Lottery number changes through time

[Bruce]

I am new to Expert Lotto, and this question may have been answered previously, however this must be a problem others have successfully delt with.

How can draws be entered into Winning Numbers, when historically the number ranges have changed.

Case in point:

Powerball has changed the number ranges for both sets of numbers as follows:
04/19/1992 POWERBALL 5/45+1/45 [54,979,155] [ 5 YRS, 7 MOS ]
11/02/1997 POWERBALL 5/49+1/42 (25 paymts ) [80,089,128] [ 5 YRS ]
10/06/2002 POWERBALL 5/53+1/42 (30 paymts) [120,526,770] [ 2 YRS, 11 MOS ]
08/28/2005 POWERBALL 5/55+1/42 (graduated) [146,107,962 [ 3 YRS, 4 MOS ]
01/04/2009 POWERBALL 5/59+1/39 [195,249,054] [3 YRS]
01/15/2012 POWERBALL 5/59+1/35 [175,223,510]

How do I enter historical numbers into EL Winning Numbers, when the range is no longer current.

Such as this, Powerball on 11-8-2008 was 41, but EL Winning Numbers will not allow me to enter 41 because currently the Powerball is no greater than 35.

This is probably a very basic question that I have get past, however I'm clueless at this point.

Thank you,
Bruce

[stan]

There's no way to do that directly in Expert Lotto. You'd have to manually edit lottery.xml file to change number pool sizes, enter the winning numbers, change the lottery.xml configuration back.
Why do you need to to do that anyway? Are past Powerball winning numbers wrong?

[Bruce]

The Powerball numbers are not wrong, originally I thought they were and exchanged a few nasty emails with the lottery agent.

However, I now believe the numbers are correct, the problem is that every few years they change the number range for both the main-numbers and the powerball-numbers.

Please take a look at the information the Powerball Multi-State Lottery Association provided to me, from the previous post.

According to it the Powerball game was changed from a 5/59 + 1-39 to a 5/59 + 1-35 game on Jan. 1, 2012.

There are two problems, as follows;

1. The current version of Expert Lotto, Powerball is 5/59 + 1-39, this is not current.

2. Powerball has changed the number ranges over the years (see chart in previous post), and I am unable to enter winning numbers that exceed the current versions limits.

As an example:

On 11-8-2008 the winning Powerball was 41. Expert Lotto, Winning Numbers, Add, will not allow me to enter 41 in the Powerball box because the EL has set the maximum Powerball to 39.

[stan]

The Powerball numbers are not wrong, originally I thought they were and exchanged a few nasty emails with the lottery agent.

However, I now believe the numbers are correct, the problem is that every few years they change the number range for both the main-numbers and the powerball-numbers.

Please take a look at the information the Powerball Multi-State Lottery Association provided to me, from the previous post.

According to it the Powerball game was changed from a 5/59 + 1-39 to a 5/59 + 1-35 game on Jan. 1, 2012.

There are two problems, as follows;

1. The current version of Expert Lotto, Powerball is 5/59 + 1-39, this is not current.

Please note that the New Lottery wizard offers two Powerball games - one with the new rules (5/59 1/35) and one if the old rules (5/59 1/39)

2. Powerball has changed the number ranges over the years (see chart in previous post), and I am unable to enter winning numbers that exceed the current versions limits.

Email me which draws need to be fixed (and how) and I'll make changes in the lottery database.
The lottery numbers must be validated before entering into the database otherwise some application features might start throwing errors because winning numbers are out of expected range.

[Bruce]

I will do as you ask, though I'm not sure that I've clearly explained the issue. This will require a lot of entries, and many screen shots in order to provide an official confirmation.

I had not realized that there were two Powerball lotterys in EL. I loaded up the other one (5/59+1/35) which is the one that my state recognizes.

However there is the same issue, it skips dates where the Powerball-Number is >35.

The difference between the two Lotterys in Expert Lotto, is that the 1/59+1/39 game recognized that there was a problem and would show the dates in the Add Winning Numbers window, yet would not allow entry of a number >39. The 5/59+1/35 game indicates that there are NO missing dates and the database is complete. However once I went to the official record at Powerball.com I quickly confirmed that the dates which had a Powerball >35 was simply missing.

Please tell me what you'd like me to do. I will do whatever it takes it assist.

What is key to understanding this issue is that the Powerball lottery organizers (not Expert Lotto) change the upper limits every few years to scew the outcomes. I guess they really don't want us to win, lol.

The game started out as a 5/45+1/45 in 1992, then changed to 5/49+1/42 in 1997, then to 5/53+1/42 in 2002, then to 5/55+1/42 in 2005, then to 5/59+1/39 in 2009, and currently it is 5/59+1/35.

I'm thinking there needs to be a function that allows for the upper limits of both the main numbers and the powerball number to be altered as official changes occur.

Though the more I think about this, it might just be impossible to statistically deal with this problem. I would think that most lotterys would do the same thing to screw up any system that is based on analysis.

[stan]

I'm afraid there's no perfect solution to this problem. Expert Lotto cannot have numbers out of allowed pool range in its winning numbers database, some filters and stats would start throwing errors.
There are two options:
A. Play by the new rules and use only past winning numbers since the date the lottery rules have changed.
B. Create a new 5/59 + 1/45. It will let you import all past data. But the some stats will be skewed because e.g. there won't be any recent Powerballs higher than 36...

[stan]

Or maybe option C - replace all numbers that are out of allowed range with the highest possible number. E.g. all Powerballs 36, 37, 38, ..., 45 would change to 35. The same applies to main numbers.

[Bruce]

Or maybe option C - replace all numbers that are out of allowed range with the highest possible number. E.g. all Powerballs 36, 37, 38, ..., 45 would change to 35. The same applies to main numbers.

I think this is the best option for me, thanks for the help.

I am now thinking I should not play Powerball or Mega Millions because of how they scew the pools to discourage systems.

I am considering sticking with lotterys that have a set number pool ie, Daily 3, or Hot Lotto.

Any advice or comments are appreciated.

Thank you,
Bruce