331 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
331 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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May 20, 1992
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LOTTO.ASC
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This file is from the June 1992 - Texas Monthly which was in turn
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adapted from Austin entertainer Turk Pipkin's new book,
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The Winner's Guide to the Texas Lottery.
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It is published by Softshoe Publishing Company.
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This copyrighted article in its' entirety is called Smart Money and
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is written by Turk Pipkin. This file is to help those who plan to
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indulge in the soon-to-be TEXAS lottery.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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from
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Smart Money
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by Turk Pipkin
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Tip 1 - DON'T SPEND MORE THAN ONE PERCENT OF YOUR INCOME ON THE
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LOTTERY - MAX! You may well find yourself tempted to
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increase your chances by buying beaucoup lottery tickets.
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But no ordinary person could ever buy enough tickets to
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guarantee a win. Consider this: The most common lotto
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game has 14 million betting combinations, so if you buy 1
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ticket, the odds will be 1 in 14 million. If you buy 50
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tickets, the odds will be 50 in 14 million. Does that
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sound better? Only 1 in 54 tickets wins any prize at all.
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So don't spend yourself into the poorhouse.
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There is no correct or best or normal amount to bet.
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Annual lottery sales per person vary around the country
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from just $30 a year in Kansas to more than $250 in
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Massachusetts. Limiting your spending to one percent is a
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good rule of thumb. If you make $25,000 a year, that
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works out to $250 a year, or about $5 a week - plenty of
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opportunity for thrills and chills without breaking your
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budget.
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The best game plan is to play for the fun of it and for
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your dreams, not because you seriously believe that you're
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going to win. (Being certain that you're going to beat
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the lottery is a little like hitting yourself in the head
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with a ball peen hammer and being certain that it won't
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hurt - except hitting yourself in the head with a hammer
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doesn't cost a buck a whack.)
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Tip 2 - DON'T SPEND ALL YOUR LOTTERY MONEY THE FIRST WEEK; THE
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ODDS WILL GET BETTER. The first Texas Lottery game, Lone
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Page 1
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Star Millions, is an instant scratch-off game. It's easy
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to play and just as easy to lose. You buy a ticket for $1
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from a lottery vendor and scratch off the latex coating
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that conceals dollar amounts printed in six small squares.
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If three of those amounts match, you will win that much.
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Odds and prizes range from 1 in 10 to win $2 to 1 in
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600,000 to win $10,000. The overall odds of winning any
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prize are 1 in 7.9. That's not exactly a consumer
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bargain, and it won't be long before players figure that
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out and tire of having only one chance of winning in every
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eight plays.
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Early burnout has been anticipated by the Texas Lottery's
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advertising and operations contractors, who are masters of
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marketing and lottery strategy. As sales fall off, they
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plan to introduce new games with better odds to keep
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players interested.
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So while you may be tempted to bet heavily in the first
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two games because they will offer $1 million grand prizes,
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you should consider holding off. The third and fourth
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games - scheduled to be introduced simultaneously late
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this summer - will offer a double-prize feature and a
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higher overall percentage of winners. Eventually, up to
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six different instant games will be offered at any one
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time.
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The main thing to remember is to watch the payout odds -
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which will be printed on the game brochures available at
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all 15,000 initial ticket outlets. These odds will change
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with each game, and you might as well concentrate on those
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that offer you the best chance of winning. Many states
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now offer instant games with very decent 1 in 4 overall
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odds, and so will Texas. Watch for them.
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Tip 3 - DON'T THROW AWAY A MILLION BUCKS! If you scratch off an
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instant ticket and find three windows showing the word
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"Entry" instead of a dollar amount, don't worry; you
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haven't lost. In fact, you have a chance to win big.
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Write your name and address on the back of the ticket and
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mail it to the Texas Lottery (the address is also on the
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back). Twelve drawings will be held in various locations
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throughout the state, and the lucky winner will get
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$100,000,000.
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What are your chances? of 300 million tickets in game
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one, 500,000 will be Entry tickets. That may not sound
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great, but remember: Not everyone who gets an Entry ticket
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will go to the trouble of mailing it in. That will
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increase the chances of those who do, so keep those
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tickets in.
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Tip 4 - PLAY FOR FREE! Pay attention to the promotions that may be
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offered by the lottery and by ticket vendors. For
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instance, many retailers may offer "Ask for the Sale"
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promotions, in which you get a free ticket if the clerk
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forgets to ask if you would like to buy one. Participating
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service stations will also be allowed to give away free
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tickets with a fill-up of gas, and food stores can give
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Page 2
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free tickets for buying turkeys at Thanksgiving (and what
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better symbol for a bunch of die-hard lottery players than
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a bunch of frozen turkeys?). Don't pass up a free
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opportunity.
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Tip 5 - DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON WORTHLESS LOTTO SYSTEMS! This
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fall we will see the introduction of the big game with the
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giant jackpots - lotto, which is based on a centuries-old
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gambling game that originated in Italy. The Lottery
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Commission has yet to decide on the specifics, but the game
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will probably be a 6/49 or 6/50 lotto. This takes a minute
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to explain, so bear with me:
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1) On each ticket, 49 or 50 numbers are printed; these
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numbers are called the field.
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2) From the field, a player selects 6 numbers, called
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his pick.
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3) Every Saturday night on live TV - possibly in the
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commercial slot just before the ten o'clock news -
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the Texas Lottery will use a special machine filled
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with Ping-Pong balls bearing printed numbers to pick
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six winning numbers.
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Given the size of the potential prize - you may remember
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Florida's $106.5 million - and the devastating odds against
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winning - 1 in 14 million for 6/49 lotto; 1 in 16 million
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for 6/50 - everyone wants a system. This is where you want
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to be cautious. Hundreds of overpriced schemes are on the
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market; pocket calculators, computer software, even lotto
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biorhythm charts, all ballyhooed as ways to pick winning
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numbers.
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And those are the more plausible scams. Once the lottery
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really gets going here, you can expect a cottage industry
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to spring up offering to convert your birthday, your
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astrological sign, and even more arcane phenomena, like
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dates of sightings of the Loch Ness monster, into mystical
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numbers that you can use to play lotto. Anyone who claims
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to be able to see the future of a lotto drawing and offers
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to sell you that information for $50 or $100 must be
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generous indeed.
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Worst of all, many mathematical systems can cost a bundle.
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Some of them (many are sold through the mail) involve using
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eight, nine, or ten numbers in complex betting combinations
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that necessitate spending $20, $50, or $100 a week on
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lotto.
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Taking these methods seriously is just asking for trouble.
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Don't spend big money on any system to pick your numbers.
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Your odds are better if you put your money into tickets.
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Tip 6 - DON'T PLAY FREQUENTLY BET NUMBERS! Since there is no sure
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way to make lotto predictions, the most logical tactic is
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to avoid sharing a jackpot in case your numbers are drawn.
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Research shows that many if not most players select low
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numbers. Why? Because they choose from the same small
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group of numbers 1 through 12 (the months), 1 through
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Page 3
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31 (the days), and the number 19 (the century) are all
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overplayed. Of those, 3, 7, and 11, all considered to be
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lucky, are REALLY overused.
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Another factor favoring low numbers is that people marking
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play slips often make all six choices before they get above
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the twenties or thirties. In one drawing of the Maryland
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Lottery, 3,200 people played the numbers 1 through 6. If
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those numbers had been chosen, the winners would have had
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to split the $620,000 jackpot and would have won less than
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$200 each. Conclusion: Play at least SOME high numbers.
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Tip 7 - YOU CAN WIN WITH QUIKPICKS! The simplest way to pick your
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numbers may well be the best: Let the computer do it for
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you. All you have to do is tell your clerk at your lotto
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ticket outlet that you want onr or more Quik Picks. He
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pushes a button, and the machine picks six numbers for you,
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charging a buck a ticket.
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The reason this works is that playing Quik Picks guarantees
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that you will have random numbers. That way you avoid the
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pitfalls outlined in Tip 6, and you have less of a chance
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of sharing a jackpot with all those other people. Surveys
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in many states show that a majority of jackpot winners were
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Quik Picks. How can this be? Because the majority of
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lotto tickets sold WERE Quik Picks.
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Tip 8 - ALWAYS CHECK THE WINNING LOTTO NUMBERS AGAINST YOUR
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NUMBERS! Could anybody be dumb enough NOT to CHECK his
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numbers? Well, YES! In 1989 a $5.4 million Illinois
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jackpot went unclaimed for one year, was declared void, and
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the money was returned to a pool for future prizes. Every
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lottery state has had similar incidents.
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How does this happen? Plenty of people ask the clerk for a
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lottery ticket and get a lotto Quik Pick instead of the
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instant ticket they wanted. They stick that ticket in
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their wallet or purse and forget about it. And if they
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regularly play Quik Picks instead of playing the same
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numbers every time, they don't have the numbers committed
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to memory, and they must check the current ticket to see if
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they have won. Diggout out the tickets is more trouble,
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but the rewards could be worth it.
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Unclaimed prize money in Texas, you may be glad to hear,
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also will BE RETURNED to the player's prize pool.
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Tip 9 - PLAY LOTTERY POOLS! Lottery pools are groups of people -
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family members, neighbors, co-workers - who pool their
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money to buy more tickets than any of them could afford
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individually. If any of the tickets wins a prize, everyone
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shares the money. Whoever organizes the pool collects the
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money, buys the tickets, and keeps a simple written
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contract stating that winnings will be divided equally
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among all members.
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Say thirty people chip in $3 a week. Each of them now has
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ninety opportunities to win a share of the jackpot, and no
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one has spent a fortune. A $15 million jackpot split among
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Page 4
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thirty winners would pay each of them $20,000 a year for
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twenty years, after taxes.
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You may have read about a commercial Australian lottery
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pool called the International Lotto Fund that won $27
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million in March by covering all seven million combinations
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in the Virginia Lottery. Smooth move, but every lottery in
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the country has since changed its rules to prevent such
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massive block buying of tickets. That means your own
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lottery pool at home or work is still your best chance to
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win.
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Tip 10 - PLAY WHEN THE JACKPOT IS HIGH, BECAUSE SO IS THE VALUE OF
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YOUR BET! When the lotto jackpot is not won for several
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weeks, a fever grips the land. People who were previously
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blase' wait in line for hours to buy tickets. The lottery
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occupies the news, cocktail party conversation, and
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valuable work time. It is blamed for everything short of
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causing hens to quit laying.
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Some people think that having more players in the game will
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ruin their odds, but it's just not so. The odds of winning
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remain unchanged. The odds of having to share the big
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prize ARE higher, but since the jackpot is bigger, that
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isn't such a big deal.
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Maybe you'll win, maybe you won't. The point is that if
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you play for fun, you can have a few thrills, and if you
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play smart, you'll know you've done everything you can to
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boost your chances. It's like life; the odds are against
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you, but may the fours be with you.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
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as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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Page 5
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