Filtering Tickets

There is one sure way to win the lottery Jackpot - play all possible combinations. However the payouts are never so big to return the cost of such a huge bet, not to mention the time needed to fill out so many playslips. Most lottery players have limited betting budget so they play a small wheel only. Depending on your lottery strategy you can download a wheel from internet or create a new one from scratch by filtering down the whole set of all possible combinations. The filtering process excludes combinations - tickets - that are not expected to win in the next draw. It is either a manual process of going through the tickets one by one and removing those you don't like or it can be done in bulk by applying ticket filters.

Ticket filter is a simple yes/no condition. A filter accepts a ticket when the ticket numbers meet filter's condition, filter rejects a ticket if the ticket doesn't meet filter's condition. The filter condition can be either a simple check for desired ratio of odd and even numbers or the filter can compare ticket numbers with past draws or it can be a complex hierarchy of other simple filters.

Package Filtering

To filter tickets in the Package, click menu Package - Reduce - Filter Tickets. Then select the filter you wish to apply to Package tickets and click Select button to open the selected filter. A new window opens where you can enter the settings of selected filter. At the bottom of the filter window there are buttons to run the filter:

Matching Tickets - with option Accept the filtered Package will contain tickets that meet filter settings. Option Reject reverses the filter condition so the filtered Package will contain only tickets that don't pass the filter settings.
OK - applies the filter to the Package tickets and closes the filter window. You can track the filter progress at the bottom of the main application window. To abort the filter, click the Abort button next to the filter's progress bar.
Apply - applies the filter to the Package tickets and keeps the filter window opened. When the filter is finished you can adjust filter settings and apply the filter again. To abort the filter, click the Abort button next to the filter's progress bar.
Preview - counts how many Package tickets the filter accepts and how many tickets the filter rejects without any actual changes to the Package contents.
Cancel - closes the filter window.

To revert the filtering results, click menu Edit - Undo to return the Package to the same state as before filtering.

When OK or Apply button is clicked in the filter window then the current filter settings are remembered and reused as the default settings when the filter is opened again.

If you play a lottery that draws one or more bonus numbers from the same pool as the main numbers it is possible to modify the selection of past draws in filter window to merge the bonus number(s) into the main numbers. This option is available only when filtering Package tickets using a single filter. It isn't possible to merge bonus numbers with main numbers in Complex Filter window.

Complex Filters

Implementing an advanced lottery strategy usually requires a lot of ticket filtering. Complex Filters allow grouping of frequently used simple filters together and applying them in a single step. Complex Filters can be stored to a file and reopened on next application startup. Another advantage of Complex Filters is that they support building of a deep hierarchy of simple filters with AND/OR logical operators. Complex Filters can be also back-tested and their performance is easily evaluated.