Powerball is back up over a quarter billion dollars again.
Powerball is back up over a quarter billion dollars again.
Mega Millions is up to $422 million for Friday.
Mega Millions is up to $493 million now, probably be over the $500 million mark by the time the draw happens tomorrow.
Yup, it's $512 million for tonite
One winning ticket sold at Ernie's Liquors in San Jose, California for the $522 million jackpot.
Now it's Powerball...up to $247 million for tomorrow night's draw.
Mega Millions is $303 million for tonite
Hey DGX I have a question.
Up here we have two main weekly lottos. One is call 6/49 which as it sounds is 6 chose 49 odds, 1 in 13,983,816. That draw is usually between $3-5 million, rarely a bit bigger.
We also have LottoMax which is a 7th number, so the odds become 1 in 28,633,528. The difference is that it's frequently a $60 million draw, plus 'max millions' draws where if your numbers are automatically re-entered, and if you get all 7 numbers on the max millions you get $1 mil (but even 6/7 gets nothing on this extra maxmillions draw).
The latter was only introduced in the past couple years but has become far more popular... but that extra number decreases odds dramatically.... so if you were going to randomly chose between a $5 draw for a $5 million pot, or the much larger $5 draw for a $60 million pot with worse odds... what does one chose?
Well, if you randomly choose, you flip a coin.
I really don't think there's any real mathematical formula or way to make that kind of decision. I'm sure we can formalize it for shits and giggles, but really it boils down to personal choice. We can talk about statistical odds, but you've already listed them out. Assuming that the majority of the time you're picking losers, then you're really not going to be that much better off by choosing one or the other.
Your odds are worse if you buy only one ticket. The more tickets you buy, the higher your odds increase. One play is 1 in 14,000,000 (for the game with the lower odds). If you buy two tickets/plays, and you make your plays distinct (you're not choosing the same numbers on both tickets, because that's just stupid), then it's 2 in 14,000,000. If you buy 3 distinct plays, then your chances are 3 in 14,000,000. So on and so forth... I'm sure you get all of that. But your cost goes up too. If I'm reading you right, you've got $5 for 1 play on a draw, then $10 for 2 plays, then $15 for 3, so on and so forth. At what point do you draw the line? When does your wife decide that you're a hopeless loser and kick you out of the house? If you buy 7,000,000 tickets, then you've got a 50% chance of winning. But at $5 per play, it's costing you way more than you're going to win, and you're defeating the purpose of playing the lottery to begin with.
If they're both $5 per play (if I'm reading that right), then I wouldn't buy any honestly. To me, $5 is just too much money for a single lottery ticket. Personally, I think $2 is too much for a single lottery ticket. That's why I'm not playing any of our games now. But, you know, some people feel differently about it. It's your money, do what you want.
But, for the sake of argument, it depends. If you're risk averse, and you have to play (meaning somebody has a gun to your head, and the only choice they're giving you is choosing to play one or the other), then you choose the game with the odds that are more in your favor. Because lower odds indicate a higher likelihood that you'll win, right?
If you're not so risk averse, then you choose the game with the higher reward.
Or maybe not. If they're both $5 per play, then maybe you choose the game with the higher reward because fuck it. If you're going to spend the money, then you might as well go for the keys to the kingdom. Right?
If you want to get into numeric analysis of how to choose a set of numbers and maximize your chances with minimal cost, we'll be here for a few months. You're gonna be spending a shitload of money, no matter what. There is actually a set of rules that you can follow, but you'll be listing out numbers and deleting some by certain criteria. It's gonna take a long time and there's still no guarantee that you'll win. You might come close to say like 300,000 plays per draw. Again, might not be worth it.
Personally, I'd say that if you really want to gamble, then don't buy lottery tickets at all... do some day and swing trading... if your country allows it. You study the markets anyway, right?
Last edited by DemonGeminiX; 09-28-2018 at 07:30 AM.
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Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it.
Godfather (10-03-2018)
Nobody hit either....Mega Millions will be (at least) $405 million for Friday and the Power Ball will be $253 million for Saturday.
No winners over the weekend. Mega Millions is closing in on half a billion again
No winner last night...and up it goes.
Estimated jackpot for tomorrow night. That's just $2 million under the all-time record for Mega Millions.
No winner. $1.6 Billion.
Warning: The posts of this forum member may contain trigger language which may be considered offensive to some.
Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it.