Have you Ever Done the Odds on the Lottery ?

[St. Phatty]

I always thought that the lottery was something like, you pay $1 for a 1 in 10 million chance to win $5 million.

1/2 the proceeds go to 'education', they say in some states.

Anyway, I got out the calculator.

6 numbers, from 1 to 48

for 2 to line up, it's about 1 in 2304.

for 4 to line up ... 1 in 5,308,416

for 6 to line up ... 1 in 12,230,590,464.

1 in 12 Billion.

Pay $1 for a 1 in 12 Billion chance to win $5 Million ?


OK, maybe I could use some help with the math.

In order for someone to win, doesn't that mean people have bought close to 12 billion lottery tickets ?

But the lottery doesn't take in $12 Billion.


Now I understand my C+ in College Statistics.

 

[aridbud]

Don't play the lottery but $5 slot machines did well for several years...jackpots ranging from $1200-$6500. Had to put in at least $250 as it generally takes 11 to 13 spins before hitting something.

 

[Betterhaff]

You have to take into account that numbers are eliminated as they are drawn and also factor in the number of draws. In a 6/48 game the probability of selecting the correct numbers would be the total of 48 x 47 x 46 x 45 x 44 x 43 divided by the total of 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. This would be 8,835,488,640 divided by 720…or 12,271,512. So in a 6/48 game you have a 1 in 12,271,512 chance of selecting the correct 6 numbers.

When a separate power or mega ball is part of the game it adds another layer of probabilities.

 

[rolandomota]

A good way to play is when there is a mega number or power number it's good to buy a ticket for each that way you win at least once every time but that can get expensive if you do this every draw so maybe do it when the jackpot is really high. The state lotto has the better chance of winning because it's less numbers to choose from but this has no bonus numbers so it's very random. Some numbers seem less possible than others like picking 1 through 6 won't ever win usually the numbers aren't close together and just things like that help a bit. Playing one number every draw costs 8 to 16 $ a month so it's not that much to play every time.

It's very hard to win but people do win all the time.

 

[Pinball Wizard]

Winning the lottery wouldn't do me any good, now...I've done crossed over to the Dark Side.

 

[Jellyfish]

Your negative dark energy is preventing me from seeing your graphic, O Dark Wizard.

 

[Pinball Wizard]

Your negative dark energy is preventing me from seeing your graphic, O Dark Wizard.

 

[Slipnot]

The odds of winning, its like astronomical if you really think about it ..
Just luck of the draw one should be asking the odds of you or me winning the lottery is like saying the space probe has reached the end of our solar system ha not in our life time or kids or there kids and even there kids ..


How long before you’ll never see another headline that says, “Voyager leaves the solar system”? How long until we know Voyager has really reached the stars (beyond our own)? Thirty thousand years. That’s how long it will take, according to our best guess, before the probe passes through the Oort Cloud—a field of rocks, comets and other debris that orbits our sun and marks the outer limits of the sun’s reach.

And to be extra sure, we should wait another 10,000 years before Voyager passes the final waymark that could be considered the edge of the solar system: the point at which the sun’s gravity is no longer the dominant pull on the probe.

How long before Voyager 1 would accomplish the elusive goal of interstellar travel? Well, if we had pointed it in that direction, it would have reached the next-nearest star sometime around the year 77013.

It’s not that Voyager is slow. It’s one of the fastest-moving man-made objects ever—behind a few other space probes and a manhole cover that accidently got shot toward orbit in a U.S. nuclear test.

Voyager 1 is traveling at 38,000 miles an hour. It covers 1 billion miles every three years. But that’s still not fast enough to reach the stars!

 

[Green Squall]

I spend 10 bucks a week on loto. I don't expect to win but I enjoy scratch offs. I guess there's worse things my money could go towards.

 

[Jellyfish]

The odds are astronomical, but somebody does win, and it could be me, could be you.

 

[shithawk420]

My friend won a 1000 dollars last week and 150 yesterday on ten dollar tickets.I doubt she even broke even though

 

[armedoldhippy]

there are even greater odds against some things happening than me hitting the lottery. i get excited when i get through more than two intersections in a row without getting caught by a light, hit by a moron on their fucking cell phone, or pulled over by the police...

 

[solofoe]

Just like gravity, money is a western construct.

 

[Betterhaff]

The odds are astronomical, but somebody does win, and it could be me, could be you.

A friend kind of has this philosophy. He only plays when the jackpot reaches a certain point though, as if 10 mil wouldn’t be enough as opposed to 50, lol. But he says there are people who win so he’ll sacrifice a beer or 2 a week to play. He’s still in the red though.

What gets me are those people who win it more than once…talk about lucky.

 

[Hermanthegerman]

Once in the mid 90s I had an hangover and was hanging around in a kind of walmart (real kauf) and we had a new kind of lottery in Germany, called "wensday-lotto". I made my crosses and forgot it. Later there was an evelope in the Postbox, i didn´t know the sender, opened and found a check about 3500 Deutsch Marks!

Lucky me, it´s roundabout like 3000 Euros today.

It was my only win in a lottery, but I didn´t Play often, 3-4 times a year.

 

[St. Phatty]

Sometimes I wonder if God (or Gods) has/have the ability to give any one of us the winning lottery ticket.

In the TV series "Heroes", there were these 2 characters that could alter electronic gear by touching it. They didn't use that ability on the lottery.

Anyway, I wonder if God can do the same thing.

But I haven't found a pastor who will give the matter serious consideration, yet.

I know one answer might be, "God doesn't do Lotteries".

I can live with odds of 1 in 12 million, on $5 million.

 

[Slipnot]

My friend won a 1000 dollars last week and 150 yesterday on ten dollar tickets.I doubt she even broke even though

You here people say the won big playing machines i for one had a addiction to gambling i spent 180,000 a year it cost me a divorce ..

Always thinking i am going to win big i never happens sure sometimes you get lucky and win but again the compulsive side always never walks away but throws all that money thinking i am going to win more

There are reasons why the odds are stacked up against you before you even sit down at table or machine ..
House wins all the time they get richer and you get sucked in

there is a reason why they have security making sure people do not use science as in +3 - 12 counts ( card counting )
they hate when the odds go to the winner is it cheating ?

Like fuck it is its putting better odds of winning on your side .. mathematically speaking ..

So what is the goal or bettering your odds of winning ?? its doing group tickets next time you by a lotto ticket ask if they do group tickets where 10 random people or 20 random people get in this means now instead of your 3 6 number purchase you now have 60 numbers each ticket contains 60 6 numbers this increases your odds significantly for free play 10 bucks 100 bucks or even grand prize

but it would be split amoungst the 20 others as well

pretty simple even going on line and getting 100 random or even 1000 random people together
that is 3000 ticket chance bettering your odds

You be surprised on the winnings of just free plays you could be playing for that 20 million prize for 6 months before dishing out another 5 bucks

talk about savings

 

[moses wellfleet]

Somebody post up a lucky number?

 

[KONY]

Course I have, you failed to mention the best odds games in most states; 5 number lottery, although my local one has recently added more numbers, making it not as great.

You win less, but the odds of winning are much more likely, normally 1 in 200k.

The other option to play the lottery and actually win is find which scratch games have sold 90+% of their tickets, and still havent had the major prizes claimed. This greatly increases your odds of hitting a major prize on the scratch ticket, even more so as the tickets are more and more sold, to 99%.

 

[paper thorn]

I've never bought a lottery ticket. never