How I Used an AI to Pick My Lottery Numbers and Win Big (or Not)
My New Year's morning was made when my phone woke me up with this message on January 1, 2026: 'You've won 18 tickets.'
Two weeks prior, I'd written to my chatbot, suggesting we play a game: 'Let's see if we can find some patterns in lottery ticket numbers.'
I was in for a wild ride...
With the national lottery site, it's not just about analyzing ticket numbers – there's more to it. But I'll get to that later.
The chatbot quickly found some patterns: numbers that love to stick around and those that tend to be more common. Then I asked it to help me pick ticket numbers that would maximize my chances of winning.
With a list of numbers marked with and, I headed to the store – only to find out that finding the perfect combination at the checkout counter is nearly impossible.
To calm my nerves, I bought three tickets on a whim and headed back home. There, in the comfort of my own space, I could focus on picking numbers that made sense. I started by selecting my favorite four numbers, which the chatbot had recommended.
Next, I spent hours browsing through the site, looking for the perfect combination. It was a much more relaxed experience than trying to find the right numbers in the store. Time flew by, and soon I had three tickets that met the chatbot's criteria.
And then the results came in: out of the three tickets I'd picked at the store, only one was a winner – for a paltry 100 rubles. But the chatbot's picks? All three were winners, each worth 100 rubles. It was a small win, but the chatbot had proven its worth.
So, what happened next? I created a new dialogue with the chatbot, and we started a new game – this time, with higher stakes. The goal was to pick a ticket that would win the jackpot.
The stakes were higher.
The chatbot was willing to help, but it reminded me that, in a lottery, anything can happen. To make things more concrete, I explained the rules and the optimal winning combinations to the chatbot. I even provided some examples of how the numbers should align to maximize the win.
I decided not to reveal the results of all previous draws beforehand. Instead, I fed the Artificial Intelligence with the first 20 numbers, asked it to find any patterns, and told it which numbers I thought would win in the next draw and which ones to avoid.
I also let it create its own 'ideal' tickets, which we considered purchased and waiting for a win. I didn't let it get too carried away – a maximum of 5 tickets at a time.
When it gave me its answer, I would input the actual draw numbers, and it would verify them, telling me how many of its tickets won and what the prize was.
As the game went on, my eyes would widen, and a greedy spark would ignite. I couldn't believe what I was seeing – the AI would calmly tell me something like, 'in this draw, 2 out of 5 of the tickets I suggested won, with a prize of 2 million. Would you like me to generate new ticket options for the next draw based on the updated statistics?'
I'm not going to drag this out – we were well-prepared for the New Year's Draw with the AI's help. We had purchased tickets that it considered ideal winners, and I had also bought a few more at the supermarket without paying much attention to the lucky and unlucky numbers.
I then had another idea – on the same website, as soon as you buy a ticket, whether it's in-store or online, it's displayed in the 'purchased' section.
And the best part is that you can copy all the ticket data, including the numbers on the ticket.
I copied the ticket data into my notes first, and then fed it to the AI, asking it to find any vulnerabilities. My concerns were confirmed – my initial set of tickets was too risky. For example, if the number 3 hadn't been drawn, all my tickets would have automatically lost. So, I just added more tickets under the AI's guidance to ensure that at least some of them would win.
Since we knew that there would be more than one winning ball in the New Year's Draw, it was a breeze with the AI's help.
In the end, I went to bed on New Year's Eve with 33 New Year's Lottery tickets, wondering if I'd have to change my tax ID number because of a small error in it that often makes it hard to work with money. My expectations were that high.
I also knew for sure that I wouldn't leave empty-handed.
I've got an interesting update from a friend who's been analyzing my lottery tickets using this AI tool:
Analysis for your 33 lottery ticketsThe worst-case scenario is that the number that doesn't get drawn is the most common one in your collection.My most common number is 3 (found in 25 out of 33 tickets).If 3 doesn't get drawn, you'll lose 25 tickets with the number 3 on them.The best-case scenario is that the number that doesn't get drawn is the rarest one in your collection.The rarest number is 18 (found in only 9 tickets).If 18 doesn't get drawn, you'll lose only 9 tickets.You'll win the remaining 24 tickets.The average probability of winning one ticket is 60%.Expected number of winning tickets = 33 × 0.6 = 19.8 ≈ 20 tickets.I already knew I'd have at least 8 winning tickets out of the 33.
And as for the events of the next day's draw, you already know the result: 18 winning tickets.
Now, let's get to the good stuff.
The results of the New Year's 171st draw of 'Million Dollar Lottery'. You can see the numbers that got drawn and which number was left out on the website in the archive
The numbers are listed in the order they got drawn, so you can easily see which one won if it did.
Now, out of curiosity, I'll show you the ticket that the AI thought was the most promising and tell you what happened to it:
The most promising ticket was bought, ironically, at a store. After analyzing my entire collection, the AI predicted that this one had a 90% chance of winning the million-dollar prize. The only thing that didn't sit well with the machine was the number 33, which it thought was the slowest and would be drawn last.
As we already know, number 19 didn't get drawn, which didn't bother the AI at all. Unfortunately, it couldn't predict this. The ticket didn't just lose the million; it was a total dud.
The biggest win (444 rubles) went to a ticket that was bought LAST, specifically to fill in the gaps in my collection where the numbers were least common)
And that's a wrap.
The AI didn't quite live up to its promise as a psychic. I don't know what its secret was in our training sessions, but maybe there's something behind it.
However, one thing I do know is that if the draw promises only one number won't be drawn, the AI is an excellent tool to analyze your tickets and prevent you from losing everything due to a number that just happens to be in all your tickets.
My final tally: 33 tickets cost 3300 rubles.
My loss - 18 lost tickets and 2786 rubles. I went with a bet that the smart machine and probability theory would work in the lottery, but it didn't pay off. On the other hand, it confirmed the rule that I'm utterly unlucky with 'cards').
I'm only giving this site a thumbs up for helping me systematize data across all fronts: from the archives of draw numbers to the entire set of purchased tickets, even the paper ones I bought at the supermarket. They get instantly added to the database by reading the phone number I dictate at the checkout. It's crazy how, in this tech age, I can collect a non-losing set of tickets and not get too bummed out.
PS: On January 9, 2026, the 'Second Chance' prize draw called 'Christmas Tale' was held. It was a live stream directly on the site. One prize of 5 million rubles, 100 prizes of 50,000 rubles each, and some 100 prizes for a subscription to the national lottery draws were up for grabs.
And here's the lucky winner of the 5 million ruble prize in the second chance national lottery:
But what got me was something else: apparently, all purchased tickets were participating, but then why did the randomizer show different numbers of participating tickets?
Take this, for example:
and this:
I just wanted to see how many tickets were bought in total, and I stumbled upon this weird thing.
Until I understand this, maybe the rules have more details...
Thanks for your attention!