Probe into Lotto players' luck

[marine1]

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20090216055142779C906628

I cannot believe that people still play this lottery. I am convinced it is a scam.

 

[sand_man]

hehe... Yeah, I remember checking these results too. European lotteries often get carried over for up to 6 weeks cause there no winners yet we managed 18!!!! A lot of sangomas playing?

 

[shadowfox]

The sangomas are making good money with all their muti ... looks like some of it works

 

[Abe]

I don't play the lotto. Better plan to go once a week to the casino and put the R2 on one number. If you win 4 times in a row then you will net over R3 million and the odds are much more in your favour (1874161 to 1 instead of over 500 trillion to 1). Don't do that either as I see that as just as much of a waste of time.

 

[saffakanera]

I don't play the lotto. Better plan to go once a week to the casino and put the R2 on one number. If you win 4 times in a row then you will net over R3 million and the odds are much more in your favour (1874161 to 1 instead of over 500 trillion to 1). Don't do that either as I see that as just as much of a waste of time.

lol, cool theory

 

[DWPTA]

Lottery is no scam. About 80% of all the lotteries around the world uses the same system, Lottos, which include, the UK, Euro, Greek, German, Australian & even some US states. The machines are tested regularly and if a ball is a few gramms over or under a new ball set is purchased.

That day was just a freak day and the mathmaticians can make up numbers as much as they can, the thing is it is possible.

The machines are brought in from the US and a team from the US are the only ones allowed to test and fix the machines, they come in once a month to the offices in Midrand to test and fix any problems.

It's impossible to jinx the machines or beat the system, it's just luck, nothing more nothing less.

 

[zeb]

It's only a scam if you don't win

 

[DWPTA]

It's only a scam if you don't win

LOL, true.

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

Lottery is no scam. About 80% of all the lotteries around the world uses the same system, Lottos, which include, the UK, Euro, Greek, German, Australian & even some US states. The machines are tested regularly and if a ball is a few gramms over or under a new ball set is purchased.

That day was just a freak day and the mathmaticians can make up numbers as much as they can, the thing is it is possible.

The machines are brought in from the US and a team from the US are the only ones allowed to test and fix the machines, they come in once a month to the offices in Midrand to test and fix any problems.

It's impossible to jinx the machines or beat the system, it's just luck, nothing more nothing less.

It's very naive to think we follow their steps .... TIA after all.

 

[Gaz{M}]

The experts in this article sounds very suspect to me. Yes it is improbable, but that does not mean it isn't possible.

If you ask most people, they will tell you it is impossible for a lotto draw to be 1,2,3,4,5,6. But in probability theory, it is just as likely to occur as any pick 6. If one day that combination did get drawn (it almost was a little while back I seem to remember), then I bet over 100 people would share the jackpot. If you don't want to share the jackpot, don't pick all low numbers (less than 30 i.e. birthdays) and use some random method, not your own biased brain.

Btw the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 13 odd million, not 500 trillion to 1.

 

[Abe]

Btw the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 13 odd million, not 500 trillion to 1.

Sorry, thats right. I incorrectly used 59 as the max and forgot to take into account the number order. Still, you have a 7 times better chance of winning at a casino with the same number 4 times in a row.

That said, just to put the the 13 million to 1 in perspective (from WebMath web site):

1. Get a piece of rope or string, that's 39 feet long.

2. In a wide open area, arrange the rope or string in a circle, end to end, the best you can.

3. Get a single grain of sand or dirt (use tweezers!) and place it anywhere you wish inside the circle.

4. Get a second grain of sand. Close your eyes, and "disorient" yourself as to where the grain of sand is that you placed inside of the circle (have someone spin you around or something!).

5. While you're inside the circle, drop the second grain of sand from 1 foot up.

6. Your chances of hitting the first grain of sand with the second is roughly equal to the odds of "1 in 13,983,816."

7. If the rope's length mentioned in #1 is a little unreasonable, for every foot above the circle that you drop the second grain of sand, you can reduce the length of the string by the same amount. For example, if you dropped the second grain of sand from a ladder 10 feet up, you'd need a length of string that is 10 times shorter than the one in #1, or a 39/10 = 3.85236 foot long piece of string.

 

[OhGats]

What bugs me is the occurnce of sequential numbers, often twice in a draw, what are the odds on sequential numbers occuring regularly? When the prev Lotto was run with the other operators I did a count to see in how many draws sequential numbers came up in a year and it was enough to put me off forever.

 

[Gaz{M}]

What bugs me is the occurnce of sequential numbers, often twice in a draw, what are the odds on sequential numbers occuring regularly? When the prev Lotto was run with the other operators I did a count to see in how many draws sequential numbers came up in a year and it was enough to put me off forever.

Actually, the odds of a pair of consecutive nunbers is almost 50% or 1 in every 2 draws!! Try it yourself with a hat of numbers and do some test draws. I also didn't believe it until I did the math.

 

[daveza]

We have some maths boffs here so hopefully I can get an answer to an old query of mine.

If the fall of the ball is totally random - are the odds of 1,2,3,4,5,6 coming up in any order the same as 1,2,3,4,5,6 coming up in order ?

As I see it the chance is the same if the fall is completely random.

 

[killadoob]

hehe... Yeah, I remember checking these results too. European lotteries often get carried over for up to 6 weeks cause there no winners yet we managed 18!!!! A lot of sangomas playing?

Do they use only six numbers?

Lets say 10 million tickets sold, i can see once in awhile 18 people getting the numbers i mean that is an amazing amount of tickets.

How many numbers do the lotteries use overseas?

I do not play the lotto because last i heard they take 60% of everything played and put back the rest, so they are taking 60 rand of the 100 rand i used to play a month.

Not cool.

 

[Vrotappel]

We have some maths boffs here so hopefully I can get an answer to an old query of mine.

If the fall of the ball is totally random - are the odds of 1,2,3,4,5,6 coming up in any order the same as 1,2,3,4,5,6 coming up in order ?

As I see it the chance is the same if the fall is completely random.

The way I understand combinations and permutations;

With combinations you need to get the numbers right but it can be in any order. Change of getting 6 numbers out of a set of 49 correct is 1 in 1 3983 816.

With permutations you looking at getting the 6 numbers as well as the order in which they come out right in a set of 49. That is 1 in 10 068 347 520.

 

[daveza]

I don't get it.

My brain says the chances should be the same - maybe my brain is broken.

 

[Pox]

Chance of getting one number = 1 in 49
Chance of getting second number = 1 in 48 (you already have first one)
Chance of getting third number = 1 in 47 (you already have 2)
etc.
...
To get total probability you take 49x48x47x46x45x44 = 10,068,347,520
It's been a while since I did maths at varsity but i do remember that much.

 

[sand_man]

Do they use only six numbers?

No, the format is slightly different...

USA powerball you choose 5 numbers between 1-59 and 1 number between 1-39

UK lottery 6 numbers between 1-49

Euromillions 5 numbers between 1-50 and 2 numbers between 1-9

USA megamillions 5 numbers between 1-56 and 1 number between 1-46

 

[Abe]

Chance of getting one number = 1 in 49
Chance of getting second number = 1 in 48 (you already have first one)
Chance of getting third number = 1 in 47 (you already have 2)
etc.
...
To get total probability you take 49x48x47x46x45x44 = 10,068,347,520
It's been a while since I did maths at varsity but i do remember that much.

Thats the mistake I made the first time around. That calculation assumes that you get all of the numbers in a specific order which is not required. You need to divide that by 720 (6x5x4x3x2x1) to allow for all possible orders of the selected numbers which results in the 13983816 value.