What are the chances of ever winning the 2nd place prize for PB or MM?

Reply #18

maximumfun — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:35:51 GMT

What are the CHANCES of ever winning the 2nd place prize? the same as my CHANCES of winning 1st place. but my ODDS are better to win a 2nd place prize.

Reply #17

Stack47 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:59:21 GMT

Yep, I figured it out last night when I was trying to calculate the odds of not one of three referees seeing LeBron James fouling Kevin Durant at least four times when Durant was trying to make the game tying shot.

the numbers of winning combinations at each level are divided by the number of possible combinations.

Shouldn't that be the number of possible combos divided by the combos in each level?

34 divided by 175 million does not equal 5,153,633.

Reply #16

Stack47 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:45:39 GMT

They get the 1 in 55 figure by multiplying the chance of getting the power ball (1/35) by the chance of matching 0 of 59.

Oh I see, you're saying if I multiple 1/35 (0.02587) by 3,162,510 (a 5/54 matrix), I'll get 55?

Odds are usually calculated by making a ratio of the overall chances (175,223,510) to the losing chances (3,162,510) and reduce it to the lowest common denominator; 55.4 to 1.

Reply #15

KY Floyd — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:33:45 GMT

They figure the odds using the only formula there is for calculating the number of combinations.

They get the 1 in 55 figure by multiplying the chance of getting the power ball (1/35) by the chance of matching 0 of 59. The latter is 1-(chance of matching 5)-(chance of matching 4)-(chance of matching 3)-(chance of matching 2)-(chance of matching 1), which is about 1/1.6.

Reply #14

KY Floyd — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:30:10 GMT

wondering if one would have a decent chance of winning the 2nd place prize over a course of years

It depends on what you mean be a decent chance. Imagine that you buy 100 tickets for every single PB drawing over a 30 year period. You'll have bought a total of 312,000 tickets. That will give you about an 8% chance of winning the 2nd place prize. You'll have about a 92% chance of not winning the 2nd place prize. For MM it's about 6% and 94%.

Reply #13

RJOh — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:02:22 GMT

I didn't say the odds on the charts were INCORRECT, I said who knows how they figure them .

Actuall the odds are calculated the only way that makes sense.

First, the total number of possible combinations is calculated, then the number of winning combinations for each level are calculated and to get the odds of winning at each level, the numbers of winning combinations at each level are divided by the number of possible combinations.

possible combos of 5/59 + 1/35 numbers = 175223510... [ More ]

Reply #12

Stack47 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:00:39 GMT

I didn't say the odds on the charts were INCORRECT, I said who knows how they figure them .

The odds of matching the five white balls ONLY are 5,153,633 to 1, because you have to multiply the total number of white ball combinations by 35/34, as the odds of NOT hitting the bonus ball are 34/35.

If you multiple 5,006,386 (the number of combos in a 5/59 matrix) by 35/34 you get 5,153,633. That I understand, but how do they get the figure 1 in 55

Reply #11

ryanm — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 01:21:43 GMT

Actually, the odds on the charts are CORRECT, because the odds of matching the bonus ball ONLY are 55 to 1, after factoring in the chances of matching the bonus ball with one or more white balls. The odds of matching the five white balls ONLY are 5,153,633 to 1, because you have to multiply the total number of white ball combinations by 35/34, as the odds of NOT hitting the bonus ball are 34/35.

Reply #10

Stack47 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 01:02:13 GMT

The last place you should look is on any state's Odds and Payoff charts because who knows how they figure the odds. There are 5,006,386 possible combinations in a 5/59 matrix, but the charts give odds of matching 5 + 0 as 5,153,633 to 1. Because they give 55 to 1 odds against matching the bonus number, I'm assuming they base their odds on the number of QPs needed to be purchased before a QP player should expect to match the bonus number. So I'm assuming their higher number for matching 5 + 0 is... [ More ]

Reply #9

Lucky Loser — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:27:26 GMT

In my opinion, a player would have a much, much better chance with matching (5) numbers and the results are proving this. See, there's something to consider in the PB deal which most players aren't taking into account. Here it is: matching (5) and then getting the PB IS NOT DIFFERENT than simply matching a str8 (6) of (6). Why? Because ALL THE NUMBERS ARE STILL PERMUTATED TOGETHER AND FORM THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF COMBINATIONS in the end.

It's essentially a (6) number game with (1-59) on the first... [ More ]

Reply #8

ttech10 — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:49:07 GMT

Within the first 1 1/2 years of playing, one of the stores I've bought from sold a 2nd place QP on MM. Another place I shopped at had won the states big game 3 years prior, also on a QP.

Yes some may play 30 years and nothing, but some people also play once or twice and win $20+ million after taxes.

Reply #7

rdgrnr — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:28:57 GMT

Was it you, Mz D

Reply #6

MzDuffleBaglady — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:16:33 GMT

Missouri had 1 person win $1 million on the Powerball last night, 1 lucky young woman won, and it was a quick pick.

Happy Spending

Reply #5

Mstar954 — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:10:20 GMT

The chances of winning MM 2nd prize is 1:3,904,701 and the chances of winning the 2nd prize in PB is 1:5,153,633... your better off with Mass cash.

Reply #4

RedStang — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:15:40 GMT

Heres one of them. There's also two more 2nd place winning stores about 35-40 mins away.

Reply #3

RJOh — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:10:35 GMT

You apparently assume if you don't know about it, it never happened. Do you regularly check your state lottery website to see where the second place winners were sold?

The odds of winning a second prizes are 35 or 46 times those of winning a jackpot.

Reply #2

shyguitar — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:43:39 GMT

Hi RedStang,

That's amazing that 2 places near you in March sold 2nd place MM tickets. I don't know of any places near me that have sold a 2nd place ticket for MM or PB.

Reply #1

RedStang — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:35:00 GMT

There's two places near me that sold 2nd place MM tickets on 3/27 and 3/30. Both stores are maybe 1/2 mile apart. I could'nt believe it so i went to both and took pics, but i can't get them off my phone for now. Both were for 250k. Just my luck i played on the other side of town.

What are the chances of ever winning the 2nd place prize for PB or MM?

shyguitar — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:50:32 GMT

Hi everyone,

I play both the PB and MM regularly and though like everyone else would love to win the jackpot I really play in hopes of winning the 2nd prize since that seems a bit more reasonable as every having a chance to win. Just wondering if one would have a decent chance of winning the 2nd place prize over a course of years or is it still just impossible to have that hope. I know it's all random in terms of those who win and some people will play for 30 years and never win and others wi... [ More ]