Given that just about every single thing I looked at with regard to accurately predicting numbers over the last 20 plus years has come up dry, it is time to change the strategy.

The new plan, as covered before, is to take on the jackpot games in alternating weeks. The old budget was $14 per week every week, so that was $28 in a 2 week span, this new budget, which will include adding on the multiplier and double draw for power ball will cost $12 one week and $10 the next... $22 every 2 weeks, already a $6 budget cut!

The Match 6 was hit last night, that was to be the switch point.

I know I cut back to 4 plays a week and cut the budget to $8/week but, that was not really working out well.

So for this first week, taking the $34 won on the Match 6, going to play both games (PB and MM) for an initial startup cost of $22, the $12 remaining will go to the first alternating week of the PB.

Since the initial system of classifiers was the basis of play (pick 1 combo and play it for the week), that will continue... one combo for 3 PB draws or 1 combo for 2 MM draws... that means I only need to hit the kiosk once in a week. The Markov Chain Follower data will be used to break any ties, but this iteration will focus on classifiers at transitions. 

Because the app has been fixed for the truncating bonus ball table issue, it is entirely possible to make a pick on the go, but because I have windows and android both running, picks can be made with both data screens open at the same time.

Looking at the alternation, the annual cost would be $572. That is much lower than the old budget that had an annual cost of $728. The cost of playing both jackpot games every week would have been $1,144... hence the alternating weeks.

The plan is to first check the results to see where in the tables the winning numbers came from on the classifier table and THEN update the draws after the cycle completes, that way it can be seen which areas the winning numbers were drawn. Follower data becomes irrelevant after the first draw.

The big back test is going to be way more complex than I originally anticipated, the csv file generated will be massive, as one single row will have data from all of the classifiers AND all of the followers... that would be 40 cells just for the pick 2, add another 10 columns for the stats... PB would have a minimum of 200! This means writing the csv and ingesting to a database table, because that will be one busy spreadsheet! Wide for the jackpot games (many columns) and tall for the pick N games (many rows). But it is the only way to get an accurate back test, because the entire output of both functions needs to be captured on each row.

Now if I separate the functions, that would be a bit more useful as the individual functions can be back tested, then the tables can be merged later. Might go that route.

It all may prove to be a waste of time, but I got this far. Every software engineering goal was met with the app, except the winning part... that very well be truly impossible... but it can never be said that I did not try...