Is it possible to accurately predict the lottery numbers?

Imagine being able to predict exactly what lottery numbers were going to win each week… You could become a lottery winner pretty much every seven days! This is undoubtedly the dream for many lottery entrants these days, however actually being able to predict the lottery numbers is definitely easier said than done.

Now, at Winzum we are big fans of helping you lot out, especially when it comes to increasing your chances of winning online competitions (as you can see here [how to increase your chances of winning online competitions]). It got us thinking, is there anyway that you really could accurately predict the lottery numbers?

The basic framework behind most lotteries

We are sure most of you probably have a basic bit of knowledge about how lotteries work in most cases, however for anybody struggling to understand let’s just take a look at the basic framework first. Let’s take a simple 6-from-49 lotto, for example.

Here contestants must choose 6 numbers from a possible 49 with no duplicates, and if the exact numbers are drawn in the exact order they will become the jackpot winner. Most lotteries work using the same kind of framework, however they can also include things like bonus balls, or a larger pool of potential numbers.

Probability, chance, and the concept of fate

The probability of winning a simple 6-from-49 lotto is 1 in 13,983,816 – not the best odds, however the lottery prize money often makes up for this. Just like with online competitions the whole concept of a lottery is completely wrapped up in the world of probability, chance and fate.

In order to fully understand how somebody might accurately predict the lottery numbers you have to acknowledge this, as the only way to predict accurately would be to use maths to help you.

Derren Brown’s notorious attempt to predict the national lottery numbers

Chances are most people would have heard of Derren Brown, the magician and illusionist who has wowed the people of the UK countless times over the last couple of decades. One of his most famous tricks was to accurately predict the national lottery numbers live on television, something he amazingly succeeded in doing.

But here’s the thing: we’re not really sure whether Derren Brown actually predicted the lottery numbers, especially seeing as he is a particularly cunning illusionist. In fact, most people now agree that he was using some kind of split screen in order to do it, and even the man himself admitted it was more of a trick than anything.

Can anyone really predict the national lottery numbers?

So that brings us on to the million-dollar question (if you’ll pardon the pun), can anyone really predict the national lottery numbers? Well, the short answer is no, not unless you are a time traveller of course.

It is possible to predict many many things in life using mathematical algorithms, however they always have to have some kind of perceptible pattern. The lottery is completely random, and as such there is no way of using an algorithm to predict it.