As I went through my email last night, I came upon this message:
What does the 2 2 1 1, 2 1 2 1 and 4-2 patterns mean? Like what does the number mean? Do you have a blog about that?
Those are good questions and there is a blog post now!
The numbers in Patterns like {4-2} represent how many numbers come from a Group. The {4-2} Pattern is exclusive to Lotto Texas, so let’s start there. Lotto Texas has three Groups:
- Group 1 is 1 – 18
- Group 2 is 19 – 36
- Group 3 is 37 – 54
The {4-2} Pattern is made up of numbers from two Groups. For example, we can have four numbers from Group 1, and two from Group 3. A more in-depth explanation of Lotto Texas Groups and Patterns can be found here and here.
A similar logic applies to Mega Millions and Powerball. Both are made up of six Groups, though it’s broken down a little differently. Mega Millions is like this:
- Group 1 is 1 – 14
- Group 2 is 15 – 28
- Group 3 is 29 – 42
- Group 4 is 43 – 56
- Group 5 is 57 – 70
- Group 6 is MB (Mega Ball) 1- 25
Powerball’s Grouping is like Mega Millions’ until we get to Group 5. In Powerball, Group 5 goes from 57 to 69 and Group 6 is PB (Powerball) 1 to PB 26.
Let’s look at the {2-2-1-1} Pattern. We can, for example, have two numbers from Group 1, two from Group 4, one from Group 5, and one from Group 6 (Mega Ball or Powerball, depending on lottery). Note that with Mega Millions and Powerball, the last group is always Group 6. The main Mega Millions and Powerball sites break it down visually on their Groups and Patterns pages.