johnph77's Blog

Just established a new web site. Most of the dynamic pages I have on the old site will be transferred to the new site, including almost all of the pages in the /math/ folder on the old site. This will include the lottery and Keno pages.

The domain name has yet to be established. When it is, I'll publish it here.

As is the current practice on the old site, the new site will be completely non-commercial. There will be nothing for sale. I'll have some of the pages protected. A password will be required to view them. Please PM me here of Email me if you want to view them.

There wil be months of transition before the transfer is complete. In the meantime I'll try to keep all links current. If you encounter any trouble, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Posted data on Oregon's new Lucky Lines game on site. Game starts 10 Apr 06.

Work on project continues, over 70% complete, but it won't get easier. Going to have to rebuild the next phase of the project from scratch. Not really all that happy about it but client requirements make it so. Good that it was caught this early. The more you give 'em, the more they want. At least they're footing the bill.

gl

j

Back. Didn't do well in the Las Vegas tournament, but good times, good people and good friends were there to ease the situation.

Home for four weeks. Project should be in the last quarter of the first phase before next departure. Did enough work there and for the tournament to make taking the laptop along worthwhile.

Did some minor updating to the lottery page. Corrected some errata, checked and updated some other lotteries for which I had received Email requests for updates.

Collected some Keno paybooks. Not many, but I'll be checking and making minor updates there in the next few days.

Off to Las Vegas NV tomorrow for tournament - at the Plaza downtown. Taking work with me but not expecting to get much done, Vegas being Vegas.....

As a result of Email, made some additions, deletions and corrections to lottery payout and percentage page. Lotto South deleted, Win for Life added. Some formulas corrected.

I still need to do a general update. The non-U.S. lottery charts need to be updated to the formatting I started last spring. All the games need review. The Keno pages are in neeed of updating as well. I want to complete the overkill pages, which will be a chore. But work keeps getting in the way.....

Ah, well, I'll just call this a short break. Be back next Tuesday at the latest.

Work on project continues. I've decided, though, I need to slow down a little. Too many silly little mistakes creeping in when really tired.

Took some time off to add another section in the Keno computations page. I'll be doing a little of this sort of work when I take time off from the project.

Looked at the HTML code on a page I hadn't worked on in a couple of years - it's amazing how my ideas of coding have changed in that time. I guess I must have learned something.

All goes well. Las Vegas next weekend.

Home. Busted out of tournament early. Enjoyed a lot of people there. Neat trip, but a llittle tiring.

Found a couple of interesting math-related Keno questions in another forum regarding Nevada Millions, a progressive jackpot game. Diverted a little time preparing responses.

It's back to work on the main project on the agenda for now. Made a little progress while away. Going slow but well.

Off for Corpus Christi TX tomorrow for a piinochle tournament. Never have been to that part of the country before, looking forward to it. Taking a little work with me....

In response to Email, made corrections in the PowerBall and MegaMillions tables on my lottery payout page. I have no idea how mistakes like that crept in and went uncorrected with review. But the input process has changed so errata like that should not be repeated. Thanks again, Walter.

gl all - be back next Wednesday.

Have gone past the halfway point of the first phase of my latest project. If I were to continue at this pace the phase would be complete by the end of April, but that's unreasonable, what with the pinochle tournament season upcoming. The end of June seems far more realistic.

The second phase of the project will consist of organizing and publishing over 20,000 pages - data, analyses, summations and the like. I'm not totally satisfied with the format of this phase yet but I keep on tweaking. Completion of this is a long way off. But it's enjoyable work.

I need to find a month or two to update the lottery pages on site, but I don't know when that will be. I take some time occasionally to do certain sections but what really needs to be done with this is a long way off.

First stop on the tournament trail will probably be Corpus Christi TX the end of this month.

Original completion date extended as project requirements expand - now best available date is end of June, with additional work that might take a good part of the next four years. I won't go hungry.

Case in point - original analytical spreadsheets were just over 50Mb in size, now at 187Mb - without a single bit of data entered.

Programming continues. I'm in my element.

Took a few minutes off work to look at the Ohio Lot O'Play, since there's been so much rumbling and grumbling about it. There are some truly massive numbers involved here. I haven't had the time to do a complete workup and won't for quite a while, so all the numbers here are approximate.

Each ticket has five rows of five numbers from 00 to 99. There are no duplicate numbers on a ticket.

Each player can pick the five numbers in the first row only. The other 20 numbers in the other four rows are quick-pick only.

Game:

Number of possibilities for 25 numbers drawn from 100: 3,761,767,332,270,610,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, in specific order. This is the number of different tickets possible in the game.

Number of ways to arrange any 25 given numbers on a ticket: 15,511,210,043,331,000,000,000,000.

Ticket:

On a specific ticket there are 12 different jackpot possibilities - each row, each column and each diagonal, and each number in that row, column or diagonal must be the same as five of the 25 numbers drawn to win. When I do the complete workup I'll have the odds, but it looks like the Ohio Lottery's quoted 1::6,200,000 odds would be close.

More as time allows.

gl

j

Been neglecting posting here due to lack of time. Took on a major new project 28 Nov 05 that has occupied most of my time since my last return and will continue to do so through January. Everything is in abeyance until the foundation for this work is established.

LP hasn't been forgotten but the lottery page update is on hold until further notice. I still check the forum and post occasionally.

Happy holidays and the best to you and yours.

gl

John

Home until March - now to get in the mood for work.

Came back in Charleston the last two rounds to finish in the money.

Have yet to transfer lottery and Keno files from the laptop to the desktop for processing and posting, but that's up high on the agenda.

All is well.

Home from Omaha. Finished 5th out of 10, then won a mini. Wasn't a total loss.

Rebuilding lost project, have the basic framework done. New spreadsheet, format. More changes being looked at, now's the time to do them while the files are still as small as they are. They'll grow into monsters. Spreadsheets are massive as it is, but new error traps are built in.

Off to Charleston SC Mon AM for final tournament of the year. On return will continue with rebuilding, with lottery page updates done as I can get to them.

Oter projects also behind schedule. Will have to find the time for updates before departure.

Off to Omaha NE tomorrow for another tournament. Back home next Wed. Usual partner won't be there; will have to pick up a partner when I get there. Taking php language manuals along; will study them in transit.

All is well with lottery page update. Collecting information, readying for a push that will start after my return in mid-November.

Another project I had been working on went south. Something went badly with the error-trapping routines. Deleted all the old pages and files, threw out all the paperwork, will start again from scratch. New spreadsheet and format files being worked out.

Believe I've finally resolved my personal problem with RI HotTrax - finally. Wrote two separate programs on two separate computers and have come up with the same output. Publishing to my site on the main game goes up soon, the rest of the options go up as programming is complete. Lottery page update will proceed.

Leaving next week for Omaha and another tournament.