This study investigates why certain online lottery retail outlets repeatedly produce high-tier cumulative winning outcomes over long periods—an empirical phenomenon that cannot be sufficiently explained by probability fluctuations or sales volume al...
This study investigates why certain online lottery retail outlets repeatedly produce high-tier cumulative winning outcomes over long periods—an empirical phenomenon that cannot be sufficiently explained by probability fluctuations or sales volume alone. To address this issue, the research employs a three-stage analytical framework comprising: (1) a macro-level examination of the spatial distribution and urban environmental characteristics of all lottery outlets; (2) a comparative analysis of high-tier winning clusters across the city; and (3) a micro-scale assessment grounded in geomantic landscape theory (Feng-Shui), focusing on landform, hydrological flow, and structural orientation.
The macro-scale analysis reveals that conventional urban variables such as subway access, bus stop density, road hierarchy, and zoning categories do not consistently account for the spatial occurrence of high-tier winning outlets. Notably, several areas with strong commercial capacity and excellent accessibility exhibit almost no high-tier winners, whereas repeated winners appear in comparatively peripheral districts. These findings indicate that the determinants of top-tier winning outcomes extend beyond urban accessibility or socioeconomic scale, pointing toward deeper structural conditions embedded in the city’s terrain and hydrological flows.
To explore these underlying conditions, the study incorporates a micro-scale geomantic assessment using DEMs, contour lines, hydrological networks, and road structures. The analysis confirms that traditional geomantic factors such as ridge-end landforms, left-sided water inflow patterns, mountain-back/water-front alignment, and the narrow-front/wide-rear configuration demonstrate systematic associations with high-tier and second-tier winning outcomes. A quasi-Poisson regression model further validates that the combined structure of landform, hydrological flow, and orientation yields statistically significant effects on cumulative prize performance. Based on these patterns, the study proposes a typological framework consisting of three categories foundation type, mountain-back/water-front type, and urban-compensatory type and introduces the concept of prize-yield elasticity to explain differential performance sensitivities across typological structures.
The analysis of low-performing outlets provides additional insight: suboptimal geomantic conditions often coincide with survival-oriented locational structures characterized by low rents and small-scale neighborhood corner sites. This suggests a bifurcation between “performance-generating structures” and “survival-maintaining structures,” expanding the interpretive scope of retail location analysis.
Overall, the study reinterprets classical geomantic concepts landform, hydrological flow, and structural orientation through empirical GIS based indicators and statistical models, demonstrating their reproducibility and explanatory value in contemporary urban environments. The findings establish a coherent analytical model that links cumulative winning outcomes with typological geomantic structures, offering both theoretical contributions to the modernization of Feng-Shui scholarship and practical implications for retail location strategies, commercial spatial planning, and urban design.