Article: Numbers Add Up for Lottery Winners

Daily Mail (UK) October

Can a Systematic Approach Win the Lottery?

Get your totally FREE copy of this special report by games statistics expert Louise Hocking. It's packed full of number selection tips, optimal betting strategies, which games to avoid, and much, much more.

MOST of us believe winning the lottery is just the luck of the draw. But a syndicate that included university professors and tutors thought it could also be related to principles of mathematical probability. And on Saturday night, their theory was spectacularly vindicated when they matched all six numbers and scooped a $13 million Lotto jackpot in Britain. The syndicate, comprising 17 staff at Bradford University and College, bagged the big prize by using two boxes, 49 pieces of paper and a large amount of brainpower. But it was not an overnight success. Syndicate leader Barry Waterhouse, 41, said they had been doing the National Lottery for eight years without success after it started in 1994 - with each member picking his or her own line. "We just weren't winning with the numbers being picked that way, so we thought of a different method which would mean all 49 numbers would be used," he said. The method they adopted is outlined below:

HOW THEY WORKED IT OUT

All 49 numbers were written on pieces of paper and placed in one box. Each member in turn then picked out six numbers, until eight lines were filled, using 48 of the 49 numbers. The remaining number was then used to start a new line by the next member, who picked from a second box where the pieces of paper already drawn were placed. As a result, each number appeared at least twice in the syndicate's 17 lines, with four numbers appearing three times. Operator Camelot says the usual odds of winning the jackpot are one in 14 million. By ensuring all the numbers were selected in their 17 lines, the syndicate reduced their odds drastically.

Once it was in place, the syndicate then set up a computer program to check the numbers every week. It took four years and a total outlay of $8700 but on Saturday, the formula finally succeeded. Matching the winning numbers 15, 18, 23, 31, 37, 49 and the bonus ball 38, they hit the jackpot and won $13,050,418. That works out at $767,700 each (for an investment of $512 each over four years, about $2.50 per week!) "We just thought that if all the numbers are in use, we must have a good chance of winning - and it has proved so, though you never really think it will happen to you," Mr Waterhouse said. "We just had to stick with the numbers and we knew we would win eventually."