I think you misunderstood the coin trick....he wasn't using that as an explanation as to how he predicted the lotto numbers, he was using it to demonstrate that people can be influenced to believe their collective consciousness has an effect on apparent randomness (which the participants appeared to believe). He picked Penney's game because it appears random to most but actually is not; it is a nontransitive game in which the odds are in favour of the second player given they know what to pick (as he explained). The proof of this is complicated, but exists and is as he stated.
A lot of stunts in the show had nothing to do with the lotto numbers - I think he was simply demonstrating that people are predictable and susceptible to suggestion given the correct conditions - including those that he put the 24 volunteers in. We all know the lotto is necessarily random, the whole point of his show was to create discussion and speculation, acting as misdirection to the fact that on camera and with no witnesses, it is simple to fake anything.
I agree that this trick was feeble in comparison to previous ones, but it certainly got us talking
