>>>>A colleague of mine had the same fun for free - he fixed eight combinations on a lotto, and tracked what would happen in a year if he had paid for them. He said he'd end up with two heart attacks and 6-month salary :). I think he was wiser - he had all the fun for free.
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>>>Think of the heart attack he would've had if the numbers had come in!
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>>I wasn't too clear - the numbers had come in, but he wasn't actually playing, he was just tracking what would happen if he did... so instead of a real heart attack, he's got a couple of sour smiles...
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>So if he was actually playing the numbers, he would have won?

Yes, one main prize and a couple of second-third, but only after playing for about 40 weeks with the same numbers. I remember I wrote a simulator of such a thing, and he's got it in the roughly expected time - but then, paying it for 40 weeks would cost him about half of the sum, so if it came later than expected (which was also quite possible), he wouldn't be that much better off.

Another matter is the statistics of the numbers played. For psychological reasons, people like some numbers more than others; by playing fixed combinations of the unpopular numbers you'd get something sooner or later, but then there are statistical expectations that you wouldn't have to split it with someone.