I joined a Lotto pool of 3 people four months ago. Since then, we've pooled \$200 once a month for the last four consecutive months, to buy 100 games in the \$2 Cash4Life game. Odds on the jackpot are 21 million:1, but 210,000:1 with 100 tickets. It's a six number game: 60 numbers in the top panel, and 4 "supplemental numbers" (1-4).
We play the same numbers each month. So far, the results demonstrate what I believe is called "regression toward the mean", i.e., we pulled in between \$24-\$48, the average winnings one can expect in this particular game with these odds and 100 tickets.
Oddly, though, in each successive month, we have won \$10 more than in the previous month.
My question is, is this \$10 increase just dumb luck, or does playing the same numbers repeatedly, rather than getting new ones each month through Quick-Pick, confer a slight advantage? Or does the old truth hold about flipping the coin: no matter how many times one side comes up, its odds of coming up again on the next toss are still 50-50, and thus with every number in every Lotto game?
Thank you! Tom Cullem