Is Your Lotto Random?

By Author: Darrel Dolph
Total Articles: 46
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There is one touchy topic which is always hotly debated when it comes to the lottery. There are two sides. One side states that there is little you can do to improve your odds of winning the lottery and the other side disagrees. This entire debate centers on the meaning of these two words: Random Draw.

The misunderstood meaning of the word Random is the catalyst in this entire debate. The word Random is not only misunderstood, it is often misapplied. It is surrounded by a fog of misunderstanding, misinformation and misapplication. So, let's see if we can lift the fog.

When a process involving random selections begins, it is not unusual for someone to notice that certain patterns and trends begin to emerge. This is known to mathematicians, scientists and engineers alike. In fact, in any random process, cyclical events are observed at the start and begin to fade with the passage of time. The classical mathematicians response to these observations would be, 'Well, you haven't run enough trials yet.' In other words, give it time.

Guess what? I totally agree! But, a mathematician is focused on ...
... the long term because those results will justify his position. Here is an example of a random game we can use to see who's right. Let's flip for it.

A fair coin is flipped 100 times. When completed, there were 65 Heads and 35 Tails; an obvious trend has appeared. The mathematician says, 'That is just an anomaly. If you run more trials, eventually, the results will even out.' So, the coin is flipped some more until it's flipped 1,000 times. Results: 550 Heads and 450 Tails. It is easy to see the mathematician's prediction is coming to pass.

But, still not quitegood enough. So, the coin is flipped 10,000 times and the results are 5010 Heads and 4990 Tails. For all intents and purposes, the occurrences of Heads and Tails are now equal. The mathematician happily sends us on our way with a pat on the back, knowing that he has proven that the game is random.

Hold on just a second! The experiment wasn't very random after 100 trials. The experiment was somewhat more random after 1,000 trials. And, after 10,000 trials, it looks like the results of the coin flipping experiment are pretty random. And, this is the crux of the misunderstanding regarding the word random. Patterns and trends exist in all random processes at one time or another. But, given enough time or enough trials, any patterns or trends will be masked by the shear volume of data.

Some of you might be asking, 'What does flipping a coin have to do with winning the Lottery?' The answer is, 'Everything!' In the random process of flipping a coin, there are only 2 possible outcomes. It took 10,000 trials before a mathematician could say unequivocally that the process was random. In a 6/54 lottery, as an example, there are 25,827,165 possible outcomes. Do you see where this is going? At two drawings per week, it will take 10's of thousands of years before we ever reach the poinst where all lottery numbers will have occurred approximately the same number of times. My friend, you're not going to be here that long. People, for the lottery, the short term is your LIFE TIME!

So, it is alright, come out from underneath the blanket and take a look. The bogeyman won't bite. Lottery number patterns and trends are there for everyone to see. Plus, they are FREE. You can use them to improve your odds of winning the lottery in your life time. So, as the clock is ticking do you have TIME to play the lottery?
Professor Dolph is the world-famous Lotto expert, lecturer and columnist who authored LONA, your LOttery Number Advisor. For a brand-new look at Lotto software, go to Lottery Tips