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That's the kind of deep knowledge and study of this numbers game that fascinates Courtney Weatherburne - and for the past month she's been understudying with the experts. Tonight we have part one of her two part series on this game of chance, that's woven into the very fabric of everyday Belizean life:

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Elsie Hinkson and Julia Bailey have been friends for many years - they usually go exercising in the mornings during the week and rest on Sunday's. Sometimes Julia comes over and they unwind to the songs on radio. But they don't really tune in to LOVE FM for the Sunday oldies,

What they're waiting for is the lottery draw at 10:00.

Elsie always has her pen and pad ready as they listen intently for the winning numbers.

Thirteen: that was the winning lottery number for Sunday January 17th. Neither Elsie nor Julia won that day but that doesn't mean they just throw away their tickets and forget about the number.

13 now becomes another entry in their record books - another small piece of an endless puzzle.

Courtney Weatherburne
"You said you've been tracking it from 2006 or 2008."

Elsie Hinkson, Lottery and Boledo Player
"I only have one month in 2006 and that is December, but I have from 2007 to 2016."

Courtney Weatherburne
"What exactly is behind tracking? Is it so you can see how the numbers repeat?"

Elsie Hinkson, Lottery and Boledo Player
"Yes, because sometimes like today is the 17th I would go right back to my book and see what are some of the numbers that played on the 17th of a month. Sometimes it works out sometimes no."

These books might seem like a jumble of figures - but beneath each number lies a secret history, a coded language known only to true boledo enthusiasts. For them, all these numbers form a pattern, and build a body of logic, an entire field of study crystallized into a single thought: what's tonight's winning number?

And that's what's on Julia's mind every day. She has her own method of winning dating back to 1999.

Julia Bailey, 62 year old
"I just sit down and write numbers out and I start to write the numbers and I put the numbers that play from Monday to Friday and the Sunday Lottery the same way and when they have like holidays I circle it. For example the number that plays on Mother's Day and Fathers and from then until now."

But where do these numbers come from? How do people come up with them? Now that's a universe unto itself.

Julia Bailey, 62 year old
"Well my brother used to buy boledo and he won so many times and so I said, you know what, I saw you winning and so now I have to try to buy this number. So I said I will buy 19. Now a young man came and I asked him what play today and he said 16 so I say okay, so I take my ticket and tear it up and throw it in the water and so now my brothers comes and I said "so 16 played today? " and he said no, its 19 that played and I said oh and I threw away my 19 and that was the first time I won. So I went downstairs, I was washing the next day and I said you know what, I will buy 01 tonight because it is the first time I bought a number, the first time I won and the first time I tore it up so I went and bought 2 sheet of 01 - it was 40 piece and it played and I won $140."

And that is the art of "Rake" - and it's only one way to come up with these numbers. Others have contract numbers - numbers they always buy like their age or house number. But it goes even deeper than that - into the language of dreams.

Elsie Hinkson, Lottery and Boledo Player
"I dreamt 2 different times about horses and I looked in the dream book and one of the numbers was 69. But I usually buy both ways so I bought 69 and 96 and 96 played that night."

King Tut - that's the name of one of the dream books used by boledo experts. Inside, there is a list of numbers for almost anything you can imagine - places, animals, names, foods, relatives among so many others.

There is even a skeleton referred to as Duque. On it, every single body part is marked by a number.

Elsie and Julia are just 2 of the many Belizeans who religiously buy and study numbers.

Before we went over to Elsie's house, we stopped by one of the stores that sell lottery and Boledo tickets. A small group in their comfy home clothes waited patiently for their turn to buy their favorite numbers - hoping to hear their number announced over the radio.

Press Cadogan gives them that hope through his predictions. Press is a statistician of everyday life; he developed a passion for numbers from a very early age:

Pres Cadogan, Pres Predictions
"From when I was a young boy coming up, I said somebody must could predict Boledo , not knowing it would be me but what happened is that when I was going to school, I was good in maths and I started to write down numbers, I started to see numbers, and follow numbers."

That gift earned him a column in the weekly issue of the Amandala called Press Predictions. He predicts what number will play and the outcome of sporting events. He started writing for the Amandala in 2008 and, since then readers have flocked to his column:

Pres Cadogan, Pres Predictions
"Any part of the country I go, at least over 40 to 50 people for the day will bother me about what will play, In Belize people figure I know what will play every day."

And how does he know - how does he divine the numbers? Tomorrow you'll hear his science of rake, and so much more in part two of Courtney's Boledo feature - so tune in then.