Below is a table that outlines the tradeoffs of each type of lottery wheeling approach. There is no right or wrong selection, just advantages and disadvantages based on your playing style, risk reward threshold and scientific approach.
| Wheeling Type |
Core Strategy and Purpose |
Pros |
Cons |
| Full Wheel |
To capture the first prize, the jackpot - a full wheel guarantees this |
If the numbers fall within the wheel you will win big |
Very expensive to create the playslips, purchase enough tickets and pay the bill
A full wheel for 16 numbers in a Pick 6 game is $8,008!
|
| Abbreviated Wheels |
It is a minimum set of combinations that guarantees you a win whenever you match a specified amount of the winning numbers |
Allows coverage of the greatest quantity of numbers to ensure the guarantee, poor 2nd and 3rd prize performance
Good to use with Psychic Jackpot software
|
Even if all the winning numbers fall into your wheel, you're not guaranteed winning a jackpot |
| Balanced Wheels |
Popularized by Gail Howard, balanced wheels are an even usage of the wheeled numbers, so that no number is significantly over or underweighted in the wheel |
They have specific win guarantees and will generally win more 2nd and 3rd prizes
Good to use with Psychic Jackpot
|
They are expensive to implement in large sizes with big win guarantees. i.e. Pick 6, 4 out of 4 for 16 numbers is $162 |
| Filtered Wheels |
These are typically balanced wheels where bets have been deleted based on a filtering rule, such as sum of digits or odd and even counts |
Reduces number of bets with a wheel that were likely to be losers anyway based on statistics |
There is no guarantee; the filtered ticket that was discarded based on a rule could be the winner |
| Key Number Wheels |
These wheels use a single or multiple key numbers to dramatically increase number coverage for a minimal expense |
Very powerful and cost effective if the key numbers are winners |
Most of the time the key numbers don't hit and wheel is a bust |
| Positional Wheels |
There are say three groups of numbers: some you favor most, then less and finally least. The wheel is designed to overweight the selection of your favorite numbers and underweight the least. |
Might be an effective strategy with Psychic Jackpot since the winning numbers go to the high and low end of the distribution curve |
Generally there is no win guarantee if the numbers don't fall within your groups |
| Group Wheels |
The intent is to have the winning numbers be evenly distributed into several groups or buckets within a wheel. |
If the winning numbers fall into the respective groups you can achieve a bigger win for less money invested |
If the winners cluster in one group or the other you won't win much if anything at all |
