The recent discussions concerning quick picks made me a bit courious to find some historical fact I might be able to comment on.
Now bear with me my observations are limited to the Take 5 (5# draw game) in New York which is where I concentrate my efforts.
I usually pick my own numbers to play, but will buy a Quick pick occasionally. Of a total of (62) Quick picks in this sample, (38) 61.3% had mixed numbers, (18) 29% had 2-consecutive #'s, and (6) 9.7% were with either two sets of 2-consecutive #'s or with 3-consecutive #'s.
My database of winning numbers spanning 10 years with almost 2100 winning combinations included: (1230) 59% mixed numbers, (708) 34% with 2- consecutive #'s, and (139) 6.6% with either two sets of 2-consecutive or 3-consecutive #'s. This indicates to me the Quick picks are just over the actuals of a likely outcome.
Also, in the past 1-year, 47.7% of all the winners in the NY Take 5 drawings were Quick pick selections. Now in my opionion, I think the reason for that is only that more people buy QP's because it's convienent.
So after all is said and done, better to play you're own numbers.
And an answer to the question of how odds are reduced when you buy multiple tickets for a drawing. Yes, for the Mega Millions drawing, with 1-ticket odds are 135 million to 1. 2-tickets odds are reduced to 2 in 135m or 67,500,000 to 1. But think of this, purchase 1/2 of all the combinations (67.5 million) and your odds to lose are 1 in 2, purchase 134,999,999 tickets, you still can lose, odds 1 in 134,999,999.