National Lottery Farce

[Gromit]

The prizes in yesterdays draw were:

3 Stars - won you £25
4 Stars - won you £51
5 Stars - won you £15

Should the lottery be taken off Camelot and run by someone who knows what they are doing as a not for profit organisation?

(For the record, I didn't buy a ticket)

[ToraToraTora]

are you familiar with arithmetic gromit?

[Mamyalynne]

Discussed here , albeit largely light-heartedly.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1481980.html


I think there are laws about how Lotteries are run and it pays anyone doing them to read the rules before buying a ticket.

[Gromit]

I am.

[fiction-factory]

The answer is to choose numbers that are less popular with other players.
The problem arises because some prizes are fixed and for others the agreed prize pot is shared put between all winners. I'd be interested to see an alternative method

[Gromit]

If they had given the 5 Ball winners £10 more than the 4 ball winners it would have cost them £40,000 from their reserves. Wonder what all this bad publicity and people stopping going will cost over 5 years?

[Mamyalynne]

I think they would then have breached the Gaming and Lottery laws as Buen states on the linked thread.

[CrapAtCryptics]

It would suggest that their increment pots for each level of win are either incorrect or could be flexi to allow for the odd situation like yesterday - I doubt if the top winner would moan to much about 9.7 million instead of 10.

[fiction-factory]

If it were run by a not for profit organisation and they did pay out more han they were contractually obliged wouldn't some one say they be depriving the charities of money by so doing.
I agree that from a PR point of view it would seem a good idea for Camelot to have rounded it up to avoid these sorts of discussions

[sandyRoe]

If the 41 had been 49 what would the jackpot have been?

[Gromit]

I am sure Camelot's formula is correct, but it will be perceived by people who have bought a ticket as being unfair.

5 balls on Saturday won £1,896.

Four days later the prize is just £15.

It feels like a swiz even if it is correct. However you present that, it is counter intuiative.

[Old_Geezer]

Surely the answer is simple. Get rid of all the 3 and 4 star stuff. Split the pot amongst the real winning tickets ?

[david small]

Scrap it and start again, or just scrap it altogether.

[fiction-factory]

If the the 3 star prize fund was fixed and shared between all the 3 number winners the amount would probably have been much lower- maybe a tenner- and it wouldn't have looked so odd. Anyway, regardless of whether it was Camelot or a non-profit group, it looks as if the payments this week would have still followed this pattern under the rules/laws as Buenchico and Mamyalynne have said.
(For the record, I didn't buy a ticket and never have done)

[bazwillrun]

Richard Branson offered to run it for no profit back when it started but they werent having any of it...the blue suits saw how much money there was to be made...theyre raking it in

[bazwillrun]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot_Group

[fiction-factory]

Yes, if a not for profit group can run it and raise at least as much for charities then that would be a good outcome for everyone, and it may do that as people may trust them more. But if giving it to a no for profit raises less then Camelot or anyone else does then I don't see much point

[Tilly2]

I stick to the Health Lottery. I think the National Lottery is a swizz!

.......and I don't want to win millions and millions of pounds. £100,000 would just suit me.

[Unsureme]

How come the Prize Pot for 5 and the Bonus ball was only £60000 when the Jackpot was £24million or so?

[Mamyalynne]

You'd need to read the rules as to how each tier of prizes are allocated, clickable link on here I'm sure.

https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/update

[Gromit]

Unsureme

Just looked back through a few draws, and the 5+ bonus pot seems to change depending on day. The saturday draw the pot is £100K, for the Wednesday draw it is £60K. It may depend on how many people go on the lottery.