lottery odds

[craig]

apologies as this has probably been asked before but there is a fierce debate in my office on this - is there less chance of getting 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 than any other combination on the lottery?

[alunr]

no - everyball has an equal chance of coming out.

same odds as 1 10 12 24 19 7 or whatever.

[raceboy]

Exactly the same tiny odds as anyother 6 numbers, but apparently loads of people have a punt on 1,2,3,4,5,6 so even if it came up you'd be sharing it with loads of people

[nicholasblair]

The actual chances of a win are.... small and none

[einstein]

Whoever argues that 1,2,3,4,5,6 has a less chance of coming out has obviously got shit for brains.

[Size Nine Elm]

raceboy said: Exactly the same tiny odds as anyother 6 numbers, but apparently loads of people have a punt on 1,2,3,4,5,6 so even if it came up you'd be sharing it with loads of people

Same odds of being a jackpot winner (about 1 in 14 million), but IIRC there are about 10,000 entries per draw with 123456, so if the jackpot was £10m you'd only get £1000.

[craig]

thanks guys (esp Einstein) - I have passed on your comments to the sadly misinformed individual

[rpguk]

Size Nine Elm said:

raceboy said: Exactly the same tiny odds as anyother 6 numbers, but apparently loads of people have a punt on 1,2,3,4,5,6 so even if it came up you'd be sharing it with loads of people

Same odds of being a jackpot winner (about 1 in 14 million), but IIRC there are about 10,000 entries per draw with 123456, so if the jackpot was £10m you'd only get £1000.

I love the irony of this, its like in their quest to choose the numbers which have the least entrys they inadvertently choose the most.

And seeing as the lottery seems to be getting less popular its more likely to be like £6million so only £600 per winner, I'd love it if it happened.

[raceboy]

I had a very similar argument with a muppet at the last place I worked.......
He was convinced that if you toss a coin 9 times and it lands heads everytime the chances of it landing heads the 10th time is much greater than it landing tails, muppet, it's always 50/50

[M@H]

I was at a casino a couple of weeks ago and the croupier told me that he'd had a red come up on the Roulette wheel 22 times in a row once...

Matt.

[tonybav]

Would agree raceboy but since the chance of tossing 9 head in a row is less tha 0.2% I would inspect the coin before calling again.
Interestingly, for a boring person like me any way, while the odds of any winning combinination in the lottery are the same the amount you will win for diffent combiniations does vary. This is because some numbers are more popular with ticket buyers than others, numbers over 31 are the least popular.

[tonybav]

0.00002384% Hum!!!

[mdh]

"it's always 50/50"

Not quite - there is a chance it will land on its side.



I got sent 'to see the headmaster' years ago for pointing that out in the middle of a maths lesson.

[darhart]

its more a case of probability, its far less probable that you would get 6 sequential numbers from 49 random numbers, than 6 non sequntial numbers (let alone the first 6). Even though there are the same odds for each of them.
I knew that maths A level would come in handy one day!

[Jinx]

Who said the lottery was "fair"? They get all the numbers in half hour before the draw - plenty of opportunity to "fix" the system so a ticket inducing rollover occurs. Or maybe I'm just a cynic.

[d3ano]

darhart said: its more a case of
I knew that maths A level would come in handy one day!

I still havn't found a use for algebra.

[rpguk]

darhart said:
I knew that maths A level would come in handy one day!

I'm yet to find a use for my B in GCSE maths

[tuscansix]

Change career and become a 'B'keeper.

[Mr E]

M@H said: I was at a casino a couple of weeks ago and the croupier told me that he'd had a red come up on the Roulette wheel 22 times in a row once...

Possible.

Approx (ignoring 0) 1/2 ^ 22 = 4.1 million to 1.....

Better odds than a lottery jackpot.

(or is my maths way out)

[d3ano]

tuscansix said: Change career and become a 'B'keeper.

good one