Data Import Australian PowerBall

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cotech
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Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by cotech » Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:53 pm

Hi there,

I have just started using LA and getting around setting it up with a DRAW HISTORY.
I am having troubles trying to import historical draw data from the Australian PowerBall
game. On each attempt the import processes “0” draws when there are 880 draws
in the powerball text file.

I might be doing something wrong and would appreciate some advice.
I have provided a asample of the contents of the text file with the
first 5 lines as below:

1,19960523,27,8,42,30,2,3
2,19960530,6,8,23,44,15,5
3,19960606,33,32,36,4,40,44
4,19960613,43,42,37,40,25,17
5,19960620,30,33,39,3,15,39


Looking forward in hearing back from you soon.

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lottoarchitect
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Re: Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by lottoarchitect » Sun Mar 31, 2013 5:20 pm

Hi cotech, the 19960523 date format is not recognized. It has to be separated somehow to its components day/month/year. So this 19960523 should be e.g. 1996/05/23 before attempting to import this text file.

cotech
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Re: Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by cotech » Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:38 pm

Hi LA,

Thanks for the reply but I am still unable to import the data based on your recommendations.
Further suggestions woukld be greatly appreciated.


Regards

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lottoarchitect
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Re: Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by lottoarchitect » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:00 pm

First describe the lotto game you play. If you haven't defined that properly you'll not be able to import it. Try to import a few draws only as a test. Also during the import you have to adjust the index parameter to 1 because the initial value of each row is an index and must be skipped. So,
1) correct the date format by adding a separator.
2) make sure you have properly defined the lottery game
3) During the import, set the correct date format to Year/Month/Date and the skip index to 1.

One more issue I just noticed, the last line is 5,19960620,30,33,39,3,15,39. Here 5 is the index which will be eliminated by the skip index during import. However I notice number 39 shows up twice. I suppose this second 39 is from a powerball field (drawn from a different container). Have you setup your game to expect two different fields?
Apart from the above, I don't see any other problem.

cotech
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Re: Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by cotech » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:33 pm

Hi LA,

I have found the problem. It has to do with the new PowerBall format. The new format
requires matching 6 numbers from a pool size of 40 numbers and the PowerBall from a
pool size of 20 numbers.

I had defined the initial lottery structure based on the new format and was trying to import
results data from the old powerball system where it was required to match 5 numbers from
a pool size of 45 and the powerball from a pool size of 45 numbers.

Problem Solved.

Thanks LA.

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Re: Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by draughtsman » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm

Cotech,

Don't forget that the structure of the Australian Power ball has changed from a 5/45 1/45 to a 6/40 1/20 structure. If you have set up your LA parameters for the new power ball game (as it now is) you will not be able to import the old game parameters. These are now two distinct and different lotteries.

And incidentally as there is a history of only about 4 draws in the new power ball game there is not really enough data to do anything with in either Lotto Architect or the GAT system.

regards

draughtsman

cotech
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Re: Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by cotech » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:01 am

Hi Draughtsman,

Thanks for the advice and feedback much appreciated.

Australian POWERBALL has recently undergone a format change and I would like to obtain comments
and feedback about some queries I have in regards to implementing analysis around picking Powerball
numbers for future draws.

I was just curious to find out what relevance is the old Powerball historical results as input to the new PowerBall
Game when using analysis techniques based on the new format ?

Previusly the Game drew 5 numbers from 45 numbers from the first barrel and then the powerball was drawn from
a second barrel of 45 numbers. The new format now requires 6 numbers to be matched from a pool size of 40 numbers
and the powerball number to be drawn from a second barrel with a pool size of 20 numbers.

How does the change in format affect the way analysis is done on this game in its new format ?
And what kind of results will it produce ?

Is it totally useless and one has to start from scratch and wait for a substantial amount of
historical results or one can get value and benefit from the old historical results.


Your thoughts and viewpoint would be greatly welcomed

cotech
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Re: Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by cotech » Mon Apr 01, 2013 4:39 am

Hi draughtsman,

Thanks for the advice and feedback... It brings me onto another topic of interest and question
why an agency would change the format of game ? Historical data is an invaluable source of
information for use in predictive analysis of numbers for any given future draw.

Having changed the format has dispensed with such historical data and makes it even more harder to
utilise any sort of predictive techniques as there is not enough data to establish past behvaioural patterns etc.
It is almost cruel for people who have invested alot of time and resources into exploring and developing
a methodology for a particular format and having that come to a fruitless end.

Cheers

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Re: Data Import Australian PowerBall

Post by draughtsman » Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:26 pm

Hi cotech,

Yes the lotteries are obviously different and trying to use the historical data of the previous as some sort of 'guide' for what might happen in the new lottery is simply not possible in the GAT system. In fact if we think in the terms that Anastasios has expressed when describing the character of the lottery you will recall he talks about identifying the 'signature' to enable forecasts to be made about future draws. You will appreciate that these two lotteries must now have completely different 'signatures' so very difficult, in fact worthless, to make use of the old draw history. And also if the physical characteristics of the lottery ie the barrel and the balls the temperature the humidity the time of rotation the way the balls load into the barrel the mass of each ball etc etc contribute in any way to the 'signature' then all these have changed as well. One day Anastasios might tell us a bit more about the 'signature' but as of now it his closely guarded secret. 8-)

As to why Lottery commissions choose to change their lotteries - who knows? Marketing aspects I think would count highly on reason to change - they want to renew customer interest and I think commissions like to have lotteries that jackpot to quite high values so they increase the odds as has been done in this case. So say goodbye to that old history and start work on the new stuff.

cheers

draughtsman

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