Why would anyone spend $5000 for a full-page ad offering to make you a millionaire? Compassion?

About 200 win at lotto systems have been offered in Australia in the past 10 years!

Full-page win-at-lotto ads appeared in Australian tabloids and women’s magazines since 1987 and smaller ads much longer.

The "lucky" numbers are usually calculated from astrology and numerology – both scientifically discredited. Some scheme operators claim their system is mathematically sound but such claims are bunk since random numbers cannot be predicted. In lotto all marbles have an equal chance of being drawn. The odds of selecting six marbles out of 44 is:

44 x 43 x 42 x 41 x 40 x 39
     6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1                =     1 chance in 7,059,052

Some ads require that winners let the scheme operators use their name and photo. However, no millionaires seem to have been produced in five years!

A Trade Practices Commission spokesman said the Commission received 1,000 complaints from people who didn't win the "millions" promised in ads! In all cases the money-back guarantees were not honoured! (The Advertiser, 1989, January 25)

A $5000 ad requesting $2 for information on lucky numbers would break even – allowing for postage and printing – if about 10,000 people responded. In some cases you get an outline of the scheme for your $2 but not the numbers to play it. These will cost perhaps $30 extra.

If 10,000 people purchase their alleged lucky numbers a few will win more than they lose. However, this will also be the case if the 10,000 people all guessed numbers for themselves and saved their $2 or $30! Lotto results cannot be predicted because all numbers have an equal chance of being drawn!

Some operators offer a "double your money back guarantee" if no major prize results in four weeks. Such operators, however, will usually have moved on when four weeks are over!

Some "rip-off merchants" have been prosecuted. One in South Australia was fined $2,000. (The Advertiser, 1989, February 1)

The S.A. Lotteries Commission had an income of $203 million in 1989/1990 of which X-Lotto accounted for 47%.