Methodology and data sources

Where the results come from

Every result on Lotometer comes from the official source of the lottery operator: the national operator of each country, listed in the table at the bottom of this page. I do not use third-party results sites and I do not copy results by hand.

When results are updated

On a draw day the site checks the operator's source about fifteen minutes after the scheduled draw time, then every ten minutes for the next hour and a half, and every half hour until the end of the evening. As soon as the operator publishes a result, the draw is added to the archive and appears on the site.

Every morning the last few days are fetched again, to pick up later corrections and the prize data that operators often publish only the next day. If a draw's result has still not arrived by morning, I get an automatic alert and check it by hand.

What is shown unchanged

Drawn numbers, bonus numbers, the number of winners and prize amounts per tier, ticket sales and the prize fund are shown exactly as the operator published them. Where an operator does not publish prizes for a draw, the site says so instead of estimating an amount.

What is calculated from the archive

• Number frequency: how many times each number has been drawn across the whole archive or in a chosen year, and which numbers come up most and least often.
• Numbers in form: the most and least frequent numbers over the last ten draws.
• Draw summary: the sum of the drawn numbers, the split between odd and even and between low and high numbers, numbers repeated from the previous draw and how many draws have passed since each number last came up.
• Combination check: the combination you enter is compared with every draw in the archive, and the site counts how many times it would have hit each prize tier.
• Simulator: calculates what one ticket with the same combination in every draw would have cost and what it would have won, using the prizes the operator actually paid in those draws. Every ticket is counted at today's price.
• Generator: picks numbers fully at random or by the rules of a "balanced" combination that resembles typical drawn ones. Neither way improves the chance of winning.

Statistics describe past draws. They have no influence on the next draw and cannot predict it.

What is automatic and what is written by hand

The pages of individual draws, the tables and the statistics are generated automatically from the operators' data, by the same rules for every draw. The short summary on a draw page is also put together automatically from that draw's numbers and the archive. The game descriptions, guides, answers to common questions and texts like this one are written by hand. The code that collects and calculates the data is covered by automated tests that run before every change to the site.

Mistakes and corrections

If you notice that a number, a prize or a date does not match the official figure, let me know through the Contact page and name the game and the draw number. I check it against the operator's source, and the correction shows at once on the draw page, in the archive and in every statistic.

For anything official, such as checking a ticket, prize amounts and payout deadlines, only the operator's information counts.