Winning the Lottery

$262 Million on the Eleventh of the Eleventh

2005-11-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

Finally Mega Millions goes above a quarter of a billion dollars. Will it be won, or are we finally heading for our first ever half billion dollar jackpot? Only time will tell. Or you could pick up a cool $20 million on Powerball or $26 million on the California Lottery's California SuperLotto Plus.

Have you ever dreamed of a big lottery win? So do millions of others, but you can grab an unfair advantage over them with NetLotto, the only system to have correctly predicted the Mega Millions winning numbers.

$225 Million: That's the Mega Millions We Know and Love!

2005-11-05T00:43:00.000-08:00

The next Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $225 million! That's on its way to a quarter of a billion dollars. Will it be won, or are we finally heading for our first ever half billion dollar jackpot? Only time will tell. And the California Lottery's no slouch either, with the next California SuperLotto Plus jackpot guaranteed at $22 million.

Have you ever dreamed of a big lottery win? So do millions of others, but you can grab an unfair advantage over them with NetLotto, the only system to have correctly predicted the Mega Millions winning numbers.

Mega Millions a Lousy $15 Million

2005-09-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing how relative things are? I don't know how you'd feel about winning fifteen million dollars, but in normal circumstances it would suit me just fine. But after watching Mega Millions on its way to half a billion and then seeing one lucky New Jerseyite take out $250 million, $15 million seems almost like chicken feed. One ticket from New Jersey won the Mega Millions jackpot of $250 million. That's a quarter of a billion dollars!

Have you ever dreamed of a big lottery win? So do millions of others, but you can grab an unfair advantage over them with NetLotto, the system that shows you how to win the lottery.

New Jerseyite Wins $250 Million

2005-09-16T23:46:00.000-07:00

One ticket from New Jersey won the Mega Millions jackpot of $250 million. That's a quarter of a billion dollars!

Have you ever dreamed of a big lottery win? So do millions of others, but you can grab an unfair advantage over them with NetLotto, the system that shows you how to win the lottery.

Only $250,000 away from Half a Billion.

2005-09-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

The next Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $250 million! That's a quarter of a billion dollars. Are we on our way to our first ever half billion dollar jackpot? Only time will tell. And the California Lottery's no slouch either, with the next California SuperLotto Plus jackpot guaranteed at $37 million.

Have you ever dreamed of a big lottery win? So do millions of others, but you can grab an unfair advantage over them with NetLotto, the system that shows you how to win the lottery.

Mega Millions Jackpot Rises to $200 Million!

2005-09-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

As I've said before, the California Lottery couldn't have hoped for a better introduction to their membership of the Mega Millions club. First of all, as soon as they join, the jackpot keeps going up and up, causing Californians to fall over themselves to buy tickets, finally culminating in a payout of $171 million. But at the same time, the California Lottery's Super Lotto Plus climbs to a jackpot of $55 million, ensuring that this traditional Californian Lottery doesn't suffer. And what does Mega Millions and the California Lottery then do? That's right, the both start to jackpot again. The next Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $200 million! That's a cool one-fifth of a billion dollars. And the California Lottery's no slouch either, with the next California SuperLotto Plus jackpot guaranteed at $33 million.

Have you ever dreamed of a big lottery win? So do millions of others, but you can grab an unfair advantage over them with NetLotto, the system that shows you how to win the lottery.

All Happening with Mega Millions, California Lottery, Powerball

2005-08-31T03:08:00.000-07:00

With the next Mega Millions jackpot expected to be $131 million on September 2 and the California Lottery jackpot up to $22 million on August 31, it's all happening for the residents of sunny California. NetLotto gives you a fighting chance at these two great jackpots.

And don't forget Powerball has changed. You now select 5 from 55 instead of 53. You can download the new games file, incorporating the Powerball change, from the NetLotto Web Site.

As always, may your numbers be winning numbers.

Mega Millions at $111 Million

2005-08-29T04:11:00.000-07:00

As I've said before, the California Lottery couldn't have hoped for a better introduction to their membership of the Mega Millions club. First of all, as soon as they join, the jackpot keeps going up and up, causing Californians to fall over themselves to buy tickets, finally culminating in a payout of $171 million. But at the same time, the California Lottery's Super Lotto Plus climbs to a jackpot of $55 million, ensuring that this traditional Californian lottery doesn't suffer. And what does Mega Millions then do? That's right, starts to jackpot again. No one had the winning numbers 5, 20, 38, 47, 54 with a Mega Ball of 35 last night, so the Tuesday, August 30 Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $111 million!

Have you ever dreamed of a big lottery win? So do millions of others, but you can grab an unfair advantage over them with NetLotto, the system that shows you how to win the lottery.

Top 10 Jackpots

2005-08-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

Mega Millions is back on top of the jackpot table with $97 million up for grabs. But there's still plenty of others around for us NetLotto users to have go at. The next nine biggest jackpots currently are:

Euromillions: $55 million
Lotto Texas: $42 million
Florida Lotto: $35 million
Powerball: $25 million
Oregon Megabucks: $16.6 million
California Super Lotto Plus: $16 million
New York Lotto: $15 million
UK Lotto Extra: $11.8 million
Canada Super 7: $10 million.

NetLotto remains the only system ever to have selected a Mega Millions winning ticket! Check out how at http://www.netlotto.org/megamillions_winning_entry.htm.

Mega Millions Already Back to $84 Million

2005-08-20T00:47:00.000-07:00

The California Lottery couldn't have hoped for a better introduction to their membership of the Mega Millions club. First of all, as soon as they join, the jackpot keeps going up and up, causing Californians to fall over themselves to buy tickets, finally culminating in a payout of $171 million. But at the same time, the California Lottery's Super Lotto Plus climbs to a jackpot of $55 million, ensuring that this traditional Californian lottery doesn't suffer. And what does Mega Millions then do? That's right, starts to jackpot again. No one had the winning numbers 2, 13, 18, 36 and 46, with a Mega Ball of 36 last night, so the next Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $84 million.

Have you ever dreamed of a big lottery win? So do millions of others, but you can grab an unfair advantage over them with NetLotto, the system that shows you how to win the lottery.

Win the California Lottery

2005-08-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

You can win the California Lottery with NetLotto. NetLotto has predicted winning lottery numbers for the California Lottery and can do the same for you. Works for California Super Lotto Plus, Fantasy 5 and Mega Millions. Don't dream of winning the ca lotto, do it. Please click on the link http://www.netlotto.org/california_lottery.htm for a special deal for players of the California Lottery.

Focus On: American Powerball

2005-08-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

There are a number of Powerball games around the world. While they may use various numbers of balls, they all follow the same structure. You select 5 numbers from one pool and another number, the Power Ball, from another pool of numbers. The main prize is won by selecting all 5 main balls plus the Power Ball. Second prize is won by selecting all 5 main balls but not the Power Ball. Then there are minor prizes down to selecting just the Power Ball by itself.

American Powerball is one of the most popular lottery games in the United States. Just 1 day ago, on August 10, the jackpot of $93.4 million was won by a single player in New Mexico. The winning numbers were 13, 31, 36, 38, 49 with a Power Ball of 2. The Powerball jackpot is contributed to by players from 29 states, one of the reasons it can grow to such a large amount.

To make Powerball jackpots even bigger, changes are happening from August 28. Two additional white balls are being added to the main pool, so that you will select 5 from 55 instead of 5 from 53. The Power Ball pool remains the same. You select 1 from 42.

Coinciding with this change, jackpots will start at $15 million instead of $10 million and will increase with each draw by at least $5 million. This means bigger jackpots faster. The second prize will double from $100,000 to $200,000 which means that if the Power Play option is taken at a cost of $1 and a Power Play of 5 is drawn, second prize could potentially be $1 million. This should be very attractive to players.

Finally, in the first recognition of the effects of inflation by a lottery board, the annuity option will provide an increasing annuity each year.

NetLotto gives you your best chance of winning Powerball. All NetLotto users will have their program upgraded free of charge to allow for the new Powerball rules from August 28.

Euromillions Update

2005-08-09T00:11:00.000-07:00

As no one selected all 7 numbers in the August 5 draw, the Euromillions lottery has jackpotted again to 24 million euros (approx. $US31 million.) NetLotto gives you your best chance of winning Euromillions.

Tomorrow: American Powerball

Focus on: Euromillions

2005-08-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

This is the third of a series of articles focusing on lotteries handled by the NetLotto program. You can win Euromillions with NetLotto.

Rules, Odds and Jackpots
For Euromillions, you select 5 numbers from 50, plus two extra numbers called Lucky Stars from a separate pool of 9. The total number of possible Euromillions combinations is 76,275,360 and there are twelve combinations of winning numbers, ranging from all 5 main balls plus the two Lucky Stars down to just two main balls and one Lucky Star. Euromillions was started in February 2004 by the U.K., France and Spain and has already resulted in some very large jackpots. The current Euromillions jackpot is €15 million.

Number Frequency
NetLotto gives you instant number frequency for all games for which past results are kept. This may help you to predict your own winning numbers. For example: For Euromillions, the most frequently drawn number since the game started was 1 and the least frequently drawn number was 17, which has only been drawn twice! NetLotto gives your best chance of winning Euromillions.

Tomorrow: American Powerball

Focus On: Texas Lottery

2005-08-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

This is the second of a series of articles focusing on lotteries handled by the NetLotto program.

You can win the Texas Lottery with NetLotto. There are several Texas lotteries to choose from. Of the Texas lotteries, NetLotto can generate winning numbers for Lotto Texas, Texas Two Step and Texas Cash 5. These are all the 5 ball and 6 ball lotteries run by the Texas Lottery.

Rules, Odds and Jackpots
For Lotto Texas, you select 5 numbers from 44, plus an extra number (the Bonus Ball) from a separate pool of 44. The total number of possible Lotto Texas combinations is 47,784,352 and there are eight combinations of winning numbers, ranging from all 6 balls down to just one main ball and the Bonus Ball. Lotto Texas has been responsible for some very large jackpots. The current Lotto Texas jackpot is $34 million.

For Texas Two Step, you select 4 numbers from 35, plus an extra number (the Bonus Ball) from a separate pool of 35. The total number of possible Texas Two Step combinations is 1,832,600 and there are seven combinations of winning numbers, ranging from all 5 balls down to just the Bonus Ball.

For Texas Cash 5, you simply select 5 numbers from 37. That's it. The total number of Texas Cash 5 combinations is only 435,897, so there are only four combinations of winning numbers. Your chances of winning a prize are very good.

Number Frequency
NetLotto gives you instant number frequency for all games for which past results are kept. This may help you to predict your own winning numbers. For example: For Lotto Texas, the most frequently drawn number since 1/01/2000 was 9 and the least frequently drawn number was 31. For Texas Two Step, the most frequently drawn number since 1/01/2000 was 17 and the least frequently drawn number was 14. For Texas Cash 5, the most frequently drawn number since 1/01/2000 was 19 and the least frequently drawn number was 30.

NetLotto gives your best chance of winning any (or all!) of the Texas lotteries.

Tomorrow: Euromillions

Focus On: California Lottery

2005-08-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is the first of a series of articles focusing on lotteries handled by the NetLotto program.

You can win the California Lottery with NetLotto. There are several California lotteries to choose from, especially with the recent addition of Mega Millions. Of the California lotteries, NetLotto can generate winning numbers for Mega Millions, California Super Lotto Plus and California Fantasy 5. These are all the 5 ball and 6 ball lotteries run by the California Lottery.

Rules, Odds and Jackpots
For Mega Millions, you select 5 numbers from 56, plus an extra number (the Mega Ball) from a separate pool of 46. The total number of possible Mega Millions combinations is 175,711,536 and there are nine combinations of winning numbers, ranging from all 6 balls down to just the Mega Ball. Mega Millions was responsible for the largest jackpot ever. The current Mega Millions jackpot is $32 million.

For California Super Lotto Plus, you select 5 numbers from 47, plus an extra number (the Mega Number) from a separate pool of 27. The total number of possible California Super Lotto Plus combinations is 41,416,353 and there are nine combinations of winning numbers, just like Mega Millions. The current California Super Lotto Plus jackpot is $55 million.

For California Fantasy 5, you simply select 5 numbers from 39. That's it. The total number of California Fantasy 5 combinations is only 575,757, so there are only four combinations of winning numbers. Your chances of winning a prize are very good.

Number Frequency
NetLotto gives you instant number frequency for all games for which past results are kept. This may help you to predict your own winning numbers. For example:

For Mega Millions, the most frequently drawn number since 1/01/2000 was 22 and the least frequently drawn number (before the change when California came on board) was 51.

For California Super Lotto Plus, the most frequently drawn number since 1/01/2000 was 9 and the least frequently drawn number was 37.

For California Fantasy 5, the most frequently drawn number since 1/01/2000 was 24 and the least frequently drawn number was 17.

NetLotto gives your best chance of winning any (or all!) of the Californian lotteries.

Tomorrow: Texas Lotto

How to Win the Lottery

2005-08-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

The one question I'm asked more than any other is the obvious one - How do I win the lottery? I always reply that there are 4 tried and true guidelines:

For any one game, put in a large number of individual entries (not computer-generated picks.)
Spread your number selections across low and high, odd and even, with a sprinkling of adjacent numbers.
Avoid geometric patterns.
For any one game, examine the history to determine number frequency, and make some of your entries reflect the significantly “hot” numbers that you’ve discovered for that game.

While these won't guarantee that you'll win the lottery, they'll increase your chances significantly.

Many hundreds of lottery players all over the world have been winning the lottery in their countries using these simple principles, combined with their own intuition, in the unique and powerful way built in to the NetLotto program.

For only $29.95 and with a no-risk money back guarantee, NetLotto gives you your best chance to win the lottery.

Do Australians Ever Win the Jackpot?

2005-08-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Of course they do. Australian lotteries jackpot to multi-million dollar values just like anywhere else. But the point of the question is that you'd never know it, because Australian laws allow lottery winners to remain anonymous and most of them wisely choose that option. Why wisely? Well, something to do with threats, kidnappings, attempted murder and an endless stream of con artists and beggars, both individual and corporate. In contrast, U.S. legislation insists that the names of lottery winners are in the public domain and so you cannot request anonymity after a big win. Your name and whereabouts WILL be published by the lottery organization.

I guess we're just lucky that the U.S. doesn't have any stalkers, thieves, murderers or con-artists, aren't we?

Does Powerball have Mega Millions envy?

2005-07-26T23:58:00.000-07:00

As reported in a previous post, Mega Millions changed its rules to make jackpots harder to win when California joined the club. This paid off immediately. There were no winners, and the jackpot just got bigger and bigger until it reached $170 million, and was won by a group of six co-workers in Ohio.

The Powerball folk were green with envy. "The players are just beating the game," Iowa Lottery President Edward Stanek said Monday. "We had 11 Powerball jackpot winners the year before, and we have had more than a 50 percent increase for the fiscal year just ended."

More winners means smaller jackpots and, as every lottery director knows, it's the multi-million dollar jackpots that get everyone buying tickets.

Major changes are coming for Powerball next month that are intended to lure more players who want bigger jackpots. "The overall odds will be going from about 1 in 122 million to 1 in 146 million," Stanek said. "The goal is to have the average jackpot somewhere above $90 million when won, and to achieve jackpots in the range of $200 million to $300 million more often."

Starting August 28, 2005, the guaranteed starting jackpot will increase from $10 million to $15 million and the prize for players who match the first five numbers will be doubled to $200,000.

Two white balls will be added to the first pool of numbers in Powerball drawings, meaning players will choose five from 55. The Powerball pool will remain at 42. This increases the total number of combinations to 146,107,962, just slightly more than Stanek's estimate.

NetLotto will be changed to reflect the new Powerball rules as soon as they come into effect, and the change distributed free of charge to all NetLotto users.

Someone's $170 million richer

2005-07-23T01:22:00.000-07:00

Well, it went off, didn't it? If a NetLotto user out there won the $170,000,000 Mega Millions jackpot, you will let me know, won't you?

And Another!

2005-07-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

Now we are 77. With the addition of the Maryland Bonus Match 5 game, at the specific request of a Maryland customer, NetLotto's 77th game has been added. Existing NetLotto customers can download the latest games file at http://www.netlotto.org/download_game_definitions.htm. Any NetLotto customer is welcome to request the addition of any game by sending an email to help@netlotto.org.

For your best chance at winning any lottery, visit the NetLotto web site.

Or ... you can subscribe to my totally free, no obligation, in fact nothing except interesting lottery facts and helpful hints on how to win the lottery, at http://www.netlotto.org/subscribe.htm.

New games added to NetLotto

2005-07-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

Some new games have been added to NetLotto, now making 76 in all. The new ones include:

Ohio Super Lotto
Ohio Rolling Cash 5
Texas Cash 5
Texas 2 Step
The Irish Lottery

You can add all the latest games to your NetLotto package by clicking on the following link:
http://www.netlotto.org/download_game_definitions.htm
and following the on-screen instructions.

If you want the latest Past Results, they've now been updated to July 18, 2005 and can be downloaded by clicking on the following link:
http://www.netlotto.org/download_past_results.htm
and following the on-screen instructions.

A word of warning, however. Don't download past results if you've been updating past results for your game manually, as your file would be replaced by the downloaded one.

Mega Millions
What about Mega Millions? Now up to $170 million. Where will it stop? When it does, I sure hope it goes to one of us!

Good luck to everyone.

Email and Telephone Lottery Scams

2005-07-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

I've written a number of articles in my Lottery Tips Newsletter about email and telephone based lottery scams, promoting the simple message "if you didn't enter it, you haven't won it." This article, which illustrates just how some of these scams go, is from the online magazine, Expatica:

On receipt of an e-mail from an Internet scam outfit, the Editor of Expatica Netherlands wasted no time in ringing up to collect the promised $1 million jackpot prize.

"Yes, it is amazing isn't it," the voice on the line from Germany replied as I expressed surprise at winning a lottery that I had never heard of before. (I didn't bother to mention that I had regularly consigned dozens of similar e-mails to the recycle bin).

"You are all just very lucky," the man with an accent replied undaunted when told that two other colleagues have also received e-mails the same day telling them how to collect their winnings.

So, if this isn't a scam, how does it work?

"Absolutely, we are genuine. It is an Internet lottery, special software picks out the numbers of the winning computers active on the Internet," the man said.

Really, how does that work?

"The software picks the computer numbers... I don't know... I only work here."

Don't worry about it. Can I have my money now?

"Sure. Which e-mail did you receive and what is your name?"

Doubt
At this stage I begin to feel the guy on the other end of the phone isn't even trying.
Who ever heard of anyone running a mysterious sweepstakes lottery, with USD 50 million (EUR 43 million) to promote their company? I had just "won" and I still wasn't any clearer about my benefactor who was supposed to be "promoted". And the man on the other end of the line didn't know who I — the winner — was. How many prizes were they awarding?

Why did I have to ring a number in Germany if the "MACOM GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL NETHERLAND SWEEPSTAKES LOTTERY AND PROMOTION" is based in Washeet Straat in Amsterdam. (The capitals and the incorrect spelling of the Netherlands come from their e-mail.) I must confess in my eagerness I forgot to mention my strong suspicion — supported by maps of the city — that there is no Washeet Straat.

Back to the e-mail: "your company/individual name attached to the ticket numbers 1001-58255563-2285 with serial number 8888/03 drew from the lucky numbers 02-22-00-66-99-85, which consequently won the lottery in the TWO category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US 1 million in cash credited to file SWD/5333/00128/03UAD".

Killer Blow
This sounds great except for one minor detail: It does not make any sense. After about 10 minutes on the phone, I deliver what I thought would be the killer blow.

Is Macon in any way connected to the Internet lottery company in Eindhoven?

"No."

Are you sure?

"Absolutely, we are an independent company."

I'm just asking because this is the third time this month that I have won. I think I will buy a yacht with this million dollars to go with the mansion and the wife with big breasts I bought with the three million in winnings from the Eindhoven company.

"What a good idea! (Chuckles) Just send us your details so we can deposit the money into your account... and remember due to the mix up of some numbers and names, please keep this top secret until your claims has been processed."

When I continued to ask that he send me a cheque, he assured me Dr. Brown would ring me shortly. I am still waiting for the good doctor's call and for my cash.

The conversation was good for a laugh, but the people and rationale behind such lottery-win e-mails are far from a joke.

These e-mails are a hybrid form of the 419, a scam developed in Nigeria to prey on the financially vulnerable in Africa and greedy people in rich countries. On occasions, victims who make contact with the sender to collect their monies have been assaulted, robbed and some have even been murdered. The rest of us confront clogged up e-mail in-boxes.
The scam begins with a letter, e-mail or call from a "government official or businessman" — supposedly based in Nigeria — telling the recipient "confidentially" that a large amount of money is available and help is needed to transfer the money. In exchange, people are offered a share of the profits. The only drawback, is that the "help" involves paying over an advance fee or providing your bank account details.

Some forms of the e-mail claim to be sent by a relative or former associate of the late General Sani Abacha of Nigeria or some other odious and corrupt African dictator.

The writers are hardly original; most begin: "You may be surprised to receive this... " or in the case of lottery scams: "We are pleased to inform you... "

For a REAL chance at winning the lottery, check out my NetLotto program.

Mega Millions Reaches an Estimated $122 Million!

2005-07-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

While the debate about the legality of California's entry into Mega Millions goes on, the Mega Millions jackpot just goes on and on as well. The higher odds calculated in our last post sure have paid off for the lottery organizers, with no one getting all five balls and the mega ball since the change in ball numbers was made. This has resulted in one of the biggest lottery jackpots ever, with an estimated $122 million up for grabs in the drawing to be held on Friday, July 15. Try NetLotto to maximize your chances of winning the life changing Mega Millions jackpot. After all, NetLotto has done it before. Maybe it's your turn this time.

How does the Mega Millions change affect you?

2005-06-27T02:41:00.000-07:00

To coincide with California joining the club, the folk at Mega Millions changed the numbers. And without a lot of publicity, too. A pretty thorough search of their Web Site failed to find anything about it. So what was the change?

Well, instead of selecting 5 numbers from 1 to 52, you now select 5 numbers from 1 to 56. No big deal, perhaps. Especially as, to make up, the mega ball is now selected from a separate pool of only 46, instead of 52.

Let's look at the arithmetic. Under the old system, there were 52 possibilities for the first ball and then, after it was drawn, 51 for the second and so on down to 48 for the fifth.

52 x 51 x 50 x 49 x 48 = 311,875,200

But this includes each combination of the same 5 balls arranged in different ways. How many ways are there of combining any 5 balls? Well, there's 5 possibilities for the first one, 4 for the second and so on. So we have to divide the number above by

5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 120

311,875,200 divided by 120 = 2,598,960

Then, for each of those combinations, another 52 possibilities for the mega ball. So the total number of possible winning number combinations was:

2,598,960 x 52 = 135,145,920

Using the same arithmetic, the total number of possible winning number combinations under the new system is:

(56 x 55 x 54 x 53 x 52)/120 x 46 = 175,711,536

In other words, there are now approximately 1.3 times as many possibilities as before. We can only surmise this is to offset the greater number of entries and therefore the higher chance of there being a winning entry with the addition of the Californian population to the pool. And, as Powerball has shown, the last thing the organizers want is too many winners, too often. Because fewer winners means more and bigger jackpots, and it's bigger jackpots that get everyone playing.

Remember that whatever the odds, you can improve them with NetLotto and the new Mega Millions rules are built right in. Check out NetLotto now.

Investment Strategies

2005-06-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

Firstly, you must set yourself an annual budget. In the following example, we’ll assume you’ve decided on an average investment of $30 a week, so your annual budget is $30 x 52 = $1,560. Yes, it does seem like a lot of money, but it’s better to get your head round it now, rather than just spend it every week without realizing what you’re doing.

If you want to spend less or more, just scale the calculations up or down.

Let’s assume your lottery has 10 minor jackpots a year and 4 major jackpots a year. Our strategy is going to be to invest smaller amounts on the “normal” weekly entries so that we can put larger amounts when there’s a jackpot. Larger amounts mean more entries, which increase dramatically our chances of winning not only the jackpot but also one or more of the minor prizes that also typically increase when there’s a jackpot.

We want to do twice the normal number of entries when there’s a minor jackpot and five times the normal number of entries when there’s a major jackpot. To work this out, we use a little bit of algebra.

Suppose our normal investment is x dollars. We will invest five times this amount on the 4 major jackpots, twice this amount on the 10 minor jackpots and exactly this amount on the 38 remaining “normal” weeks (52 weeks in the year less the 14 “jackpot” weeks.) As our total expenditure for the year is $1,560, this gives us:

38x + 10(2x) + 4(5x) = $1,560
38x + 20x + 20x = $1,560
78x = $1,560
x = $20
2x = $40
5x = $100

So our average expenditure of $30 per week is made up of $20 for each of the normal 38 games, $40 for each of the 10 minor jackpot games and $100 for each of the 5 major jackpot games. If you use the NetLotto program to select your numbers, you can easily tell it how many entries you want to generate for any one game, making it particularly easy to implement this investment strategy.

Tomorrow: How does the Mega Millions change affect you?

How to improve your odds using differences

2005-06-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Consider a winning lottery sequence:

4 11 19 28 34 44

Another way of representing this sequence is by starting with the first ball, and then recording the difference between it and the next one, and so on. Note that we have already taken advantage of the fact that it doesn’t matter what order the balls are drawn in, so we have first rearranged them from the lowest to the highest. In this way, we avoid negative numbers.

Our number sequence becomes:

4 7 8 9 6 10

If we had selected those numbers, it would be just as good as selecting the winning sequence, because the second sequence is readily converted back to the first:

4
4 + 7 = 11
11 + 8 = 19
19 + 9 = 28
28 + 6 = 34
34 + 10 = 44

Why is this important? NetLotto's built-in statistical analysis shows that low numbers appear to be drawn more frequently than high numbers, and that there is usually a reasonable distribution of numbers. Suppose these two facts combined to show that for more than 90% of the time, the difference between adjacent numbers was never greater than 10. This would mean that instead of having to pick 6 numbers out of 49, we would only have to pick 6 numbers out of 10! This improves our odds by a factor of 14.

Tomorrow: Investment strategies

Strategies for winning the lottery

2005-06-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Four simple strategies to help you to a winng entry:

For any one game, put in a large number of individual entries (not quick picks.)
Spread your number selections across low and high, odd and even, with a sprinkling of adjacent numbers.
Avoid geometric patterns.
For any one game, examine the history to determine number frequency, and make some of your entries reflect the significantly “hot” numbers that you’ve discovered for that game.

NetLotto implements these and other strategies to give you the best possible chance of winning the lottery.

Tomorrow: How to improve your odds using differences

Lotteries are banned in the United States for nearly 70 years

2005-06-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

By the early 1800s in the U.S., lotteries were very popular, but abuse by private citizens meant that the government was not getting the profit to which it believed that it was entitled, and attempts began to outlaw lotteries. In the 1820s, New York passed the first constitutional prohibition of lotteries. One of the most effective methods of selling lottery tickets had been through post offices, but in 1827, a law was passed banning postmasters from selling them and in 1868, Congress declared that it was unlawful to use the mail for lotteries.

In 1856, the Act Concerning Lotteries expressly forbade all types of lotteries in Canada. This Act especially affected the Catholic Church, whose clergy had financed its mission from lottery proceeds for almost a hundred years.

By 1878, all states except Louisiana had prohibited lotteries, either by statute or in their constitution. The Louisiana Lottery was one of the most successful lotteries ever and ran tickets all over the country by pony express and mail post until it was outlawed. In its heyday, the Louisiana Lottery gained over 90% of its revenue from out of state sources but was surrounded by allegations of political bribery and corruption from its inception in 1868.

The U.S. Supreme Court started the 20th century by reaffirming the states’ use of police powers to control gambling, effectively ending all legal gambling in the United States, including the Louisiana Lottery. The Supreme Court ruled that lotteries had “a demoralizing influence upon the people.”
Lotteries, with their amazing history of funding public and private enterprise back to ancient times, were prohibited in the United States by constitutional provisions for the next 60 to 70 years.

Tomorrow: Strategies for winning the lottery

Some lottery history

2005-06-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the first national lottery in America was started by the Continental Congress in 1776 to raise funds for the American Revolution? In fact, many of the Founding Fathers played and sponsered lotteries:

Benjamin Franklin used lotteries to finance cannons for the Revolutionary War.
George Washington financed construction of the Mountain Road, which opened expansion West of Virginia, by operating a lottery.
Thomas Jefferson, who was $80,000 in debt at the end of his life, used a lottery to dispose of most of his property.
John Hancock operated a lottery to finance the rebuild of historic Faneuil Hall in Boston.

In addition, public lotteries helped build several American universities, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Brown and Dartmouth.

Tomorrow: Lotteries are banned in the United States for nearly 70 years.

Results of Annuity or Lump Sum Quiz

2005-06-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

Imagine you've won the lottery jackpot, and have answered yesterday's quiz.

Allot yourself points for each answer as follows:

1 a = 1 b = 3 c = 2
2 a = 5 b = 2 c = 3 d = 4 e = 1
3 a = 4 b = 3 c = 2 d = 6 e = 7 f = 5 g = 1
4 a = 1 b = 2 c = 3
5 a = 3 b = 2 c = 1 d = 4
6 a = 3 b = 1 c = 2

Add up your score. If you scored

19 to 25. Take the lump sum. There's little doubt that you'll be able to invest it at a rate that will give you far more wealth over a period of time than if you took the annuity.

12 to 18. Analyse your feelings. Do you want to play it safe? If so, take the annuity. If not, take the lump sum, but shop around for a really good investment advisor - someone who's already wealthy from taking his or her own advice and who's already made others wealthy too. Work out a plan and stick to it.

6 to 11. Take the annuity. There's nothing wrong with a substantial, steady income for the next 25 years or so. And if you do make some bad decisions, well it's only one year's income. Just one thing - never, ever borrow against future income and you'll be fine.

For the best chance at having to make this decision for real, click on http://www.netlotto.org.

Tomorrow: Some Lottery History

Should you take the annuity or the lump sum?

2005-06-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

It comes as a big surprise to lottery players in Australia and other countries, where a $90 million jackpot means $90 million in cash, right now, and tax free, that in the USA, it means $90 million paid over 25 to 30 years as an annuity, after Federal tax is deducted. Some states allow a lump sum alternative, which is usually about half the advertised jackpot. So today's question is when you do win the jackpot, should you take the annuity or the lump sum?

Imagine you've just fulfilled your dream of winning that multi-million dollar lottery jackpot. But really, really imagine it. Put yourself in the frame of mind that you would have just after being told of your win. Then answer these six questions honestly. If necessary, select the answer that most closely matches what you would truly do. And remember to check out the NetLotto site for your best chance of winning that multi-million dollar lottery jackpot.

The lottery board wants to feature you on their TV drawing. Not only that, they'll give you an extra $5,000 appearance money! You've always wanted to be on TV. You tell them
a) Of course you will. You're only too happy to share the news of your good fortune.
b) Not a chance.
c) OK, but only if your name and address aren't mentioned.
You're so excited about your win, you've got to tell someone. You tell
a) No one, even though it feels awful.
b) Just your wife/husband.
c) Just your wife/husband and kids.
d) Your boss, just before you resign.
e) Immediate family and friends, but you tell them not to tell anyone else.
The first things you spend your new found wealth on are:
a) A new house.
b) That new car you've always wanted.
c) That new car your husband/wife's always wanted.
d) Nothing. You put it in the bank.
e) Nothing. You put it into short and medium term high interest deposits.
f) A share portfolio.
g) You divide it up amongst family and/or church (maybe after a, b or c)
Your wife/husband's brother has a great money making business idea that just needs some capital to get going. From your position of new wealth, you regard this as:
a) An opportunity to get in on the ground floor. You take an equal partnership.
b) An opportunity to help out a family member. You loan him the money.
c) Nothing to do with you. You're not his venture capitalist.
You've just bought a new $80,000 car that would be hard to justify on your salary. A neighbour asks how you did it. You tell him:
a) Mind your own business.
b) You won the lottery jackpot.
c) You won the lottery jackpot, but please don't tell anyone.
d) You won $80,000 in the lottery and blew it all on the car.
You go into work on the Monday after your big win. The next thing you do is:
a) Nothing. It's business as usual.
b) Tell the boss he/she can stick his/her job.
c) Smile knowingly, and take your co-workers out to lunch at a top restaurant.

Make a note of your answers, and see tomorrow's post to find out if you should take the annuity or lump sum.

What games does NetLotto cover?

2005-06-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

Netlotto can produce winning lottery entries for any four, five, six or seven ball game, with or without bonus balls. If there are bonus balls, they can be drawn from the same container as the main balls, or from a separate container. Currently, the NetLotto games database contains rules for seventy two lotteries. These are:

USA Multi-State
Mega Millions
Powerball
Megabucks
Hot Lotto
Lotto South

USA State by State
Arizona Fantasy 5
Arizona The Pick
California Fantasy 5
California Super Lotto Plus
Colorado Cash 5
Colorado Lotto
Connecticut Cash 5
Connecticut Classic Lotto
Delaware Lotto
Florida Fantasy 5
Florida Lotto
Florida Mega Money
Georgia Fantasy 5
Illinois Lotto
Indiana Hoosier Lottery
Iowa Cash Game
Kansas Super Kansas Cash
Kentucky Cash Ball
Louisiana Lotto
Maryland Lotto!
Massachusetts Mass Cash
Michigan Fantasy 5
Michigan WinFall
Minnesota Gopher 5
Missouri Lotto
Montana Ca$h
Nebraska Pick 5
New Jersey Cash 5
New Jersey Pick 6
New Mexico Roadrunner Cash
New York Lotto
New York Take 5
Ohio Super Lotto Plus
Oregon Megabucks
Pennsylvania Cash 5
Pennsylvania Match 6 Lotto
Rhode Island Wild Money
South Carolina Carolina 5 (finished)
South Carolina Palmetto Cash 5
South Dakota Dakota Cash
Texas Lotto
Virginia Cash 5
Washington Lotto
West Virginia Cash 25
Wisconsin SuperCash!

Canada
Canada Lotto 6/49
Canada Super 7
Ontario 49

Britain
UK National Lottery

Europe
Euromillions
Finnish Lotto
Viking Lotto

Australia
Saturday Lotto
Powerball
OZ Lotto
The Pools
NSW Monday Lotto
NSW Wednesday Lotto
Qld Wednesday Gold Lotto
SA Lotto
Vic Wednesday Tattslotto

New Zealand
NZ Lotto

Others
Hong Kong Mark 6
Malaysia Super Toto 6/49
Malaysia Toto 6/42 Jackpot
Puerto Rico Lotto
Singapore TOTO

Currently, all Canadian provincial games, the Irish lottery and state lotteries for Maryland, DC and the new Oklahoma lottery are being added to NetLotto. In addition, new number generators are being written to handle three ball lotteries.

All registered NetLotto users are automatically upgraded to the latest version at no extra charge.

Tomorrow: Should you take the annuity or the lump sum?

The past results database

2005-06-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

NetLotto comes with a database of past results for (currently) thirty six lotteries, and more are being added all the time. In fact, the next version of NetLotto, due in two weeks' time, will see all of the Canadian provincial lotteries added to the existing Canada 649, Canadian Super 7 and Ontario 49. All past results are from the beginning of the game right up to the latest draw. Now, if only we could get future results ... :-)

Where do we get all of these lottery results? Where possible, we download them directly from each individual lottery's Web Site. Every single one of them uses a different file format, but fortunately NetLotto is smart enough to recognize them all. Where the lottery doesn't make its past results available on its Web Site, we've purchased an initial file and then we keep them up to date manually ourselves.

Why do we go to the trouble of maintaining the database of past results? There's three reasons really:

We are continually analysing past results to find better and better ways to generate entries for future games. This knowledge helps us to continually improve NetLotto.
NetLotto allows you to see how your generated entries would have performed in the past. Most other systems aren't brave enough to do that, but we think it's only fair.
NetLotto customers can use the software's facility to find out most and least frequently drawn numbers for any selected time period. The past results database makes this possible.

Tomorrow: What games does NetLotto cover?

How does NetLotto choose its numbers?

2005-06-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well, first of all, you choose three sets of numbers, but not just any old numbers. NetLotto imposes a randomness on your selections that ensures a set of numbers that match the sort of number spread that most frequently occurs in winning lottery entries and at the same time avoids the pattern match that would see your winnings shared with too many others. But, because you are applying your own intuition to the number selection within NetLotto's constraints, your chances of making the same number selection as another NetLotto user are vanishingly small. In other words, when you do win the lottery jackpot, you are unlikely to be sharing it with anyone else.

From the three sets of numbers that you choose to seed NetLotto with, the program generates a number net, giving you multiple independent entries that are almost impossible to get any other way. These increase your chances of winning the lottery at least a hundred-fold!

Checking the winning lottery result against multiple entries manually is both time-consuming and error-prone. Fortunately, with NetLotto, you just type in the winning lottery entry and it instantly checks it against your entire number net and reports all prizes won.

Tomorrow: The past results database.

What exactly is the NetLotto system?

2005-06-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

The NetLotto system is a computer program (NetLotto) coupled with a set of rules for 72 (at last count) lotteries world wide and a huge set of past results built in. The NetLotto program has an easy user friendly interface and comes with an excellent user guide and on-line help. It has one simple aim: to generate sets of winning numbers that will allow you to win the lottery jackpot. The program utilizes the inherent randomness in lottery drawings. For example, the fact that 123456 never comes up even though it has the same theoretical chance as any other combination. (Consider this: in a 49 ball lottery, if 1 is the first ball drawn, then there is only a 1 in 48 chance of 2 being the second ball drawn, but a 47 in 48 chance of it not being.) Although you "seed" the program with your own "lucky" or "intuitive" numbers, NetLotto imposes randomness in order to generate a number net that gives you the best possible chance of winning. Then it manages your entry by checking your lottery's winning numbers against your number net. More on this in the next post.

P.S. This program generated a $31 million Mega Millions entry for a NetLotto user.

Tomorrow: How does NetLotto choose its numbers?

Can you really win the lottery?

2005-06-12T17:27:00.000-07:00

The answer to that question is "of course you can." After all, hundreds of people just like you from all over the world do it every week. What makes them different from you? Nothing! But, like they say, you must be in it to win it, and it sure helps to have some way of improving the odds. My NetLotto system does just that. I've personally run number sets that have won consistently, sometimes up to 80% of the time! These minor prize wins keep you going while you're waiting for the big one. But NetLotto does a lot more than that, and I'll cover all of it in future posts.

Tomorrow: What exactly is the NetLotto System?