martini Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 My thoughts on this are .. If you buy two tickets you are doubling your chance of winning the jackpot, NOT halving. You've a 14million to 1 chance of winning, buying 2 tickets doesn't eliminate the other 7million different number combinations and give you a 7million to one chance of winning, it gives you a one in 13,999,998 chance. Thicko's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Two things 1. You cannot win the lottery unless you buy a ticket. 2. The chances of you winning with the same numbers every week are the same as buying a lucky dip every week. It is a lot less hassle buying a lucky dip. I once had 4 numbers and the bonus ball and the last number was 1 number out, I won £36 instead of £120K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 That was done in Ireland a few years back. Every possible 6 number comination of the (at the time) 36 numbers available was played by a group of about 20 people. ... I remember that. I seem to recall that because of the logistics involved, they failed to buy all the combinations (only the vast majority). Luckily the winning combination wasn't one of those that they hadn't bought! It's a hideously risky way of making money (as that syndicate found out). The jackpot would have to be several times larger than ((cost per ticket) x (number of unique combinations)). As happened in the Irish case the main risk is having to split the jackpot with other ticket holder(s). So, to make it worthwhile on the UK National Lottery the jackpot would need to be, say, £50m upwards. If you're thinking about the recent Euromillions jackpot, don't bother: Euromillions makes the National Lottery look like a dead cert, meaning that you'd need to buy a lot more than 14m tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackso11 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 you can't halve the odds each time just because you have 2 tickets. 1 ticket = 1 in 14m, 2 tickets = 2 in 14m not 1 in 7m. If it halved everytime then the odds if you bought 22 tickets would be 1 in 3.33, 25 tickets would give you the odds of 1 in 0.8......whcih would mean you have won the lottery by buying £25 worth of tickets. Also, I think the Euro millions works out to 1 in 77m chance of winning. Or by the logic of halving the odds by buying more tickets....28 tickets to win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 need to buy a lot more than 14m tickets. something like 76million tickets I think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 you can't halve the odds each time just because you have 2 tickets. 1 ticket = 1 in 14m, 2 tickets = 2 in 14m not 1 in 7m. If it halved everytime then the odds if you bought 22 tickets would be 1 in 3.33, 25 tickets would give you the odds of 1 in 0.8......whcih would mean you have won the lottery by buying £25 worth of tickets. If you keep on halving things, you'll never reach zero. The odds of winning with 22 tickets are 1 in 538461 (14m over 22). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilicos Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 I remember watching a TV programme about odds on winning the lottery. A long story short is that it is not as simple as saying. "If 14 million tickets are sold and I buy two tickets them my odds are 14m to 2". The reason being that this is a lottery and not a raffle. A raffle has a guaranteed winner and therefore the more tickets you buy=greater odds in winning. A lottery has many many more variables - For example, The numbers are random and therefore there is no guarantee of a winner. Similarly, there could be more than one ticket that holds the winning number. Another point is that given the above two facts along with this being a lottery, it doesn't matter how many tickets you buy, your odds will change so insignificantly that you would have to buy millions of tickets for your odd to rise at all - and even then they would be millions to one. I think the odds are something like 250m - 1 based on the UK lotto? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 My thoughts on this are .. If you buy two tickets you are doubling your chance of winning the jackpot, NOT halving. You've a 14million to 1 chance of winning, buying 2 tickets doesn't eliminate the other 7million different number combinations and give you a 7million to one chance of winning, it gives you a one in 13,999,998 chance. Thicko's That's exactly what my Boss said. Think about it in simpler terms. I.e 10 combinations - play around with some numbers and you may think differently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 A raffle has a guaranteed winner and therefore the more tickets you buy=greater odds in winning. I see the jackpot being the equivalent of a raffle - without all the possible combinations being bought. There are 14 millions combinations. One of those combinations will give you the jackpot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 Also, I think the Euro millions works out to 1 in 77m chance of winning. Or by the logic of halving the odds by buying more tickets....28 tickets to win. Where have you got this idea about halving things each time you buy a ticket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 That's exactly what my Boss said. Think about it in simpler terms. I.e 10 combinations - play around with some numbers and you may think differently. Ah, but what if you we're standing on a treadmill whilst writing your ticket ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Christ on a bike! How do some of you hold down jobs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martini Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Also, I think the Euro millions works out to 1 in 77m chance of winning. Or by the logic of halving the odds by buying more tickets....28 tickets to win. That's not logic dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 Ah, but what if you we're standing on a treadmill whilst writing your ticket ... If you were just standing on it, you would probably be alright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 Christ on a bike! How do some of you hold down jobs? What does the Vegan society think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 What does the Vegan society think? They think it'll take off if the conveyor belt can move fast enough. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 They think it'll take off if the conveyor belt can move fast enough. HTH. What about the bearings in the wheels? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 What about the bearings in the wheels? They can't fly of their own accord. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 I'm with Martin here (RedM) and normally I just call him a grouch. Ok 14 to 2 because a documentary said so? Lets break this down as to why it's 7 to 1. This is only sound if you have 2 different combinations of numbers: Take all 14 million combinations and split them into 2..... as you have 2 different tickets on. 7 million combinations on one side containing ticket number 1's numbers 7 million combinations on another side containing ticket number 2's numbers The odds in each case, of winning, is 7 million to 1. Anytime you factor odds you must take into account your own chance of winning hence why the odds drop. 2 chances in 14 million is exactly the same as 1 chance in 7 million as the other 7 million tickets are covered by the 2nd ticket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 They can't fly of their own accord. Leave Honda out of this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagman Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Just buy 100 tickets with the same number , then you lessen the amount of having to share the winnings !!. no ...wait what if someone else also got 100?, hmm best play it safe and get 1000.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martini Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Odds != Probability Furthermore, it seems most people really do forget maths when they leave school, which is how the lottery works in the first place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abz Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Easy, just move to Essex. Essex Linky ..Hold on that might not work actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martini Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Easy, just move to Essex. Essex Linky ..Hold on that might not work actually. "You are more likely to win the lottery than you are to get mugged in Essex," he said. "That's a fact." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.