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Mathematics and the LotteryReply
Politically I'm a moderate because every once in a while people from both parties have good ideas. I also understand odds so when I lived in predominately Republican or Democrat districts, I registered to vote with the majority party because the outcomes were settled in the primaries. Currently I'm living in a solid red district. Handicapping this past presidential election was easy just by looking at nothing but the maths. There is no point spread and the incumbent only had to win two or thr
Nov 14, 2012, 10:38 pm - Stack47 - Mathematics Forum

How do I prove my state lottery's CGNs are fixed?Reply
Hi, 1- How about first proving the Null Hypothesis: that they are not fixed? Can you sooner prove (mathematically) that they are not fixed? If you cannot, then you have proven that they are indeed fixed . 2- I can give you a non-mathematical way: find an ethical way to examine the software packages of states who purchase these. I believe you would probably discover that states with computerized lotteries use super computers to run software that can run a set of pre-determined combinations
Mar 23, 2009, 10:47 pm - Greg - Mathematics Forum

"Post-Game Review" - $1.58B MM Jackpot This Week
A single winner in Florida hit the $1.58B Mega Millions this week. The cash value (I saw on TV anyway) was about $783M. This begs the question: playing a regular $2 ticket, did a player have a positive return expectation (expected value of return $2 bet)? Answers: 1. Before income tax - yes, roughly $0.11 gain per $ bet (about +11% return) 2. After income tax - no, roughly $0.28 loss per $ bet if you assume a 35% tax rate on winnings. (about -28% return) First, I looked up the nu
Aug 12, 2023, 12:53 pm - Orange71 - Mathematics Forum

Mega Millions - is a $1, $2, or $3 ticket the best value (EV)?Reply
Sorry, I messed up the Just the Jackpot (JTJ) pricing. It's $3 for 2 tickets, not $1 for 1 ticket. Comparing JTJ to regular ticket, then, we have the following equation for the equal EV / unit bet: (2/3)(kJ)p = (1/2)(kJ)p + A/2 Therefore, J = 3A/(kp). Comparing JTJ to Megaplier ($3) ticket, we have the following: (2/3)(kJ)p = (1/3)(kJ)p + (3A)/3 Therefore, again, J = 3A/(kp) To re-iterate Regular Ticket vs Megaplier: (1/2)(kJ)p + A/2 = (1/3)(kJ)p + (3A)/3 Once again,
Jul 27, 2022, 2:19 pm - Orange71 - Mathematics Forum

Lotto Max (Canada) Odds
While visiting Canada last week and having briefly entered a convenience store, I took an passing, casual interest in their lotto games, so I picked up a few play slips. I like to calculate odds as a mental challenge, and I turned my attention to the Lotto Max game, which appears to be the largest jackpot lotto in Canada. It is a nationally pooled lottery with ticket sales through regional or provincial administrations. This is a roughly similar structure to Powerball and Mega Millions in the U.
Aug 28, 2019, 10:35 pm - Orange71 - Mathematics Forum

Pick-3 Box or Straight ??Reply
After reading LP posts for more than 10 years, I'm thoroughly convinced that few visitors are sincerely interested in adopting new ways of generating integers for play. Every lottery gambler already has a theory and a method. These back and forth, mostly negative posts pretty well prove that no one, particularly system players, is really interested in changing anything. Winning a lottery game is hard. Despite the many posts by folks who claim they are winning, there is not much hard
Apr 16, 2017, 1:38 pm - bobby623 - Mathematics Forum

All you would need to beat scratchoffs is to know the number of tickets soldReply
Idaho lottery tells you how many prizes are unclaimed and how many sold. Idaho scratchers unclaimed Idaho scratchers sold Does not increase your odds but it is good information to know. I don't know if this practice still exists but in Texas at one time the algorithm for distributing tickets was the following: https://www.lotterypost.com/news/277617 A computerized system tracks packs or books of tickets being activated and prizes being cashed. When a store's stock gets low, tic
Sep 10, 2014, 10:30 pm - jimjwright - Mathematics Forum

Odds of winning.Reply
A player can do alot in your fantasies. It's called gambling; ever hear of the concept? You can run through all kind of possible scenarios, for your buck you mostly can get 500 dollars if you win, and bottom line is that you if you pick unlucky, that one won't even show up after 3000 drawings while the average is 1000 drawings. You're getting close; a player bets and either wins or loses. In your pick-3 game, were all the straight digits numbers drawn once in last 1000 drawings?
Aug 24, 2013, 1:34 am - Stack47 - Mathematics Forum

5/39 on EVEN/ODDs and PatternsReply
garyo1954, After a quick perusal of your post above, I was ready to post a full I Agree to the whole thing. Then I read more slowly and found, An inordinate amount of Evens or Odds, or Highs or Lows in a certain position has to mean a coming change. Now why did you have to go and say that? With the exception of that sentence, most mathematics professors would agree with your entire post! I found this post while scanning for another one that might be in this thread where I think someone re
Nov 17, 2010, 2:18 am - jimmy4164 - Mathematics Forum

One way or anotherReply
Time*treat I am glad that you discovered that they are shafting people in UK as you called it! UK rules; below words from UK Lottery Commission from his letter to my MP Firstly I should clarify the calculation of the National Lottery Prize Fund. For each draw, 45% of the sales is allocated to Prize Found. All 10 winners are deducted and the reminder divided as follows Match 6 of 6 (jackpot) 52% Match 5 of 6 + BB - %16 Match 5 of 6 10% Match 4 of 6 22%
Mar 10, 2009, 10:49 am - Moses - Mathematics Forum