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lottery
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do you have as much chance of winning the lottery using lucky dip, or picking your own numbers or does it not really matter??
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Doc I have 7m different chances at 14million to 1 so I have covered half the possible combinations I therefore have and even money chance of having the winning combination. Is the penny anywhere near dropping yet!
If I have 14 million different tickets then I am certain to win would you at least agree that?
If I have 14 million different tickets then I am certain to win would you at least agree that?
Goodness me loosehead did you go to same school as Octavius.
There are just short of 14000000 combinations of 6 numbers out of 49.
You are not guaranteed to win if you buy 14 million tickets. The numbers might not come up until 3rd year, then 3 in a row, The odds of getting 1 2 3 4 5 6 every week for 10 years are still the same. Each draw is unique, like it never happened before.
There are just short of 14000000 combinations of 6 numbers out of 49.
You are not guaranteed to win if you buy 14 million tickets. The numbers might not come up until 3rd year, then 3 in a row, The odds of getting 1 2 3 4 5 6 every week for 10 years are still the same. Each draw is unique, like it never happened before.
Well half the numbers are odd and half the number are even so the law of averages says you should get 3 of each in each draw (although it it not always the case).
So if you just pick 6 odd numbers or 6 even numbers you are probably reducing your chances of winning.
So picking 6 numbers yourself with 3 odd and 3 even is probably better than going for the lucky dip where it may not be 3 odd and 3 even.
Mind you, some statistical genius will probably prove I am wrong.
So if you just pick 6 odd numbers or 6 even numbers you are probably reducing your chances of winning.
So picking 6 numbers yourself with 3 odd and 3 even is probably better than going for the lucky dip where it may not be 3 odd and 3 even.
Mind you, some statistical genius will probably prove I am wrong.
Sorry, VHG, your 'odds and evens' theory doesn't hold water.
Every combination of 6 numbers has a (roughly) 1 in 14 million chance of winning the jackpot, irrespective of how that combination is selected. You could choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 or you could select exactly the same 6 numbers which won the most recent jackpot. It makes no difference.
However, while you can't improve your chances of winning the jackpot, you can improve your chances of a decent payout if you win. For example, I read somewhere that several hundred people choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 as their regular selection of numbers. If you join them, your chances of winning are neither lessened nor improved but, if those numbers are drawn out, you'll have to share the jackpot with hundreds of others.
Similarly, many people select their numbers based upon family birthdays. Since their are no more than 31 days in a month, that means that large numbers of participants only select numbers between 1 and 31. So, if you choose 2, 5, 7, 18, 19 & 28 you might be sharing your jackpot payout with one or more people who base their numbers upon birthdays. Whereas choosing 32, 35, 36, 37, 46 & 47 guarantees that, if you win the jackpot, you won't have to share with anyone who bases their selection upon birthdays.
Chris (a maths graduate who vaguely remembers at least a little about statistics!)
Every combination of 6 numbers has a (roughly) 1 in 14 million chance of winning the jackpot, irrespective of how that combination is selected. You could choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 or you could select exactly the same 6 numbers which won the most recent jackpot. It makes no difference.
However, while you can't improve your chances of winning the jackpot, you can improve your chances of a decent payout if you win. For example, I read somewhere that several hundred people choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 as their regular selection of numbers. If you join them, your chances of winning are neither lessened nor improved but, if those numbers are drawn out, you'll have to share the jackpot with hundreds of others.
Similarly, many people select their numbers based upon family birthdays. Since their are no more than 31 days in a month, that means that large numbers of participants only select numbers between 1 and 31. So, if you choose 2, 5, 7, 18, 19 & 28 you might be sharing your jackpot payout with one or more people who base their numbers upon birthdays. Whereas choosing 32, 35, 36, 37, 46 & 47 guarantees that, if you win the jackpot, you won't have to share with anyone who bases their selection upon birthdays.
Chris (a maths graduate who vaguely remembers at least a little about statistics!)
PS: Doc Spock:
If you don't know what 'Grauniad' means, you're clearly not a Private Eye reader ;-)
Back in the days of 'hot metal', before desk top publishing (and spell-checkers), The Guardian's typesetters were notorious for filling the paper with incorrect spellings. Private Eye took to referring to the publication as 'The Grauniad', suggesting that they couldn't even get their own name right.
Over the years, 'Grauniad' has come to be a disparaging term, both for the newspaper and for the type of people who read it.
Chris
If you don't know what 'Grauniad' means, you're clearly not a Private Eye reader ;-)
Back in the days of 'hot metal', before desk top publishing (and spell-checkers), The Guardian's typesetters were notorious for filling the paper with incorrect spellings. Private Eye took to referring to the publication as 'The Grauniad', suggesting that they couldn't even get their own name right.
Over the years, 'Grauniad' has come to be a disparaging term, both for the newspaper and for the type of people who read it.
Chris
Doc, the point which you are clearly missing is that yes, every single ticket has a 14m-1 chance of being the jackpot ticket. If you have 2,500 hundred tickets, then surely the odds of you winning are increased slightly (assuming no 2 tickets have exactly the same numbers) since you have more combinations (2,500 in fact) of numbers within the great pool of chance that is the Lotto.
Loosehead has tried to explain it far simpler than I.
But, as I said in my post, you would probably still end up a loser.
Loosehead has tried to explain it far simpler than I.
But, as I said in my post, you would probably still end up a loser.
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