FAO PH Maths Gurus...Re National Lotto...

[Wacky Racer]

Having just picked up a tenner from last weeks lotto, (three numbers), I was thinking....

The odds of winning the main 6 number jackpot are approx 13.5 million to one......(assuming one winning ticket)

Now if I buy 2 tickets the odds are not 6.75 million?...(or are they)

10 tickets......1.35 million?

100 tickets.....135,000?

So is there a formula to work the exact odds out.....

I read somewhere that you have more chance being murdered (statistically) in the UK than winning the jackpot......

[Reload]

If you had two tickets, the odds are 13.5 million to 2.

Similarly, if you have 10 tickets, the odds are 13.5 million to 10.

[dwilkie]

Of course if you won the Euromillions the week before, then spent 13.5 million on tickets, the odds would be 1...

If nobody else won, and you only bought tickets on weekes where the prize was over 20 mill, profit!

[russ_a]

Reload said:

If you had two tickets, the odds are 13.5 million to 2.

Which is 6.75 million to 1 isn't it?

[Greedydog]

If I recall there's some method of picking numbers (something to do with covering lots of permutations around a small set or something) that greatly increases the chance of having multiple wins. I suspect your cunning plan will be foiled by the fact that the pay out is a fraction of the sums required to guarantee a win.

[ShadownINja]

Doesn't it also depend on the the number you pick. If you pick the same numbers for 10 tickets...

[cottonfoo]

dwilkie said:

Of course if you won the Euromillions the week before, then spent 13.5 million on tickets, the odds would be 1...

Only if you picked every possible combination of numbers.

[Mr E]

I think it's more like 14.7 million to one...

Edit; Just looked it up, 13.98 million to 1.

Edited by Mr E on Thursday 20th May 12:44

[Wacky Racer]

Mr E said:

I think it's more like 14.7 million to one...

http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/help/aboutlotto/prizecalculation.ftl

[Mr E]

Wacky Racer said:

Mr E said:

I think it's more like 14.7 million to one...

http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/help/aboutlotto/prizecalculation.ftl

Another bit of stats from somewhere on the web;

website said:

The chance of you winning any of the above prizes is approximately 54 to 1 - it is reckoned an average of one million people per draw will win a prize.

Using some computer software I wrote, I calculated how many prizes would be won if all combinations of the 13,983,816 tickets were bought:

Category Prizes Chances
Jackpot 1 1 in 13,983,816
5+bonus 6 1 in 2,330,636
5-match 252 1 in 55,491.33
4-match 13,545 1 in 1,032.40
3-match 246,820 1 in 56.66
Total 260,624 1 in 53.66

[paulmurr]

I read somewhere that if you buy your ticket on a Sunday evening for Wednesday's draw, you're statistically more likely to die before the draw is made than you are to win the jackpot.

I don't bother with the lotto

[Jinx]

paulmurr said:

I read somewhere that if you buy your ticket on a Sunday evening for Wednesday's draw, you're statistically more likely to die before the draw is made than you are to win the jackpot.

I don't bother with the lotto

Well I certainly won't buy one on a Sunday evening then!

[jshell]

cottonfoo said:

dwilkie said:

Of course if you won the Euromillions the week before, then spent 13.5 million on tickets, the odds would be 1...

Only if you picked every possible combination of numbers.

Which I believe is illegal...

[cs02rm0]

Must be impratical, I doubt you could print 14 million tickets in a week.

[WorAl]

dwilkie said:

Of course if you won the Euromillions the week before, then spent 13.5 million on tickets, the odds would be 1...

If nobody else won, and you only bought tickets on weekes where the prize was over 20 mill, profit!

I think if you put 13.5million tickets on, you'd come out on top anyway even if there were 10 winners due to the fact you'd have a hell of a lot of tickets winning £150,000 down to £10 wouldn't you?

russ_a said:

Reload said:

If you had two tickets, the odds are 13.5 million to 2.

Which is 6.75 million to 1 isn't it?

Not when it comes to this, why not buy 135 tickets and reduce the odds to 1 in 100,000

[Mr E]

[quote=WorAl]

I think if you put 13.5million tickets on, you'd come out on top anyway even if there were 10 winners due to the fact you'd have a hell of a lot of tickets winning £150,000 down to £10 wouldn't you?

Doubt it. They only payout 46% of what was paid in, so you're always on a loser long term - despite some spectacular luck on occasion.

[Mr E]

cs02rm0 said:

Must be impratical, I doubt you could print 14 million tickets in a week.

I think they sell rather more than that on a weekly basis.

[Stevenj214]

WorAl said:

russ_a said:

Reload said:

If you had two tickets, the odds are 13.5 million to 2.

Which is 6.75 million to 1 isn't it?

Not when it comes to this, why not buy 135 tickets and reduce the odds to 1 in 100,000

Odds don't magically change, just because it's the lottery.

13.5million:2 is 6.75million:1

13.5million:135 is 100,000:1

13.5million:13.5million is 1:1 (i.e. certain)

[WorAl]

Stevenj214 said:

WorAl said:

russ_a said:

Reload said:

If you had two tickets, the odds are 13.5 million to 2.

Which is 6.75 million to 1 isn't it?

Not when it comes to this, why not buy 135 tickets and reduce the odds to 1 in 100,000

Odds don't magically change, just because it's the lottery.

13.5million:2 is 6.75million:1

13.5million:135 is 100,000:1

13.5million:13.5million is 1:1 (i.e. certain)

I was talking realistically, not mathematically.

[dwilkie]

jshell said:

cottonfoo said:

dwilkie said:

Of course if you won the Euromillions the week before, then spent 13.5 million on tickets, the odds would be 1...

Only if you picked every possible combination of numbers.

Which I believe is illegal...

Is it? I never knew that