Strange experience with the National Lottery

[MsEVP]

Has anyone else noticed this?

I used to go online once weekly and pick 2 lines of the Lottery. Surprisingly, although I never won the large amount I won £60 -£70 in small amounts, £2 here, £10 there or £5 etc. It all added up.

Then I decided to save time and take Direct Debit to play my 2 lines weekly. Guess what, after a time of about 3 months I suddenly realized that I had not won anything! So I cancelledd the D D and went back to doing it myself and, guess what, after just one week I`ve just won my first £10 !

How d`you figure this?

[joggerjayne]

Doo Doo Doo Doo, Doo Doo Doo Doo ...

(that's the Twilight Zone sound)

=0)

And you do pick more odd numbers, yes?

There are 25 odd numbers, and 24 even numbers, so the chances of an odd number coming out are better than the chances of an even number ... 4% better!

Now I'll wait for the statisticians to shoot me down.

[MsEVP]

Hi Jayne:

I did get it (the Twiglet Zone music)!

No, don`t pick my own numbers, I`m lazy, choose Lucky Dip. So don`t think we can solve the problem that way.

Interesting, though.

[sidkid]

Is this the UK lottery? I'm intrigued by the £2/£5 prizes.......

[secsee1]

Yes all very strange! but I wonder if anybody has come up with a foolproof plan or way of winning the lottery yet? - I once devised a way of winning the "spot the ball" competitions that used to appear in the Sunday Newspapers and it worked very well, but I have to say that the lottery has so far got me beat.

[MsEVP]

Sid, yes it is. I`m also intrigued by my small wins. I must seem very ignorant but I haven`t the time to look into it any deeper. I just assume that my wins are because 2 numbers (or whatever) matched. I`m just happy to accept what comes, altho I am, of course, waiting for the Big one.

[MsEVP]

Well, secsee, I obviously recommend that no-one uses D D if my experience is anything to go by.

[MsEVP]

Friends, not ignoring you but now have to disappear for a couple of hours. Be back later.

[bibblebub]

so no-one's shot jj yet...

[steg]

this is quite interesting

The Chances Of Winning The UK National Lottery
http://lottery.mersey...com/Info/Chances.html

[jno]

presumably the preponderance of odd numbers means you're statistically more likely to pick them?

[bibblebub]

for the first pick an odd number is 1/49, or just over 2%, more likely

[Dee Sa]

for secsee1 pls tell all on how to win the spot the ball comp, I do one every month in the Cancer mag, beiing it for about 10 years only ever won a fiver !

[joggerjayne]

bibblebub has shot down my 4% theory.

Although ..

There are 24 even numbers.

There are 24 + 1 odd numbers.

So isn't the odd advantage 1 over 24 ... or slightly better than 4% ?

[joggerjayne]

Orrr ...

51.02% of the balls are odd

48.98% of the balls are even

So the odd advantage is 51.02 - 48.98 = 2.04

Maybe bibble is right.

Mind you ...

Given that you chance of winning the Lottery is 0.0000071% ...

... a 2.04% advantage is quite significant.

[MsEVP]

Sorry we left you there, Jayne, playing with the fingers on both hands! Is it awkward, doing that while you`re jogging?

Reminds me, have you seen the bloke doing the Rubik`s cube with one hand and juggling balls with the other/ Fascinating what some people can do, innit?

[boxtops]

I have a DD as I would forget otherwise - both for Lotto and Euromillions. don't know what the stats are for wins on Lucky Dip vs selected numbers - I always play the same numbers. I've had some little wins.