by George Cox

Created on: December 09, 2010

Playing the Pick 4 is easy. Choose a 4-digit number (repeats numerals pay better), and fill out a lottery ticket. I know people who play their mail box numbers, or the numerals in their car’s license plates or even the last four numbers of their social security number. Others pick their birthdays (month and day, like 0123 for January 23rd, or 2367 for January 23rd, 1967). However you come up with the combinations, playing your numbers can be fun.

But what are the odds of winning?

That’s easy. There are 10,000 possible combinations of 4-digit numbers that utilize the numerals 0-9 (0000 to 9999). If you choose the “exact” option, then you can win (at least in my state) $5,000 for hitting the number in the exact order. Picking the “any” option for a 4-digit number with four unique numerals gives you the best odds (1 in 417 chance, which is 10,000 divided by 24, since there are 24 possible combinations of four unique numerals). If you enjoy seeing doubles, then your odds decrease to 1 in 833 (10,000 divided by 12 possible combinations). The worst odds come with picking a 4-digit number made up of the same numeral (such as 2-2-2-2). Called a “quad” this combination has a 1 in 2,500 chance of coming up, and will pay out $1,200 in my state, although to date I have never seen a quad hit yet.

Remember, that Pick 4 has no less than ten thousand possible combinations, so if you like playing the last four digits of your social security number, that’s great—maybe it will hit multiple times in one year. But the chances are that the exact order will not hit for many years, and any order may hit only once in a 365-day period, leaving you will earning half your money back or possibly only breaking even.

So having fun, not earning a living, is the approach one must have when playing the lottery, whether it is the Pick 4 or Pick 3 or Cash 5. If you don’t have fun playing it, then you might as well give your money to charity or a homeless guy on the street corner. It is a safe bet that they won’t gamble your gift away.

And if you hear someone say that they (or more likely, someone they know) has a sure-fire way of winning all the time, ask them why they still work, or drive the same old car.  Chances are good that they may win “all the time” but they lose more often than that.

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