How our number tools work
Our tools count what happened in past draws and apply simple, published strategies to them. They are for entertainment: no rule can change the odds of a random draw.
Last updated 20 October 2026
The short version
- We take official results and run fixed, published strategies over them.
- Each strategy pick is made once, before its draw, and never changed afterwards.
- After the draw we score it and publish the result, misses included.
- Next to every score we show what random numbers would have scored. Over time, the two are about the same.
Randomness means no strategy can guarantee wins; outputs are for entertainment.
Where the numbers come from
We use only official results published by each lottery's operator. A strategy only ever sees draws that happened before the draw it is picking for.
How a strategy pick is made
- Our scheduler works out the next draw for each lottery and draw time, in the lottery's own time zone.
- It loads every official draw before that moment, and nothing after it.
- The named strategy applies its rule, for example "the numbers drawn most often in the last 50 draws". Every rule is listed on strategy transparency.
- Strategies that use randomness get a seed made from the strategy, lottery, draw and date, so anyone re-running them gets the same numbers.
- The numbers are checked against the game's rules and published with a plain-language explanation.
- Once published, a pick is locked. When the official result arrives, it is scored automatically.
What "strategy fit" means
Each strategy pick shows a strategy fit from 0 to 100. It measures how strongly the numbers match the strategy's rule compared with chance: 50 means no stronger than random numbers would be, and higher means a stronger match. It is not a chance of winning, and a high score makes a line no more likely to come up.
How picks are scored
When a draw becomes official, we count how many of each pick's numbers were drawn, and whether the bonus ball matched. For UK49s, a bet wins only if every number picked is drawn, so we score it that way. We also replay each strategy over the last 100 draws and compare its average hits with random numbers' average: a random line of k numbers expects k × (numbers drawn) ÷ (numbers in the pool) hits.
The real odds
For one line, the chance of matching every main number (and the separate PowerBall where the game has one):
| Lottery | Format | Odds of matching everything | Hits a random line expects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lotto | 6 from 52 | 1 in 20,358,520 | 0.69 |
| Lotto Plus 1 | 6 from 52 | 1 in 20,358,520 | 0.69 |
| PowerBall | 5 from 50 + 1 from 20 | 1 in 42,375,200 | 0.50 |
| PowerBall XTRA | 5 from 50 + 1 from 20 | 1 in 42,375,200 | 0.50 |
| Daily Lotto | 5 from 36 | 1 in 376,992 | 0.69 |
| UK49s | 6 from 49 (bet on 1 to 6 numbers) | 1 in 13,983,816 | 0.73 |
Calculated from each game's rules. Prize tiers below the jackpot have better odds; see each operator's official prize table.
What we will never say
We will never say a number is due, that a system beats the draw, or that any pick is more likely to win. Our code rejects copy that promises wins, and our database refuses stored text that does.