Japan
Lucky Loto 6 and Loto 7 numbers
Both Mizuho Bank draws. Loto 7 has the smaller pool but one more number to match, which makes it the harder of the two, the odds below show by how much.
Numbers built from your chart, not a shuffle
Any site can pick random numbers. Weighting the pool by your own Day Master, Life Path and Lo Shu grid needs your birth moment.
The formats, side by side
| Game | Numbers drawn | Jackpot odds |
|---|---|---|
| Loto 6 | 6 of 1–43 | 1 in 6,096,454 |
| Loto 7 | 7 of 1–37 | 1 in 10,295,472 |
Loto 6
Six from 43, drawn twice a week and run by Mizuho Bank rather than a state lottery board. There are 6,096,454 ways to choose 6 numbers from 43, and a line covers exactly one of them, which is the whole arithmetic behind the 1 in 6,096,454.
Loto 7
Seven from 37, a smaller pool than Loto 6 but one more number to match, which makes it the harder of the two. There are 10,295,472 ways to choose 7 numbers from 37, and a line covers exactly one of them, which is the whole arithmetic behind the 1 in 10,295,472.
Loto 6: The whole prize table, counted out
One division per row: matching draws over possible draws. The format above supplies both figures.
| Result | Odds of exactly this |
|---|---|
| Match 6 | 1 in 6,096,454 |
| Match 5 | 1 in 27,462 |
| Match 4 | 1 in 610 |
| Match 3 | 1 in 39.2 |
Read as: one line, that exact match. Whether it pays anything is the operator's rule, not arithmetic.
Loto 7: The whole prize table, counted out
One division per row: matching draws over possible draws. The format above supplies both figures.
| Result | Odds of exactly this |
|---|---|
| Match 7 | 1 in 10,295,472 |
| Match 6 | 1 in 49,026 |
| Match 5 | 1 in 1,127 |
| Match 4 | 1 in 72.5 |
| Match 3 | 1 in 10.7 |
Read as: one line, that exact match. Whether it pays anything is the operator's rule, not arithmetic.
Elsewhere in the world
Same birth data, a different pool to fit it to. There is also every lucky-number calculator.
Splitting, not winning
This is not a system and it will not shorten your odds by any amount. It is about crowding. Some numbers are held by far more tickets than others, and that decides what a jackpot is divided by rather than who wins it.
Loto 6
12 of the 43 numbers on a Loto 6 form are above 31, which puts them outside every birthday, anniversary and door number in play. Dates cannot reach past 31, so every line built from one crowds into the same stretch of the board. Lines built entirely from calendar numbers make up 12.1 per cent of the possible lines, and a far larger share of the tickets people fill in by hand. A line reaching above 31 wins no more often. It is held by fewer people when it does.
Loto 7
Of the 37 main numbers in Loto 7, 31 could be a day of the month and 6 could not. Birthdays, anniversaries and door numbers all run out at 31, and hand-filled slips cluster there accordingly. Lines built entirely from calendar numbers make up 25.5 per cent of the possible lines, and a far larger share of the tickets people fill in by hand. Going above 31 buys you no extra chance at all. It buys you fewer people to share with.
Figures computed from each game's own format. The calculator above weights your pool by your chart rather than by this, and neither approach makes a draw more predictable than it is.
Takarakuji, and the numbers nobody picks
Loto 6 and Loto 7 sit inside takarakuji, the Japanese public lottery system, and are handled through Mizuho Bank. The proceeds go to local government. The famous queues are not for these two but for the Jumbo draws, and the longest of them forms outside the Nishi-Ginza Chance Centre in Tokyo, at a window that has sold enough winners to have a reputation.
Four and nine come off hand-picked Japanese lines more often than any other digits, because 四 can be read as shi and 九 as ku, death and suffering. Hospitals skip those floor numbers for the same reason. On a 6/43 form that leaves a slightly thinner crowd on the numbers containing them.
Kyusei Kigaku, the Japanese nine-number system, worked out from your birth year. Your Nine Star Ki number.