My C6 Z06 will have to wait...

[te51cle]

OK, I know enough about statistics to know that each lottery draw is an independent event and therefore my chance of winning the european lottery jackpot this week is the same as everybody else at 1 in 76 million. I also know this is very slim, but...

I entered a couple of weeks ago and won the smallest prize at odds of 39 to 1. Not brilliant but a profit is a profit !

I entered last week and my lucky dip ticket won a middle prize at 7,705 to 1. OK !!

Then I had a thought, the odds of winning those two prizes two weeks in a row are:
39 * 7,705 = 300,495 to 1. Rather unlikely !

Then I had another thought, what are the odds of those two events followed by a jackpot win. Well, according to the odds printed on the back of the ticket it is:
39 * 7,705 * 76,275,360 = 22,920,364,303,200 to 1
That's 23 trillion to 1

I think I'll go and ask professor Colin Pillinger for a job. I'm more likely to find and reactivate Beagle 2 on Mars than win the lottery this week.

[c5ragtop]

Yes but you've got to be in it to win it. Someone has to - but I'm not so sure with the Euro lottery as it does seem to have a lot of rollovers. Let's hope they don't pay you out in Euros because you can't spend them over here !!!

[yellowshark454]

Put quite a large sum into Premium Bonds last summer. Number of small wins to keep on or ahaead of a deposit interest rate but that Z06 buying one eludes me too. Some bum in Hampshire scooped the 1m win 2 months after buying the bond

[b3any]

Grrrr i hate that with bonds, I have had some for about 2 years and won nothing big then some people land great money within the space of a few months

[vetteheadracer]

c5ragtop said:

Yes but you've got to be in it to win it. Someone has to - but I'm not so sure with the Euro lottery as it does seem to have a lot of rollovers. Let's hope they don't pay you out in Euros because you can't spend them over here !!!

I am sure if you walk into any car dealers with £100M in Euros they will be happy to accommodate you!

[kevinday]

Had Premium Bonds for 25 years or so. Won absolutely nothing!

[b3any]

How many you had if you dont mind me asking?

[c5ragtop]

Work on an acceptable return for Premium Bonds at somewhere around a decent savings rate. If we say 5% net of tax (as PSB winnings are tax free) you would expect £1,500 in prizes a year (if you have the £30,000 maximum) which is quite achievable with a small amount of luck. The downside is that you may not quite get that rate of return, but the upside is that you have a chance for some larger prizes. PSBs are safe but will be eroded by inflation unless you reinvest the winnings (unlikley). Probably not a good idea when savings rates are high.

I think I'll go back into retirement now...........

>> Edited by c5ragtop on Wednesday 25th January 20:15