BlackJAC? Posted September 10, 2008 Posted September 10, 2008 the other day we were all discussing lottery odds and how they actually work. Some people imo rather stupidly stated if buying 1 ticket gives you a 1 in 10,000,000 (just a nice round figure for argument sake) buying 2 tickets would double your odds of winning. Unless I'm missing something fairly obvious, which I don't think I am, then buying two tickets would only marginally improve your odds, not actually double them. I say you'd have to buy thousands of tickets as to be able to double your odds. Using their method you'd hit evens just buying a hanful of tickets.
felix Posted September 10, 2008 Posted September 10, 2008 the other day we were all discussing lottery odds and how they actually work. Some people imo rather stupidly stated if buying 1 ticket gives you a 1 in 10,000,000 (just a nice round figure for argument sake) buying 2 tickets would double your odds of winning. Unless I'm missing something fairly obvious, which I don't think I am, then buying two tickets would only marginally improve your odds, not actually double them. I say you'd have to buy thousands of tickets as to be able to double your odds. Using their method you'd hit evens just buying a hanful of tickets. Buying 2 tickets doubles your odds - but they're still miniscule. Using your example buying 2 tickets gives you a 2 in 10m chance ! The odds of winning the lottery are around 1 in 14 million. If you spent a million pounds on tickets, you'd still only have a 14/1 chance of winning. Bit of a risk.
Geoff Kilpatrick Posted September 10, 2008 Posted September 10, 2008 The chances of winning the UK National Lottery are 1 in 13,987,816. So 2 in 13,987,816 is the same as 1 in 6,993,908. Still more probable than the Scottish Cup ending up at Fester Road, however.
BlackJAC? Posted September 10, 2008 Author Posted September 10, 2008 The chances of winning the UK National Lottery are 1 in 13,987,816. So 2 in 13,987,816 is the same as 1 in 6,993,908. Still more probable than the Scottish Cup ending up at Fester Road, however. This is where I completely disagree. Buy 4 tickets and the odds will be down to 3.5m and so on. So you'd reach evens in no time at all, so your method is incorrect.
Jambo66 Posted September 10, 2008 Posted September 10, 2008 This is where I completely disagree. Buy 4 tickets and the odds will be down to 3.5m and so on. So you'd reach evens in no time at all, so your method is incorrect. No they won't - if you buy 3 tickets your odds are 3 in 13,987,816 which is 1 in 4,662,605. You need to buy 6,993,980 tickets to reduce your odds to evens.
Peebo Posted September 10, 2008 Posted September 10, 2008 the other day we were all discussing lottery odds and how they actually work. Some people imo rather stupidly stated if buying 1 ticket gives you a 1 in 10,000,000 (just a nice round figure for argument sake) buying 2 tickets would double your odds of winning. Unless I'm missing something fairly obvious, which I don't think I am, then buying two tickets would only marginally improve your odds, not actually double them. I say you'd have to buy thousands of tickets as to be able to double your odds. Using their method you'd hit evens just buying a hanful of tickets. Is this a serious question?
BlackJAC? Posted September 10, 2008 Author Posted September 10, 2008 Is this a serious question? No Peebo, it's here for your amusement.
Peebo Posted September 10, 2008 Posted September 10, 2008 No Peebo, it's here for your amusement. It's certainly working.
BlackJAC? Posted September 10, 2008 Author Posted September 10, 2008 You'll also notice it wasn't a question, but I'm sure you already knew that.
I P Knightley Posted September 10, 2008 Posted September 10, 2008 Geoff's right; Jambo66's right; BlackJAC's wrong. It's all exponential. Need I say more?
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