This Lottery Business

Hey math whizzes…………..according to the posted number we have 8,557 active members. If I bought each member a new $50,000 Skeeter would I be broke? Assuming a lottery win of $1 billion.

Dean………..hold your breath buddy.

BK, you get a boat AND a new Superman suit. Sharon, you get a lump of coal for not buying a ticket and therefore depriving your old man of a new fly rod.

mossy, it doesn’t matter how many tickets are sold to others, it does not affect “your” odds. The only thing that affects your odds is how many you buy. It will affect the “prize amount” if more match, but not the odds of winning. I don’t care what anyone says, 2 different tickets, gives you better odds than 1 ticket… just as 292 million different tickets gives you better odds than 146 million tickets….

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gordonk wrote:</div>
If you buy one ticket, you have a one in 292 million chance. Buying ten improves that to a one in 29.2 million chance. You gotta like those odds.

No. You will have a 10 in 292.2 million chance of winning. You don’t improve odds by buying more tickets.

-J.

Jon is correct.

Sharon wrote:

Everyone at

It’s depressing to think that if the Wednesday’s jackpot was equally divided to everyone in the US (about 318 million people as of 2014) we ALL would get over 4 million dollars… give or take various amounts.

You better recheck your math. More like $4.33 per person. Don’t believe everything posted on Facebook.
Todd

This is so comical. I can’t believe I’ve been trying to refrain from reading this all day.

Jon Jordan is right on.

If there are 292.2 million possible ticket combinations, and you buy 10 tickets, you’ve only eliminated 10 combinations from 292.2 million.

So your odds are: 1:292,199,190

Not 1:29.2 million.

I know Glen, what makes a persons odds go up, you as the person, is buying tickets for them selves, no matter how many other tickets are sold. It makes my odds go up if I buy more and it makes their odds go up if they buy more.

But

If I buy 2 tickets my odds are 2 tickets sold to me. If someone else buys another two the odds are 50-50 that I’ll win or he will win. If I buy two tickets and they buy 10 tickets my odds of winning are now 1 in 5. If I buy two tickets and someone else buys 1000 my odds then become 1 in 500 or two in a thousand, that I will win. The more tickets sold to other people sets my odds of winning, by how many I buy and also by how many they buy. If the guy that bought 1000 tickets is only challenged by the number I buy and I buy 10 tickets then the chances of me winning is now 100 to 1. Each buyer is setting the odds for the other person. If they buy more their odds go up, If I buy more then it makes my odds go up and makes theirs go down and vice versa. We change each others odds by how many tickets we buy, that’s why we buy more to lessen their chances to win and make ours chances go up, and that’s why they do the same.

I once knew a constipated Mathematician…

He worked it out with a pencil.

Sorry.

I don’t even have a calculator Brian, Im still old school and sometimes faster then a person using one.

mossydan wrote:

I know Glen, what makes a persons odds go up, you as the person, is buying tickets for them selves, no matter how many other tickets are sold. It makes my odds go up if I buy more and it makes their odds go up if they buy more.

But

If I buy 2 tickets my odds are 2 tickets sold to me. If someone else buys another two the odds are 50-50 that I’ll win or he will win. If I buy two tickets and they buy 10 tickets my odds of winning are now 1 in 5. If I buy two tickets and someone else buys 1000 my odds then become 1 in 500 or two in a thousand, that I will win. The more tickets sold to other people sets my odds of winning, by how many I buy and also by how many they buy. If the guy that bought 1000 tickets is only challenged by the number I buy and I buy 10 tickets then the chances of me winning is now 100 to 1. Each buyer is setting the odds for the other person. If they buy more their odds go up, If I buy more then it makes my odds go up and makes theirs go down and vice versa. We change each others odds by how many tickets we buy, that’s why we buy more to lessen their chances to win and make ours chances go up, and that’s why they do the same.

Your talking about a Raffle, not a Lottery. Two entirely different things. A raffle has a guaranteed winner and set number of tickets sold. A lottery doesn’t have a guaranteed winner and can sell an unlimited amount of tickets. In a lottery the prize money keeps getting higher with each new drawing until someone finally wins, that’s how we got to the $1.4 Billion number.

I know what your saying bass but the odds that your going to win is much less with a lot of tickets being sold to others. Yes theres always a chance that the winning number won’t be chose but theres still odds being set by how many other tickets are sold that aren’t yours. With that many tickets being sold Odds are that your number isn’t going to be the one and will be someone elses. Theres still odds involved in a lottery. Even if they don’t choose a winning number theres still odds that yours won’t be the one. Other wise your number would always be the winning number instead of others. Everybodys competing for the win and the odds are that your number won’t be the one.

These are the TRUE odds…..

None of us will win. I really like all the math on this thread, very entertaining. Reminds me of a post someone put on the plumbing board about water saving toilets, they said if you installed one it would save X amount of gallons per day. If you did the math, he was correct if you flushed something like 15 times PER HOUR, not per day.

go figure

biggill wrote:

This is so comical. I can’t believe I’ve been trying to refrain from reading this all day.

Jon Jordan is right on.

If there are 292.2 million possible ticket combinations, and you buy 10 tickets, you’ve only eliminated 10 combinations from 292.2 million.

So your odds are: 1:292,199,190

Not 1:29.2 million.

Actually…
There are (69*68*67*66*65*26) possibilities the powerball can be drawn or 35,064,160,560. Because you don’t have to pick the order you have 5 opportunities to get the 1st number correct, 4 opportunities for the 2nd number, etc. ((69*68*67*66*65*26)/(5*4*3*2*1)) which gives you the 1:292,201,338 probability of getting the powerball.

If you buy 10 powerball tickets there are 35,064,160,551 possibilities left after you eliminated your first 9 losers. That leaves a probability of 1:292,201,337.925 on your 10th ticket.

If you buy a million and 1 tickets your probability drops to 1:292,193,004.67 on the last ticket. So on and so forth…

Steve Root wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jon Jordan wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>boone wrote:</div>

Boone, that’s not how the math works…

-J.

The people who actually buy winning lottery tickets always live in some small town in the middle of no where. That doesn’t seem reasonable.

SR

So you’re saying there’s a chance

Odds: You have a 1 in 292.2 million chance of winning with each ticket number.
Chances: You improve your chances of winning with each ticket. You still have the same odds, but your chances improve.

Buying 10 tickets doesn’t take your odds from 292.2 million to 29.2 million because you are not eliminating 262.3 million other ticket combinations in your process of buying 10 tickets.

This is all confusing.
I’ll buy a ticket for the second time ever (although I think I used up my luck on my last ticket, I got 3 numbers right for a whopping $7!). $2 small risk. $1.2 Billion high reward. Although there’s so many people buying tickets that I’m guessing there’ll be multiple winners to split the pot.

Actually what I read, people say buying more tickets does not increase “your odds” as I said, If I buy 1 ticket my odds are 1 in 292.whatever and with each additional ticket I buy, the “odds” of me picking a winner MUST go up. Otherwise, why would anybody buy ALL the combinations, if “your” “odds of winning” do not change…. I call BS. Every ticket drives down the number of chances that you won’t win… even at 1 at a time, as minuscule as it is. .

Saying your “chances improve”, but not your “odds” is picking the corn out of the shi7…. everybody knows the context it was presented above.

mossy, we will have to disagree…. the only tickets that matter to “your odds” are in your pocket, not anyone else’s. what the other tickets can affect is the amount you win, that’s it.

Dutchboy wrote:

Hey math whizzes…………..according to the posted number we have 8,557 active members. If I bought each member a new $50,000 Skeeter would I be broke? Assuming a lottery win of $1 billion.

Dean………..hold your breath buddy.

BK, you get a boat AND a new Superman suit. Sharon, you get a lump of coal for not buying a ticket and therefore depriving your old man of a new fly rod.

well 8,557 people times 50,000 dollars to spend on a boat eqauls 427,850,000 so you would still have a handsome 572,150,000 left over (this assumes no sales or gift taxes )

Ben Putnam wrote:

So you’re saying there’s a chance

I just got back from the store and picked up the 292.2 million possible ticket combinations. looks like i’m going to be the winner

This all makes me think of:

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   Simpsons-Lottery-Fever.jpg
   

This has become very entertaining to read There is a specific difference in calculating the “odds” of an outcome, the odds against an outcome, and PROBABILITY of an event happening.

Fundamental Statistics – Identify what your trying to calculate, then apply the appropriate formula.

If your flipping a coin, every individual flip is a 50/50 chance. However, if you flip heads 10 times in a row, the PROBABILITY of Tails coming up next increases exponentially – but the odds always remain 50/50.

Sames goes for the Lotto. Each number has the same odds 1:291,999,999 or whatever it is. That ratio NEVER changes. However, each time you add an additional CHANCE, you increase the probability by a VERY minuscule amount.

But please continue, I like the petty fun of confusing the two

Randy, if the goal is a “heads” who has a better chance/odds of getting it, the guy with one flip or the guy with 2 or more ?

taken on context with the intent of this post, yeah those saying odds vs chances…probability/odds…

I know what your saying Glen and I agree to part of your statement. If others don’t buy any more tickets or none at all that increases your odds of winning. If you buy more tickets you increase your odds. If they buy more tickets that increases their odds against yours so it lessens your odds. A percentage of winning is calculated by the number that what you hold for any reason compared to what others hold. Poker is an odds game of keeping track of the cards that have been drawn or shown, in this case other tickets. I know Glen I know and no hard feelings, a person doesn’t have any chance of winning unless they create their own odds. Down here they occasionally post the odds of winning a lotto and give basic figures, no ticket no win. Have a ticket? then your odds go up. I do know what your saying. Its the lotto that is rolling for one set of numbers and if that number matches what you have on your ticket then you win, even if the other players have a thousand tickets apiece. The number isn’t already chosen and who ever has that number that is rolled is the winner. The drawing isn’t calculated by other tickets its calculated by what number comes up in the rolling of the balls. I guess it amounts to how many combinations come up with the dropping of the balls. Ya I guess I was wrong, oh well I learned another thing today. Gheese who would have thought. Odds of them having the right number compared to mine numbers that I chose is I guess another equation. I’m still not completely sure I guess. Maybe I’m talking about my number compared to theirs and not the actual chance of the balls coming up mine or theirs. Oh well went to school today, time to go to work. Thanks for the input Glenn

Others buying tickets increases “their chance” it does not make your odds go down whatsoever. Your odds/chances are determined by how many tickets you buy…period. You still have the same amount, no matter how many they buy. Does buying more tickets by someone else increase “their odds/chances” over yours, you bet, but your odds/chances do not change, they stay the same, but are less than theirs. Your chances/odds are solely dependent on how many tickets you buy.

mossydan wrote:

If you buy more tickets you increase your odds

Yes, the more tickets you buy the better chance you have of winning.

mossydan wrote:

If they buy more tickets that increases their odds against yours so it lessens your odds.

Wrong. If you are the only person in the world to buy a lottery ticket, your odds are still 1 in 292 million. If you are one of 292 million people to buy a lottery ticket, your odds are still 1 in 292 million. It’s not raffle where your ticket number is then going into the pot, so you want more of your tickets in the pot to cancel out other people’s tickets. The more people that play does however increase the chance that there will be multiple winners splitting the pot, but it does not effect your chance to win.

tegg wrote:

Actually…
There are (69*68*67*66*65*26) possibilities the powerball can be drawn or 35,064,160,560. Because you don’t have to pick the order you have 5 opportunities to get the 1st number correct, 4 opportunities for the 2nd number, etc. ((69*68*67*66*65*26)/(5*4*3*2*1)) which gives you the 1:292,201,338 probability of getting the powerball.

If you buy 10 powerball tickets there are 35,064,160,551 possibilities left after you eliminated your first 9 losers. That leaves a probability of 1:292,201,337.925 on your 10th ticket.

If you buy a million and 1 tickets your probability drops to 1:292,193,004.67 on the last ticket. So on and so forth…

This is confusing enough that I buy it. I admit my math isn’t correct but I think it’s still more representative of your actual odds than 10 tickets being 1:29M.

Ok, the hell with your odds. Some famous person once said “The lottery is a tax on people who are really bad at math.”

With that said, I think you could increase your overall chance to win by making the following wager.

There are 26 Powerballs to choose from. You must have the Powerball to win the jackpot. Playing at least one ticket for each of the 26 Powerballs will at least get you in the right time zone. So, for $52 you can guarantee winning at least $2 back. And have at least one shot at the whole can of beans.

For me, I got 5 quick picks for $10 bucks and that is it.

-J.

I just bought $20. worth or 10 chances with 1 in 292 odds of winning.

Your odds and chances of hearing from me on Thursday morning are pretty darn good. Sorry Dutch…

Does the number of pages in this thread arguing math increase anyone’s chance of winning? LOL!

On Thursday morning after I win, I will be contacting James to teach me how to fish. I would like 3 lessons per week for life, and I will pay $5,000 per lesson.

mnrabbit wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mossydan wrote:</div>
If you buy more tickets you increase your odds

Yes, the more tickets you buy the better chance you have of winning.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mossydan wrote:</div>
If they buy more tickets that increases their odds against yours so it lessens your odds.

Wrong. If you are the only person in the world to buy a lottery ticket, your odds are still 1 in 292 million. If you are one of 292 million people to buy a lottery ticket, your odds are still 1 in 292 million. It’s not raffle where your ticket number is then going into the pot, so you want more of your tickets in the pot to cancel out other people’s tickets. The more people that play does however increase the chance that there will be multiple winners splitting the pot, but it does not effect your chance to win.

This thread is too funny I can’t stay away.

Isn’t the Powerball kind of like a raffle? Here me out. If I’m the only one playing the Powerball in the world from this day forward and I buy one ticket a day… won’t I eventually win?

So the fact that others are playing does decrease my chances of winning… just like a raffle. Correct?