Pick 6 | Free Lottery Wheels That Work

If you can’t win more than you’re paying to play, then you will lose money consistently. By balancing risk vs reward in your system it will help you consistently have more small prize wins while you await a jackpot… and a lot less losing lines when your matches don’t appear.

Introduction

First off, the name of our website should give you a clear indication that we’re not statistical geniuses, nor mathematics professors whose pencil is sharper than a razor’s edge.

Hobby Lotto is a coronavirus lockdown-inspired idea that keeps us busy while we await a return to normalcy.  We play mainly for fun, on a small budget, and pool our winning so we’re able to make bigger plays with house money.

Our content is inspired by the fact that no other lottery website we found :

• Seems to have NO CLUE as to what lottery wheels are actually profitable to play
• Has actually updated their proposed strategies in the last decade or two

Group Participation

If you’re avid seeker of lottery strategies, then please feel to , as we test out and share theories in our member’s only area before circulating them to general public. We also offer up our easy-to-use Excel Spreadsheets to members for any wheel upon request.

Generally, acceptance is based on what you have to share, whether it be a recommendation of a new wheels, books, websites worth reviewing, etc. As long as you’re willing to contribute is some way to helping us make this a better website, or improve our existing strategies, we’ll give you access to more quality content.

Prize Payouts

The goals we have with any wheel we play and strategize on are simple.

1. How much can we realistically win if our numbers come up?
2. What is the break-even point on the wheel and how realistic would it be to achieve?
3. How much insurance does it have for repeat lower-tier prizes that can cover the cost of playing?

The questions we must answer to reach our goals are also very simple:

• Is the prize we’re most likely to win, worth the cost of playing?
• Can the wheel guarantee help cover the losses in between wins?
• Can we offset some losses by winning repeat lower-tier prizes?

Lotto Odds

Now that you know what we do and why we do it, let’s take a look at a simple strategy that goes beyond the wheeling. Before you ever buy a ticket you first have to scout out the best lottery to play in your area.

The math here is also simple. Find the lottery with the best odds to win, and matching high payouts.

There are some very unique games we’d like to play ourselves in a lottery pool setting where we can test the strategies we’re currently working on. If you happen to be living in New Jersey, New Zealand, Missouri, British Columbia, or Quebec, Canada and are willing to buy tickets for our pool, please .

• California Fantasy 5: Daily 5/39 lottery where rolling jackpots have surpassed $500K
• New Jersey Cash 5: Daily 5/45 lottery where rolling jackpots often reach $1M (USD)
• NZ Lotto: Bi-weekly 6/40 lottery with a fixed jackpot of $1M (NZD)
• Missouri Lotto: Bi-weekly 6/44 Lottery with a rolling $2M (USD) jackpot
• BC49 / Quebec 49 (Weekly 6/49 lotteries with a $1 ticket cost and $75/$750/$75,000 CDN prizes for Match 4/5/5+B)

The reasoning behind why we would play these games over others is simple.

1. Lower number of matches required — Hello New Jersey Cash 5 odds at 1 in 1,221,759 odds and consistent $500K to $1M jackpots over time!
2. Lower number of balls in play — Hello California Fantasy 5 jackpot odds at 1 in 575,757 where jackpots at times reach $500K, and NZ Lotto odds at 1 in 3,838,380 odds and a fixed jackpot of $1M.
3. Higher payouts for lower-tier prizes — Hello BC49 / Quebec 49 which offer 50% more prize money than their Ontario/Alberta, etc counterparts. that also has a 3 of 5 Match that’s fairly easy to win and generally pays $13-$15. In a repeat win wheel, this can be very profitable.

When choosing a lottery to play, make sure your system is tested to work on much more winnable games, before throwing your money away on Powerball (1 in 292,201,338) or MegaMillions (1 in 302,575,350) jackpots.

If you’re looking for more ways to strategize before choosing a game to play, check out our
Lottery Tips and Lottery Myths pages.

Picking Numbers

Unfortunately, this seems to be a never-ending work in progress. No system we’ve ever tried has offered noticeably better results when testing in live draws. If there’s one thing that’s constant in playing the lottery, it’s that only past numbers show patterns, while upcoming ones are wholly unpredictable.

If you feel otherwise and have some knowledge to share, please !

There are however many systems we’ll discuss in a separate article about lottery strategy that will include the usual suspects.

• Delta Numbers
• Hot and Cold Balls
• Odd/Even and High/Low patterns
• Line Sums, etc.

The Hot 9

While not a tried and true method, if you’re just looking for something, in regards to direction on how to pick numbers, we’re currently testing out playing the 9 hottest numbers from the last 25/26 draws.

As in, we take hit counts from 26 draws but are reluctant to include any hot number that appeared in the last draw into the Hot 9.

We only allow 1 or 2 last draw numbers to appear when we play more than 9 hot numbers. i.e:

• 9 Numbers = play Hot 9 only with no duplicates from the last draw
• 10 Number = play Hot 9 along with a 10th number that could include any number that appeared in the last draw, but preferably only the bonus number.
• 11 Number play = Hot 9 with the 10th and 11th numbers also being numbers that appearing the last draw, or a hot bonus number and cold number, etc.
• 12 Number play = Hot 9 with up to 1 or 2 extra hot numbers that could be part of the last draw and a cold or luke-warm number.

In regards to lottery wheels, we generally play a 12 line, 4i4 guarantee with the Hot 9, as this wheel also covers 5if6 ($500+ for a Match 5) and 6if7 ($50,000+ for a Match 5 + Bonus).

This is something we also combined into our soon-to-be posted 94 Degrees Strategy, which is a spinoff of the also soon-to-be-posted, Four to the Mix with the 4if4 guarantee for the Hot 9 included.

Playing Strategies

We’re currently revising this page one-day-at-a-time with only a few strategies already having been posted. By the end of April, most of them should be online, but at present, the only full one that’s been posted.

• Three Ball Monte: Gameplay focuses on repeat Match 3 wins which can cover the cost of playing for guaranteed 4if4 prizes and 5if6 big dollar wins.

Over the next few days, we’ll be including starter options to two other strategies which we’ll then update daily until complete.

• Four to the Six: High percentage, abbreviated 4if6 wheels that were custom-designed from 13 numbers through 20.
• Four to The Mix: Medium percentage, abbreviated 4if6 wheels combined to create a unique set maximum combinations.  This option we use when combining the Hot 9 with several other numbers sets at the same time.
• 94 Degrees: This is a spinoff of Four to the Mix that includes a 4if4 guarantee of 12 lines so that we’re also covering 5if6/6if7 for the Hot 9.

On top of that, throughout the month of May, we’ll detail other playing strategies like:

• Four on the Floor
• Bring on the Heat
• Bonus Ball Heaven
• Big Bucks No Whammies
• The Hail Mary
• …and more!

Three Ball Monte

The odds of winning just a single Match 4 prize ($50) in a 6/49 lottery has very discouraging odds of 1 in 1,033.  At $1 per ticket, that’s a $1,033 investment just to win a meager $50 prize. If you’re playing a $3 lottery, you might as well take out a mortgage.

Until you play at least 9 numbers, your chances of hitting a Match 4 will be well below 1%. When playing 11 numbers, you’ll still roughly only have a 3-4% chance of Match 4, even with a 100% guaranteed 4if4 wheel and the hottest of numbers.

To be in the profit zone, you need to be near 10%, which requires you to play at least 16 numbers, and that is expensive since that 4if4 guaranteed wheel requires 152 lines.

So, while working your way up to playing wheels that require $100 or more per draw, you have to learn how to play 3-ball monte.

Key Strategy

When seeking a win in three-ball monte, rest assured that the odds are the easiest available, at just 1 in 57.

Consider the shells in this game, to be the numbers you choose to play, and if you select the wrong ones… poof, your money is gone. Unfortunately, there is no middle ground here, as either you’re a lucky goose or you lay an egg.

The key to playing to 3-ball monte is to seek out lottery wheels that offer repeat Match 3 wins that allow you to profit or at least come close to breaking even while you await a Match 4 or higher.

The wheels themselves should also ensure you have as close to, if not full 100% coverage for a larger prize, just in case you do get a hit.  The goal in 3-ball monte is only to break even while you wait out the bigger prize wins.

Do note that we’ve left out Match 5, and Match 6 prize tables here, as you’re not likely to have more than a 1% chance of your numbers appearing in the draw until you play 22 numbers or more. Rest assured though, should luck shine upon you. the wins will be glorious with prizes on every line.

8 Numbers

The best option for playing under $10 is 8 numbers and a 4if4 guaranteed wheel which will cost you 7 lines. At 64%, you’re most likely to win two repeat Match 3 prizes and you’ll have to hit this once out of every 2.5 draws to get near break even. You can, however, win three or four repeat prizes if your combination falls into the other 36%, which makes break even at 4-6 draws.

The big payout is for a Match 4, but you’ll have less than a 1% shot when only playing 8 numbers. You will, however, have at least 12 draws to break even here, even if you win nothing in the previous 11.

9 Numbers

The best option that’s just over $10 is to play 9 numbers with a 4i4 guaranteed wheel which costs 12 lines. This will give you an 85% of winning three, repeat 3if3 prizes and 2.5 draws to break even. 

You’ll have a slightly better than 1% chance at Match 4 here which will give you at least 9 draws to break even (57% chance). It’s unlikely you’ll hit this often, but if you do get lucky, it’ll pay for several weeks of play.

10 Numbers

Once you get into playing double digits you’re looking at a minimum of 15-20 lines to stay in the profit zone.

With a 5if6 guaranteed wheel, you’ll gain an extra number to play while only costing 2 more lines (14) than a 9 number, 4if4 play (12 lines).

The most like scenario is a 48% chance of a $6 profit for a Match 3 which will easily offset the 11% chance of a $4 loss. Squeezed in between, however, is a 37.5% chance of a $16 profit and an unlikely 3.5% chance at a $26 profit.

When playing 10 numbers you’ll have around a 1.25% chance at a Match 4. It’s not much, but if you get one, you can at least break even for the next 5-8 draws.

A 4if4 guaranteed wheel, however, will you cost you 20 lines, and ensure you a 75% chance of at least $10 in profit.

A Match 4 will gets you even one better, giving you 6-8.5 extra draws to do more than break even.

11 Numbers

We’ll start with a 5if6 guarantee wheel since it provides insurance that you’ll win a decent Match 5 prize ($500+) if you’re lucky enough to guess 6. At 22 lines, it’s also 10 lines cheaper than a 4if4 guarantee and offers similar prize wins for a Match 3.

At 67%, you’re most likely to get three repeat Match 3 wins here, which will still put you in the profit zone ($8 ahead). This will easily offset the $2 losses over time when your combinations fall into the other 33%.

With 11 numbers you have about a 3% chance of getting a Match 4, so this is quite the upgrade from playing 10 numbers. At 22 lines, this wheel is also only 2 lines more while gaining a 5if6 guarantee.

For a 4if4 guarantee wheel, you’re looking at 32 lines, which offer a 56% for $8 profit which offsets the 30% chance of a $2 loss. The 13% chance at an $18-$28 profit is unlikely, but not impossible.

Again, with 11 numbers you have about a 3% chance of getting a Match 4.  The most likely scenario is a 65% chance of a $98-148 profit, with an additional lucky 26% chance of making at least $30 more remaining unlikely 9%, at least $60 more.

It’s also possible to trim this wheel down to 30 lines and still have 98.88% 4if4 coverage (323 of 330 combinations), or 28 lines for 95.15% coverage (314 of 330 combinations), while not removing much from your Match 3 / Match 4 prize win totals.

12 Numbers

We’ll again start with a 5if6 guarantee wheel since it provides insurance that you’ll win a decent Match 5 prize ($500+) if you’re lucky enough to guess 6. At 38 lines, it’s also a few lines cheaper than a 4if4 guarantee and offers similar prize wins for a Match 3.

At 62%, you’re most likely to get three repeat Match 3 wins here, which is actually a loss of $8, but the other 38% will at times make up the difference.

Again the goal here is not to Match 3, as you’ll have roughly a 5% chance of a Match 4 with 12 numbers and a 2-3.5x chance of breaking even. Since you’re also covered for 5if6, you can win a decent chunk of chance for any Match 5 or Match 6 wins.

You can further trim this wheel down to 34 lines and still have 98.05% 5if6 coverage (906 of 924 combinations) while retaining a 76.34% chance of losing $4 on Match 3 rather than $8.

When playing with 4if4 guaranteed wheel you have a near 73% chance of coming within $1 of breaking even with a Match 3, while the other 28% allows you to recoup $30 (an $11 loss) while awaiting a Match 4 o higher.

With roughly a 5% chance of matching 4 with 12 numbers and a 3.5-4.75x chance of breaking even with 82% chance of making a $99-$129 profit.

This wheel can be reduced to 38 lines while still keeping 95.75% 4if4 coverage, but for every removal of 1 line it introduces a 1.8% chance (5.4% total at 38 lines) for a 2 x $10 Match 3. Considering that would be a $21 loss you’d have to weigh the chances of it or the missing 4.25% Match 4 coverage NOT appearing in 7 draws which also causes a $20 or so loss in prize wins.