Maximum Entropy, Parallel Computations and Lotteries

Abstract

By picking unpopular sets of numbers in a lottery, it is possible to increase one’s expected winnings. We have used the Maximum Entropy method to estimate the probability of each of the 14 million tickets being chosen by players in the UK National Lottery. We discuss the parallel solution of the non-linear system of equations on a variety of platforms and give results which indicate the returns achieved by a syndicate buying a large number of tickets each week