Pick 3 Frequency Chart? The 127 Detailed Answer

Regular lottery player Andrew Paige joins the U.S. 40 BP station in Catonsville, where he says he bets on pick 3 and pick 4 numbers like his house number, truck number – and recently 6-6-6. (Jeff Barker / Baltimore Sun)

The neon yellow ping-pong balls danced in the lottery machines.

A “six” was the first ball drawn in the Pick 3 game. “Next six more,” said the host of the draw.

advertisement

When the third ball to appear in the September 4 drawing was also a six, the Maryland Lottery was – once again – afflicted with a series of numbers that players seem to find enticing. The $1.75 million payout to players on 6-6-6 was more than 11 times Pick 3’s payout average.

Triple sixes — a staple of horror movies with satanic connotations from the New Testament’s book of Revelation — are among a small set of numbers that lottery statistics and interviews with state officials show players can’t seem to get enough of. The sixes are infamous enough — and drawn enough — in popular culture to stand out, analysts said.

advertisement

Other triplets or quadruples such as 7-7-7 and 1-1-1-1 are also commonly played. Many players say these represent their favorite single digit number, simply repeated for Pick 3 or Pick 4, both of which feature twice-daily draws.

Lottery players often choose meaningful numbers – car license plates, dates of birth, house numbers. They also often play the date – for example 214 or 0214 on Valentine’s Day.

There was a run in Maryland on 2-1-3-1 when Cal Ripken Jr. in his 2.131. Played consecutive game for the Orioles and broke Lou Gehrig’s record.

A 4-4-4 selection was popular across the country after Iran released 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days in 1981.

“They play superstitions, children’s birthdays, numbers they saw on a license plate, the day of their anniversary,” said lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett. “Triples are always popular too. So when people go 1-1-1 and it hits 1-1-1, that’s usually a pretty big payoff.”

Regular lottery player Andrew Paige, a retired semi-truck driver, said he won $25,000 on a $5 Pick 4 bet more than 10 years ago. He played 8-3-2-3 because it was the number on his truck, which had recently been stolen.

“They say after something bad happens, something good happens,” said Paige, 70, when interviewed at a U.S. 40 BP station, which has dedicated lottery player parking, a smoking deck, and a players’ lounge with free coffee.

A sign on the wall surrounded by colorful lottery promotions reads “Try your luck at these games.”

advertisement

Paige said he likes to play triples or quadruples because since the numbers are the same he doesn’t have to worry about the order in which they appear.

His last non-winning games included 6-6-6, which holds a special place in Maryland Lottery lore.

On June 6, 2006, so many players were betting on 6-6-6 that the lottery stopped selling Pick 3 tickets with those three digits at noon and in the evening. Other sold-out combinations for that night’s drawing included other variations of the date – 066, 660, 6666, 6606 and 6066.

The lottery regulator will stop selling tickets for certain combinations when the state’s liability for the sequences is stretched to the limit.

The maximum liability, previously $7 million, was reduced to $5.5 million a few years ago. Before the cap was lowered, the state was on the hook for $7 million when a sold-out 4-4-4-4 hit took place on February 26, 2011.

None of the sold-out combinations came up on June 6, 2006. But 6-6-6 was drawn three times the year before.

advertisement

“People have an innate tendency to think magically and superstitiously,” said Fred Penzel, executive director of Western Suffolk Psychological Services in Huntington, New York. The allure of getting a very large return on a small investment is intriguing.”

In the past five years, no Pick 3 number has paid out more than 6-6-6 on August 21, 2010 — $3.2 million, according to lottery officials.

The 6-6-6 combination occurred once each in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015. The only treble that appeared more frequently during this period was 9-9-9.

The number of times 6-6-6 is drawn – along with the publicity it receives each time – can affect players.

“All numbers occur with roughly the same frequency,” said Robert Williams, a professor and gambling researcher at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.

“People tend to pick numbers that have won more often in the past. But it defies logic to think you’re going to win,” Williams said. “If you’re paying two dollars to have fun, it’s legitimate and logical. To be fair, I think most people see it that way. You buy yourself a little hope.”

advertisement

Paige, who sits at a table with other regulars most afternoons at the BP station, said his grandmother once told him a story that carried a message applicable to the lottery game.

In the story, “there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” he said. “But the closer you get to the end of the rainbow, the further away you get from it. And that’s how numbers play is – you never finish. But it’s a good activity. It is for pleasure and entertainment.”

But for some players, the lottery can feel like a trap.

“The lottery can be as big a problem as other forms of gambling,” said Loreen Rugle, program director of the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling. “The scratch cards are generally the most problematic. While a ticket is only a dollar, the total can quickly add up, just like playing the ‘penny’ slots.”

The probability of picking the winning Pick 3 numbers in the correct order is 1 in 1,000 and the payout is $500 for a $1 bet. The Pick 4 odds are 1 in 10,000 and the winners will receive $5,000. The games offer additional betting options with better odds and smaller payouts.

Large payoffs, like those at 6-6-6, represent good news-bad news scenarios for the state.

advertisement

The wins can provide confirmation—a kind of publicity—that success stories are possible, albeit remote. At the same time, the state could not afford frequent big hits.

“It’s a huge blessing for the players, which is great,” Everett said. “As long as it’s not every day.”

The lottery reported revenue of $1.76 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, a 2.2 percent increase over 2014. Prizes paid out totaled $1.05 billion. The revenue growth was fueled by the rising popularity of instant tickets, or scratch cards, with revenue topping $546 million, up nearly 14 percent to a new high.

The Pick 3 reported earnings of $101 million on sales of $240.9 million. The Pick 4’s earnings were $119.4 million on sales of $276.9 million. In total, the state received $525 million from the lottery in the past fiscal year.

Playing 6-6-6 is usually a popular option because of the superstitions surrounding Halloween.

But at other periods, Williams said he wondered about that choice of number.

advertisement

“I’ve never heard of that, unless there are a lot of devil worshipers in Maryland,” the professor said.

[email protected]

twitter.com/sunjeffbarker

Choose 3 and 4 by the numbers

Choose 3 odds – 1 in 1,000

Choose 3 payouts – $500 on a $1 bet

advertisement

Choose 4 odds – 1 in 10,000

Choose 4 payouts – $5,000 on a $1 bet

The Maryland Lottery daily withdrawal limit is $5.5 million

Some recent big Pick 3 payouts:

The Evening Sun Daily Get your evening news delivered to your email inbox. Get all the top news and sports from baltimoresun.com. >

•6-6-6 on September 4 – $1.7 million on sales of $330,411

•7-7-7 on August 30 – $1 million on sales of $304,838

advertisement

Biggest Pick 3 payout in recent memory – 6-6-6 on August 21, 2010 – $3.2 million

A more typical Pick 3 payout – 5-2-7 on October 22nd – $180,375 on a turnover of $267,576

Total revenue of Pick 3 in the last state fiscal year – $240.9 million

Pick 3’s total earnings in the last state fiscal year – $101 million

Source: Maryland Lottery

Everyone has heard comparisons between the odds of winning the lottery and the odds of other unlikely events, such as being struck by lightning. It’s true, the odds of hitting the jackpot in a game like Powerball or any other Pick 6 lottery game are incredibly slim. But how low are they? And how often would you have to play to have a better chance of winning? These answers can be found with some simple calculations down to the exact odds.

In order to continue enjoying our website, we ask you to confirm your identity as a human being. Thank you for your collaboration.

Find out which numbers appear most often with Play 3 Numbers Most Drawn, a simple yet deceptively powerful tool that focuses solely on the frequency of each digit.

Does a frequently chosen number have more or less chance of coming out again? That’s for you to decide – Play 3 Numbers Most Drawn has the insight you need to help you make that decision.

The winning numbers for the Mega Millions jackpot, which had grown to $1.28 billion, were drawn on Friday night.

Those numbers are 13, 36, 45, 57, 67, and 14 according to the Mega Millions website.

It is the second largest jackpot in Mega Millions history and the third largest in US history. Officials increased the jackpot from $1.1 billion on Friday.

The biggest jackpot in US history came in 2016 when three people shared a Powerball jackpot of over $1.5 billion.

Sure, the odds of hitting all six numbers in Mega Millions is 1 in almost 302 million, but there could be ways to improve your chances of hitting the full jackpot.

According to USA Mega, as of October 31, 2017, #17 is the most frequently drawn number, followed by #10, 14, and 31. These numbers have been drawn in over 9% of draws over the past five years.

No. 51 is the least chosen number as it was only drawn 4.24% of the time.

No. 7 has been a hot favorite of late, being selected in 17 of the last 100 drawings.

No. 22 has been the top pick at the Mega Ball since October 31, 2017. It was the Mega Ball 28 times, while No. 7 was the Mega Ball just 13 times.

If you’re hoping not to split the jackpot, it’s best to choose numbers over 31, as many people play to celebrate anniversaries and birthdays. Mega Millions has 70 white balls and 25 mega balls.

: an attractive person I’m going to ask this hottie over there to dance with me.