I remember first going to Germany when I was a teen. That was where I first saw Lotto... my favorite Aunt and Uncle, like most Germans I guess, played the Lotto numbers... had their own numbers.

it was many years before Lotto was introduced in California, my understanding is that it was not only huge in Germany, but most of Europe, before it became accepted in California... I don't know about places like NY... but my understanding [based probably only on history in hollywood films] is that "numbers" were mostly played illegally in the US—not official Lotto games

anyhow, question is...

Do any of you play "your" numbers?

somehow—although I still cannot remember my wife's cell phone number—over the years I have come to remember a string of Lotto numbers that I play

I just now ran a search of the winning frequency of those numbers. they have never, yet, produced more than three matches of six possible in the history of the California Lottery.

I guess the odds of winning any matches at all as opposed to winning big are probably about the same... I mean, a $5 dollar winner is really about as tough to get as it is to get a million dollar winner.

in the long run, my Aunt came out way ahead.

if you play, do you find an advantage "scientifically" pick numbers which come up with a higher frequency? perhaps let the computer generate "Quick Picks" as they are called here? or do you stick with old losing numbers figuring the odds of hitting those one day remain better since they have not yet ever come up?

stupid question of the day?

Yup, I play 6/49 every Saturday- you choose 6 numbers from 1-49, I play The family's birthdates.

I play 10 quick pics every week, have done for 2 years. Never got so much as 3 matching numbers.

I won 50 bucks on a scratch ticket once but I've found more money in the street at a go.

I have my numbers... but I don't play them. If I did play them I would have to play them across all Australian lotteries and would require a second job to be able to afford it.

No invest in yourself the prospects are always higher.

I am married to a statistician and understand math way too well to play lottery games.

The trick is to sprinkle the dust of a unicorn foal on the ticket before you begin to select your numbers.

That's science folks.

And I won $50 on a Bingo scratch 'n' win when I was like 17. Haven't played much since.

you're wrong about the odds walt. it's far more unlikely to hit 6 of 6 than win $5. well, the odds are printed on the ticket.

i try to intuit it. that's a laugh but i try to do it sort of like automatic writing. come to think of it, it doesn't work quite as well as my old method of making songs of numbers. anyway, it's completely a sucker's bet, but i feel almost like i'd be negligent if i didn't spend a dollar to win several million. $90 was my best payout. overall, through the years i'm probably down about $200. i won't play more than a dollar per draw.

Originally posted by: mclarkson I am married to a statistician and understand math way too well to play lottery games.

I got in a great argument with a guy who bought a book about how to pick the winning lottery numbers. It might have been the most awesome conversation ever.

I never saw him again, I'm sure he's a millionaire living in a resort area by now.

But I play once a week and have the computer pick the numbers.

Originally posted by: mclarkson I am married to a statistician and understand math way too well to play lottery games.

if you don't play, you can't win. And hey, it's only 2 bucks. You might get hit by lightning 5 times for free but you sure won't win the lottery for free. I actually checked my numbers for wins over 20 years and if I played every time for the last 20 years I'd actually be up a hundred or so.

Lotteries are for poor people who aren't good at math. I'm surprised anyone here wastes even a dollar.

I have a system that works just a little better than most systems...

I don't play.

never played and i haven't ever won!

i've played twice i think. once when the texas lottery got up over 300 million or something i bought like a hundred tickets. and once when power ball got to some ungodly number i did the same.

meh, didn't win anything.

oh wait, i also bought a whole roll of scratch off tickets one time. what a stupid idea that was. took me forever to scratch the stupid things off. i mean literally like a good two days of solid scratching. i didn't think that far ahead apparently. i think i ended up close to even, maybe around $20 down.

Originally posted by: FlamingoJeff Lotteries are for poor people who aren't good at math. I'm surprised anyone here wastes even a dollar.

Lotteries are a special tax on people who don't understand statistics.

great comments all

whether or not it's a scam, inprobable, futile, or its a tax on people that don't know better or understand statistics... doesn't quite seem to matter as much as there are in fact winners. I understand those that choose not to play.

I find it most interesting though, that the nature of the whole processs of betting or playing changes when one has somehow adopted a select set of numbers—that are 'your' numbers... it changes the whole game.

holy shit. your fucked if your numbers should come up and you didn't take the time to play. has nothing to do with statistics or probability anymore. can't get the fucking string of numbers from your head. you can avoid playing. now you have to avoid ever being shown the game numbers. but you can't erase "your" numbers from your head

fuck funneh how its somewhat nerve wracking when you don't play... at least I can consider it a $1 won if I don't play and they didn't come up.

as I said, what is wierd about the string of numbers I play, I don't recall where they came from or why they are remembered. for someone who generally can't learn or memorize strings of numbers, I find the fact that I remember these numbers a kind of sign... a string of seven numbers and I am fucked, I still to this day cannot remember my wife's cell phone number. no matter how many times I ask it and use it. took me six months to learn my own last new phone number

If you don't have faith in yourself send lottery money to me there is more chance I will one day send back your 6 figure number.

Every so often i ask my girlfriend if she is feeling lucky. Usually she she says no.

On the odd occasion she does say yes, then we have to be extra lucky to be exactly in the vicinity of a lottery ticket vendor, and have time and effort to spare.

So I am stacking up the odds even further.. but one day.. one day, we'll get that extra luck!

lotteries are voluntary regressive taxes.

i'll play about once a year though for shits and giggles if the amount gets super crazy high.

You've got to be in it to win it.

Every now and again if I'm in the newsagents and my change is a couple of quid I'll buy a couple of lucky dips or scratchcards.

No big wins. I prefer to bet on sports.

Originally posted by: StinkFist [quote]Originally posted by: FlamingoJeff Lotteries are for poor people who aren't good at math. I'm surprised anyone here wastes even a dollar.

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...although I will play (with random numbers) maybe once or twice a year if the pot is really high.

I find it a little sad to see people who clearly don't have a lot to spend, queued up at the till dishing out £10, £15 or more a week in the desperate hope of a win -- then it just seems like a tax on desperation. Then again maybe they'd just be throwing that money away down at the bookie's, otherwise.

I think it's fair enough if people want to play, if only because a fair chunk of it goes to charity -- £20bn over the last 15 years or so, which is not to be sniffed at and which I'm sure is more than people would be giving away otherwise.

to me it's a guaranteed way to lose money every week, and using the same numbers seems a particularly bad idea for the reasons you gave Walt. And there's no such thing as a lucky number, or a number that's more likely to be picked.

If the Spanish weren't so damned superstitious, I'd have nothing to do with it, but as it is we buy a ticket or two for the big Xmas lottery every year, to win nothing, and the tickets are €20 each. Which I guess isn't much to spend a year on lotteries.

The only advantage to playing the same numbers is that it's quicker to recognize the matches. Or lack thereof.