Good point Soledad. I been reading that magazine, bummed that they cut down to just the Stats issue. There was some good info in the Lotto News edition.
Regarding the switching of machines, they also have several 'Ball Sets'. In an effort to learn more about the 'pre-draw' numbers I ran across a couple of articles about the process of drawing the Numbers and Win4.
From memory, there are four machines for each game (P3 and W4). Before the draw, they get two machines out of a locked room and two ball sets for each game. I don't know how many ball sets exist, but the article said that they "pick one at random" and did not explain how that happens. They run 3 draws on machine one as a test. If a number duplicates, they run another test. (I think that means a duplicate result, like 123 and 123...maybe 321 would also force another test.) Machine number 2 is only there for standby in case of mechanical failure with machine number 1.
So, I have often wondered if expected followers or cycles DO NOT happen as expected or, may take a long time to show is due the fact that...One, there are multiple ball sets picked at 'random'. And it takes 10 draws before an expected number shows up, or sometimes right away OR not at all. Two, how often does the expected number show up in the 'TEST' draws.
After reading the article, I had more questions than I did before reading the article. It kind of blew my mind and deflated some hopes. But then again, reading posts here by long time players/posters show that patience and attention can still bring a good payday...proof is in the posts...there are a lot of good players here and I am grateful that they share their experience and knowledge because it took a long time and lots of losing tickets. And, I am sure that there were others that passed it on them.
I will try to find it and post a link. It was a local news outlet that posted the article online...it should be ok with the LP rules if it is a news article about NYL P3 Numbers.
Not to get too wishy-washy here, that was not the point of the post...just kind of led me to this...shout out to Soledad for getting me hooked. And to all that have shared their knowledge and experience...Thank you.