering 4- or even 5-number wins or multiple (up to 10) 3-number wins.

This is full wheel which means all possible combinations are covered - no matter which 5 out of 26 you hit you have a minimum win. This wheel was also optimized for efficiency which means there are no redundant or duplicate tickets.

Below are the combinations (tickets):

1,4,5,6,8,11

1,4,8,11,16,17

1,4,13,14,19,26

1,4,16,17,19,26

1,5,8,13,16,19

1,5,11,14,17,26

1,6,8,14,16,26

1,6,11,13,17,19

2,3,7,9,10,12

2,3,7,12,21,23

2,3,7,15,18,20

2,3,7,22,24,25

2,7,9,10,20,25

2,7,9,15,18,23

2,7,9,21,22,24

2,7,10,15,18,21

2,7,10,22,23,24

2,7,12,15,18,25

2,7,12,20,22,24

2,7,15,18,22,24

2,7,20,21,23,25

3,9,10,12,18,24

3,9,15,21,24,25

3,9,20,22,23,24

3,10,15,18,23,25

3,10,18,20,21,22

3,12,15,20,22,25

4,5,8,14,17,19

4,5,11,13,16,26

4,6,8,13,17,26

4,6,11,14,16,19

5,6,8,11,19,26

5,6,13,14,16,17

8,11,13,14,16,17

9,10,15,21,22,23

9,12,15,18,20,21

9,12,18,22,23,25

10,12,15,20,23,24

10,12,21,22,24,25.

18,20,21,23,24,25

Try it and good luck.

In order to evaluate wheels for efficiency in monetary returns you need to backtrack them for a while. I used to go back for up to 100 games which usually gives a good idea what a wheel is capable of. Then you can compare with other wheels. And in order to do such evaluation you need to know in advance how many tickets you need to play for each wheel. That's why a wheel definition like "4 if 5 of 22" is not sufficient because it lacks the identification for tickets.

Aquarius

If you average 3.95 hits over the history of the draw, would it be wise to step one up and use a 4 if 5 or 4 if 6 wheel for that large of a pool.

I believe its worth to try our luck on lottery than not trying at all and spends thousands of money on vices... But this is my own idea...

I'm trying to find the best way to wheel.       If you could guarrantee 95% of the time 4+ of the 6 #'s in a 6/49 game, for a pool of 20 to 26 #'s what would be the lowest percentage of coverage one should try to achieve looking at a 4 if 5 for a minimum number of tickets or should you look at 4 if 6 . I am using Covermaster.I know the odds of making a profit on the lottery are against you, but it's fun trying. That's why I'm trying to figure the best way to wheel on the remote chance I might get LUCKY.   

well if U want to play a 26#'s for a good chance U will have to play 40,844 tickets in a 3even 3odd combinations.

If all 7#'s wil be in those 26#'s You play Your chance is 1in 2.

About 13,000 wins in a 3, 4, and 5#'s and 5+bonus. And possible 6#'s !

Just play and check with last 6/49 result.Do make shure U include those 7 #'s in the 26#'s !!!

Have fun