United States
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February 26, 2007
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I got a $5 Powerball QP today, and the numbers are oddly alike. The powerballs are all different, but the white balls look very similar. 6 shows up twice as the first ball, 15 shows twice as the second number, 51 shows twice as the last position, 8 shows as the first number on one line and the second on another. I don't often buy this many lines, but I've noticed this type of thing before, too.
Do you think this is a plus or a minus? I mean it's sorta like playing a wheel, isn't it? Do you buy lines on separate tickets or anything else to prevent this?
I've never played MegaMillions, so maybe the same is true for those QP's too.
United States
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July 9, 2007
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I've had a similar odd thing to happen to me in QPs PB as well. If I fill out a card and only have a couple lines of my numbers and the rest QP... the QPs are very similar and have MULTIPLE duplicates from my picks. It's got to the point now I leave the extra slots blank and just ask for the 2 or 3 QPs separate from my own picks sheet.
Indiana United States
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January 7, 2007
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Quote: Originally posted by LuckyLilly on Aug 9, 2007
I got a $5 Powerball QP today, and the numbers are oddly alike. The powerballs are all different, but the white balls look very similar. 6 shows up twice as the first ball, 15 shows twice as the second number, 51 shows twice as the last position, 8 shows as the first number on one line and the second on another. I don't often buy this many lines, but I've noticed this type of thing before, too.
Do you think this is a plus or a minus? I mean it's sorta like playing a wheel, isn't it? Do you buy lines on separate tickets or anything else to prevent this?
I've never played MegaMillions, so maybe the same is true for those QP's too.
One guess is as good as another. Either way, by buying 5 sets, you have improved your odds from 1 in 146,107,962 to 1 in 29,221,592.
Indiana United States
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December 29, 2005
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Lilly,
I've had that happen too and I don't know the answer. Obviously if some of those numbers hit and you win on multiple lines it's a good thing. If none of them hit it's a bad thing.
Some fo the weirdest things I've ever seen...I once bought a $5 ticket for Powerball. I picked the first line and the other 4 lines were Quick Picks. The number I chose for Powerball repeated on 3 of the Quick Pick lines. Five lines and the Powerball was the same on 4 of them.
Two weeks ago I made a similar purchase. On one of the Quick Pick lines all the numbers were over 40!
That's what you get when you use Quick Picks.
Jim
Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy. - Groucho Marx
NY United States
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October 16, 2005
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Quote: Originally posted by Uncle Jim on Aug 10, 2007
Lilly,
I've had that happen too and I don't know the answer. Obviously if some of those numbers hit and you win on multiple lines it's a good thing. If none of them hit it's a bad thing.
Some fo the weirdest things I've ever seen...I once bought a $5 ticket for Powerball. I picked the first line and the other 4 lines were Quick Picks. The number I chose for Powerball repeated on 3 of the Quick Pick lines. Five lines and the Powerball was the same on 4 of them.
Two weeks ago I made a similar purchase. On one of the Quick Pick lines all the numbers were over 40!
That's what you get when you use Quick Picks.
Jim
Enough people here have said they've gotten QP's with repeated numbers that I'm figuring the RNG has been designed to select a few numbers more than required for a single line and then generate the multiple lines from that set of numbers. As far as all numbers being over 40, that should be expected now and then. For MM there are 3,819,816 combinations for the 5 white balls, and 6188 of them have no numbers below 40. That means that out of 617 random combinations 1 should all be 40 and over, and another should have nothing higher than 17. 37 more will also be limited to a 17 number range, but you're less likely to notice when it's the one from 16 to 32. That's a total of about 6% of all random tickets. I'd guess that far fewer of players' picks are limited to a 17 number range.
Delaware United States
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January 14, 2006
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As long as one number is different in each set, your odds go up, period. One time I had a $10 QP for Powerball with Powerplay with 3 of the same red balls, and that happen to be the one that was drawn with a 5x multiplier. That was a quick $45 return on my $10. Don't count your loosings before the drawing...
United States
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December 12, 2004
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what i was saying previously,was that the lottery probably meant for 5 individuals to come in and buy 5 tickets,each with losing repeat numbers on them.
nashville United States
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February 18, 2007
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Quote: Originally posted by Meows on Aug 9, 2007
I've had a similar odd thing to happen to me in QPs PB as well. If I fill out a card and only have a couple lines of my numbers and the rest QP... the QPs are very similar and have MULTIPLE duplicates from my picks. It's got to the point now I leave the extra slots blank and just ask for the 2 or 3 QPs separate from my own picks sheet.
i noticed that before and since each terminal picks its own numbers i try to spread out quick picks over individual tickets
MN United States
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December 7, 2001
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Quote: Originally posted by LuckyLilly on Aug 9, 2007
I got a $5 Powerball QP today, and the numbers are oddly alike. The powerballs are all different, but the white balls look very similar. 6 shows up twice as the first ball, 15 shows twice as the second number, 51 shows twice as the last position, 8 shows as the first number on one line and the second on another. I don't often buy this many lines, but I've noticed this type of thing before, too.
Do you think this is a plus or a minus? I mean it's sorta like playing a wheel, isn't it? Do you buy lines on separate tickets or anything else to prevent this?
I've never played MegaMillions, so maybe the same is true for those QP's too.
Can you post the exact combinations so I can look them over?
nashville United States
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February 18, 2007
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Quote: Originally posted by JADELottery on Aug 10, 2007
Can you post the exact combinations so I can look them over?
i think the tickets are for saturdays drawing so she may not want to show them until the drawing is over and she knows no one will play the same numbers
United States
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October 22, 2005
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Quote: Originally posted by LuckyLilly on Aug 9, 2007
I got a $5 Powerball QP today, and the numbers are oddly alike. The powerballs are all different, but the white balls look very similar. 6 shows up twice as the first ball, 15 shows twice as the second number, 51 shows twice as the last position, 8 shows as the first number on one line and the second on another. I don't often buy this many lines, but I've noticed this type of thing before, too.
Do you think this is a plus or a minus? I mean it's sorta like playing a wheel, isn't it? Do you buy lines on separate tickets or anything else to prevent this?
I've never played MegaMillions, so maybe the same is true for those QP's too.
I love your post.
I have tried to discuss this point before but no one gets what I was saying about odds.
I have made posts not too long ago saying that duplicate numbers like yours are lucky. I based a system of picks on these duplicate.
My theory is that if you are buying a handful of lines, you odds of matching the right numbers is greater than say buying one ticket IE 10 > 1. There are 5 white balls in one line (1 of 10). To win using these white balls, you have to match >2 numbers. With you tickets have 10 lines, it is likely that you will duplicate one of the winning numbers. (likely but not compulsory).
With 10 lines, you might get 1 out of 5 or 2 out of 5 and lose(excluding the PB). Or you can get 3 out of 5 etc and win. Because you bought 10 lines and 10 > 10-1. You can see why the numbers that will be draw is likely one of your duplicates.
[I picked one line and played it 8x before I even read your post. I have 2 of the numbers you mentioned in my line. I think that's a good sign.]
Another thing, take a closer look at the numbers you mentioned. 6 is cold, cooler numbers are due. 8, 15 and 51 are adjacent to most recent numbers so the are good because it follows the bell curve.
This is a weird look on odds. I have tried to talk about odds here but people are not receptive. Everyone always goes the odds are the same. Take the number 6 for instance. When 6 was "hot"(whatever that mean) People played it and lost. The number of people playing the number 6 will be virtually decrementing for the past 25 drawings that at this instance, fewer people(looking at past results I guess) are less likely to pick 6. To make up for the discrepancy in the ratio of the number 6 picked (When 6 will be drawn), the machine will spit out more 6s because of all the people who will avoid it.