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Lotteries long for 'jackpot fever'Reply
I play be expectation value, the ratio of the prize to the odds. The long odds have decreased my playing. But for the lotteries, it comes down to luck, as it does for the players. Long odds do not assure rollovers. They do make rollovers more probable, but not necessarily large jackpots. I would try better odds if I wanted to increase sales, but it's hardly my call.
Feb 13, 2007, 6:20 pm - Prob988 - Lottery News

Tenn. Lottery introduces new raffle gameReply
That would be correct if there was one $1 million prize, but there are four $1 million prizes so the 1 in 200,000 is correct. For your other odds calculations, that's not how the odds works. The closest thing to what you're showing is a count of how many non-winning tickets there are. Ok. This is one area of statistics that has always confused me. So then if you buy 10 tickets, the odds are 1 in 20,000? If so, those are pretty good odds for a $100 purchase (10 tickets).
Jan 23, 2007, 5:02 pm - MrBobb - Lottery News

Odds Don't Change When Jackpot Goes UPReply
This would be so much easier if you understood the things you read and then quote. I'll quote my statement and highlight the proper part of it: You are definitely the only one who has suggested that anyone thinks each additional dollar cuts the odds in half again. What people have said is that the second dollar doubles your chances of winning, which means it cuts the odds in half. Now let's look at what you said: If the second dollar (ticket) actually cut the odds in half, ..
Dec 6, 2006, 9:13 pm - KY Floyd - Lottery Discussion Forum

Odds Don't Change When Jackpot Goes UPReply
Uh-huh and the states that sell two tickets for a dollar don't know how to figure the odds of their game either. New York always cut their true odds in half to reflect their two plays for a dollar, though in Canada they appear to agree with you. If buying two tickets doesn't cut the odds in half, and four tickets into quarters, etc. then how do you explain working it all the way through to buying all the tickets cuts the odds to 1in1? BobP
Dec 4, 2006, 2:19 am - BobP - Lottery Discussion Forum

Odds/Number Of TicketsReply
Thanks for the replies everyone - I didn't know that my question would generate so many responses! I know that no matter how you cut it, luck is the big factor in this. Most of the games have such ridiculous odds that I only play a little just to try to hit the jackpot, but I was just wondering how to maximize my chances. So say Megabucks has a jackpot of 1,000,000 and has odds of roughly 1:5,000,000 and Megamillions has a minimum jackpot of 12,000,000 but the odds are 1:175,000,000. I still
Dec 1, 2006, 2:42 am - elmoo168 - Mathematics Forum

Do you really think you have better odds?Reply
Depends... if you're talking about the jackpot games (like Powerball) I don't think systems help much. The odds are just too high. You can spend say $200 on one drawing and you don't reduce your odds to anything sane. May as well just pick numbers out of the air....unless you are just looking to get a hit on the lower tier prizes. If you're talking the Daily Games (Pick 3 and 4) then you are starting with much lower odds. Systems and methods help reduce those odds. Instead of one in a million
Jul 27, 2006, 10:26 pm - Badger - Lottery Discussion Forum

The Odds Are The RealityReply
Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on June 27, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by pacattack05 on June 27, 2006 I know I'm preaching to the choir, but there is one thing I do want to point out. I'm in no way saying that winning the jackpot is totally out of the question in any way or form. The following presentation is just an example of one perspective. It's merely a sort of a wakeup call for me. If you had a lottery who's odds were 20 million to one, and the jackpot was 100 million bucks,
Jun 30, 2006, 6:42 pm - pacattack05 - Lottery Discussion Forum

Odds 101Reply
It sounds like your thinking is rooted in your casino background and perhaps confused by payouts for a winning bets. Some of the posters here may play craps or other casino games, but I think the primary discussions are about lottery games, and therefore discussions about odds should be about the probability of winning. Payouts have to differ from the odds or the house wouldn't make any money, but that's economics 101. If there are 3 combinations that add up to 4, and there are 36 possible co
Jun 30, 2006, 4:31 pm - KY Floyd - Lottery Discussion Forum

mega millions vs. powerballReply
Megamillions gives a higher cash value, and rises faster in real terms, but the odds against winning are much longer. I live in a border area and can play each game. I play according to the expectation value, which is a value of the prize divided by the odds against winning it, adjusted for the likely numbers of winners and potential prizes. Like all gamblers, I accept to play at an expectation value of much less than one, but even I have lower limits. (In very large jackpots, the expect
Jun 4, 2006, 9:27 pm - Prob988 - Lottery Discussion Forum

New lotto motto'sReply
Jim - I like your slogan much better than either of mine. I have a bit of a pet peeve when people say a winner beat the odds. A few people who know what they're doing can use the odds to their advantage in blackjack (until the casinos recognize them, anyway), but nobody beats the odds in games that are determined strictly by chance. The winners are simply the very small minority of the very large number of peole who played and had exactly the results that probability suggested: 97.7% losers, 2.6
Apr 10, 2006, 1:58 am - KY Floyd - Lottery Discussion Forum