How to choose lottery numbers

How to Choose Lottery Numbers
Though playing the lottery is a game of chance, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a method for choosing your lottery numbers. Of course, there's no perfect method for choosing winning lottery numbers, but there are several ways that you can do it. You can take a scientific or mathematical approach, gamble and choose randomly, follow your gut. Experiment with a few different ways. You never know. You might get lucky.

(1) Choosing Frequently Picked Numbers
Look up the frequency chart for previous lottery draws. Most state lottery programs offer charts showing how often each number has been drawn during a given time frame. For instance, it shows how often the number 1 was chosen as a Powerball number between 1997 and 2015.
If you can look up the all-time frequencies, that's the best possible data set for you to analyze. It’s more comprehensive, and you should base your numbers on as large a time frame as possible.
There's no clear way to know if you should be looking up frequent winning numbers or numbers that come up less frequently. Look up both types of numbers and play sequences with a combo of both if you wish.
However, winning numbers that come up more frequently are likely to remain frequent winners. If you play a number that doesn't come up as frequently, then you simply may need to wait a while to see if it comes up when its "due" to win.
Make sure you're looking up the right frequency chart for the lottery game you plan to play. For instance, Powerball stats will differ from Mega Millions stats.

(2) Choose your numbers based on the frequency chart.
Review the numbers that are the most frequently chosen and the least frequently chosen. Review the odds for those as well as the numbers in between. After you've looked over the odds, you have two options:
Select numbers that are drawn frequently. If you notice that a few numbers stand out for being drawn significantly more often than the others, consider including them in your pick. Be aware, though, that several other people will be trying this tactic; if you win with frequently picked numbers, you might be at a greater risk of having to share the prize with other winners.
Select numbers that are drawn less frequently. Choosing numbers that aren't picked very often might seem counterintuitive, but consider this: If everyone else is busy picking frequently drawn numbers and you win with your “long-shot” picks, you might not have to share the prize with as many other winners.

(3) Acknowledge that each number still has an equal chance of being drawn.
Looking at frequency charts might show you which numbers tend to be drawn, but keep in mind that when the actual lottery drawing comes around, each number still has an absolutely equal chance of being picked. It’s all in the luck of the draw.
Choose numbers you consider lucky. Some folks have a lucky number they use for everything. It isn't connected a birthday or anything like that, they just like the number. If this is the case for you, add your lucky number to your lottery number. You never know. You might get lucky!
If you're playing a lottery game such as Powerball, consider making your lucky number the Powerball pick.
Also if you’re lucky numbers are 7 and 11 lucky, keep in mind that those are really common lottery picks. If you win with these numbers on your ticket, you might end up sharing the prize with a lot of people.

4
Choose a lucky number and stick with it.
Some people choose a number sequence that they consider lucky and play it over and over again until it comes up a winner -- if it ever does. For instance, if you’re favorite number sequence is your favorite number, combined with your birthday and your spouse’s lucky number and birthday (3-6-11-9-10-31), then you would play this number religiously every time you play the lottery. Then, you wait for your number to come up a winner. This could be considered making your own luck.

How to win the lotto

According to surveys, the most common way players pick their lucky numbers is by using personal and family birthdays, house street numbers and pets’ birthdays. But is there a more sound method to choosing lotto numbers? Here are some methods that are being spruiked across the internet.

USE A TECHNIQUE CREATED BY SOMEONE SMARTER THAN YOU

Last year Renato Gianella from Brazil argued that not all combinations of numbers have the same probability, suggesting there could be an art to predicting the winning numbers.

Using mathematics and probability theories, Gianella created a “colour template” that he said can help people identify combinations of numbers with a greater likelihood to win.

“You will learn that winning a lottery is not merely a matter of luck: by having the right information you will be able to create game strategies. We will show you how to play in a very simple and easy way, based on the fact that drawings are subordinated to a behaviour pattern,” Gianella claims on his LotoRainbow website.

LEAVE IT TO THE COMPUTER

A Quick Pick could be the way to go ...Source:AFP
Lottery organisers note that the majority of past winners have left the big decisions up to the computer. Tatts Lotteries data shows winners have used the random lucky dip QuickPick choice at least 50 per cent of the time in each state of Australia.

IF YOU PLAY REGULARLY, USE THE SAME NUMBERS

If you plan on entering regularly, then choose your own numbers and stick to them. “Never ever, ever change those numbers,” lottery expert Richard Lustig told ABC news. Lustig knows a thing or two about successful lottery bids because he has won seven lottery game grand prizes in his lifetime.

FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH NUMBER FREQUENCIES AND PICK THE MOST COMMONLY DRAWN NUMBERS(this is the full proof method that has helped me win over and over again)

One approach would be to choose the numbers that come up most often. Many organisations are happy to share the number frequencies (for example you can check out the NSW lotto stats over here).

ALTERNATIVELY, PICK THE MOST OVERDUE NUMBER

Another approach that is commonly used is to look for numbers that have not come up in a while. This works on the theory that if something has not happened in a while, then it is probably overdue.

PICK NUMBERS LARGER THAN 31

Statistician Professor Peter Adams advises choosing unusual or unpopular numbers, so that if you do win, there will be fewer other winners to share the spoils with.

“Lots of people pick their birthday as a lucky number, so I’d only ever pick numbers larger than 31,” he told the ABC.