Buying More Tickets Does Not Increase Your Odds.

Reply #184

THRIFTY — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:56:47 GMT

PLAYING THE LOTTERY IS A WIN/LOSE SITUATION NO MATTER HOW MANY TICKETS WE BUY.

THE LOTTERY 50/50 RULE= BUYING 1 LOTTERY TICKET GIVES YOU A 50/50 CHANCE OF WINNING.

FOR EXAMPLE MEGA MILLIONS.

Yes you can increase your chances of winning by buying more tickets, but every single ticket will go against the Odds of 1 in 175,711,536.

Reply #183

tntea — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:15:25 GMT

Smart kid.. Take it all and leave nothing to chance.

Reply #182

maximumfun — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:16:53 GMT

Insight from a 5 year old: yes it does Gramma... if you buy 0 you cant win and if you buy 1 you can. So buying more (than 0) helps -- this was said while grabbing the ENTIRE plate of choco-chip cookies I just baked...

Reply #181

tntea — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:02:33 GMT

This post was/is very interesting. I love seeing the different people share there way of showing how they look at the odds.

The Goal is to win the 5 white balls and 1 MM right.. Regardless if you had to split it...Right..

I like looking at it like this.

Let's say each combination is bought and each single ticket (Line) is placed in a large spinning cage..

Now one line will be drawn from the cage. If you bought one ticket you have 1:(total amount of combos).

Now to increase yo... [ More ]

Reply #180

truecritic — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:27:52 GMT

First of all, your hubby is absolutely right!

And to be fair, Chelsea, in her own way came so close with her original answer of 58 minutes. I am baffled as to how she did that

Reply #179

maximumfun — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:08:15 GMT

Truecritic - that youtube The real meaning of MPH had me laughing till i cried. I shared it with family and friends and my dh commented that 'he knew what it felt like to be a trophy spouse, and to be appreciated for looks instead of brains' **lol** - that really had everyone laughing as he huffed and puffed about not being appreciated in his own time.

Reply #178

maximumfun — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:30:39 GMT

Yikes! I guess Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy didn't go for those meanings when they determined that 42 was the answer to the ultimate question of 'life, the universe, and everything'.

Reply #177

Coin Toss — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:16:35 GMT

Of all numbers,

42- Seriously unlucky...4 is the Aisan 13, and in Japanese, 42 is shi ni , which menas you die . There was once a car 42 ih A Japanese auto race and the story is that the car, and driver, vanished during the race- onlly to be clocked in on the anniversary of that race as several officcails swore they saw a car 42. There has not been another 42 in a Japanese race since.

Reply #176

maximumfun — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:13:12 GMT

42. the answer is 42.

Reply #175

haymaker — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:04:17 GMT

OK funny how that stuff goes,i think i seen it in one of your posts, few weeks ago,

now can't remember,the good old stuff lives on,

and the source becomes harder to figure

Reply #174

rdgrnr — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 02:53:08 GMT

Curiouser and curiouser.

Actually, I think it came from Alice in Wonderland.

Don't ask me how I know that because I've never read the book or seen the movie or cartoon or whatever it was.

But I heard it was good.

Reply #173

haymaker — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 02:43:21 GMT

CoinToss, i ordered caitlin's book online,after looking at one of those look in side pages,

now i know where the phrase curioserer and curioserer (hope i spelled right) comes from.

thanks.

Reply #172

GYM RICE — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:37:06 GMT

The mystical side of me says that the numbers find you. So know need to play more than one line of numbers.

Reply #171

RL-RANDOMLOGIC — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:29:08 GMT

CT

Let me see, hmmmm. So if the lottery drew two sets per drawing it would be better then buying

two tickets for a single draw. Thanks for the heads up.

Reply #170

SergeM — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:50:16 GMT

Answer: infinity, but you can't reach that.

Reply #169

Coin Toss — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:22:05 GMT

Sure the math sounds right Floyd, but in the grand scheme of lotto it's just hype.

Everyday people beat 100 to 1 odds in Pick 3 and 10,000 to 1 odds in Pick 4. So since you've whittled down Mega Millioins to 10 to 1 (once upon a time) where are the payouts? Reversing the 17,500,000 tickets we could cut it down Pick 3 or Pick 4 odds, oh where oh where can the jackpots be?

Here's some more dazzling math for you, from an old Abbott and Costello routine.

You are 40 and your niece is 10. You... [ More ]

Reply #168

truecritic — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:50:04 GMT

This thread reminds me of this video

Reply #167

KY Floyd — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 05:54:43 GMT

That you're claiming that 17,500,000 isn't 10% of 175,000,000 is absolutely amazing, but of course you wouldn't think that. It's correct, and that's just not your style.

1 in 10 is 1 winner in 10 total possibilities, or 1 winner to 9 losers. Maybe you should try dividing 157,500,000 by 17,500,000 and see what you get.

Reply #166

Coin Toss — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 22:27:10 GMT

KY Floyd,

My fraction theory is that selling 17.5 million tickets (all with a unique combination) results in odds of 17,500,000 in 175,000,000 or 1 in 10 that there will be a winner. You seem to be saying that if I'm right a winner would be a 100% certainty.

No, I'm saying the same fraction should be reflected in the number of combinations covered over the number of combinations not covered. So I don't think 17,500,00 over 157,500,000 = 10%, or is hardly 1 in 10.

As for 100% certainty... [ More ]

Reply #165

RJOh — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:19:32 GMT

combination size 5

basic pool size 56

(B) Bonus pool size 46

smallest match no (B) number 3

largest match with bonus 5

smallest match with bonus 0

tickets or chances per draw 175000

possible combos of 5/56 + 1/46 numbers = 175711536

MATCH ODDS WINNING COMBOS ODDS 175000 CHANCES EXPECT MATCHES

5/5+B 1 : 175711536 1 1 : 1004 0.00

5/5+0 1 : 3904701 45 1 : 22 0.04

4/5+B 1 : 689065 255 1 : 4 0.25

4/5+0 1 : 15313 11475 1 : 0 11.43

3/5+B 1 : 13781 12750 1 : 0 12.7... [ More ]

Reply #164

Aust — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:53:12 GMT

The biggest increase in odds by far is going from having 0 tickets to 1 ticket, because you come out of the realm of impossibility to possibility. So I try to buy at least $1 in each game for every draw so I always have a chance.

Reply #163

KY Floyd — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 05:54:47 GMT

Imagine every ticket played for any particular drawing as one massive lottery pool.

Every drawing is a massive pool, except that if there's a winner they don't have to share the prize. The odds of a winner are based entirely on how many combinations are played, not who bought the individual tickets.

How many tickets played would that be, and applying your fraction theory to those tickets played, heck someone would have to win, no?

My fraction theory is that selling 17.5 million ticke... [ More ]

Reply #162

mediabrat — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 22:37:26 GMT

Even with twenty million tickets being sold, you're still not guaranteed a winner for two reasons:

There are 175 million combinations. 20 million doesn't begin to cover every possibility. And there's no way for us to know how many actual combinations were sold. In other words, how many tickets sold are owned by multiple people? The lotteries know, but they ain't tellin'.

But let's assume they've sold 20 million unique combinations. There's about a 11.43% chance that someone will win the... [ More ]

Reply #161

RJOh — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:06:15 GMT

The One In 1000 Project: A Lottery Post blog exploring what exactly happens when you improve your odds of winning Mega Millions or Powerball to 1 in 1000. (Spoiler alert: not much.)

No one could improve their odds better than owning all the MM or PB tickets bought in their town and yet how many PB or MM jackpot winners are there in their town?.

Put another way. If they owned a piece or every ticket sold in the country what are their chances when many drawings go with no jackpot winners in... [ More ]

Reply #160

New York — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:01:19 GMT

That's what I'm doing with my pick 4 strategy (I ain't talking). It works everytime and has 35 winners plus in one month. I'm not sharing anything because it will be abused and God forbid, the Win 4 in NY might have to shut down.

Reply #159

RJOh — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 18:50:54 GMT

Do you rally think any theory or strategy that has a chance of winning would be openly discussed at LP?

Did any LP member from Massachusett discuss the strategy that big spenders were using to beat their lottery with its roll down scheme before it was exposed by the news paper?

If someone knows of a strategy that wins, they are probably using it if it's within their budget, not talking about it.

Reply #158

Coin Toss — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:41:11 GMT

RL-RANDOMLOGIC,

No matter how many chances are bought ech and everyone of those chances are up against the same odds......unless they are drawing more than one set of winning numbers.

Medibrat,

There was a thread similar to this about six years ago, but the gist of that thread was cutting the odds in half . Much of the discussion was at odds of 175M to 1, a second dollar played would reduce them to 87.5M to 1, same discussion as this. But some of those proposing that said that the secon... [ More ]

Reply #157

mediabrat — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:24:55 GMT

Okay, I'll bite. How many combinations out of 175,000,000 does it take to get to 1 in 1,000?

There's no magic fractions at work here. Reducing fractions to lowest terms is a perfectly valid method of restating the same number. Another way of restating the number is in decimal form:

175,000 / 175,000,000 = 0.001 = 0.1% 1 / 1,000 = 0.001 = 0.1%

Maybe I have misunderstood you all along, but I thought your issue was that reducing the fractions gave people an unwarranted psychological boos... [ More ]

Reply #156

mediabrat — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:10:55 GMT

You know, I could try that too. I have the numbers for Mega Millions, Powerball, and a few of NY's games (Lotto, Sweet Million, and Take 5) going back to the beginning of 2010, so some back-testing shouldn't be much of a problem.

Reply #155

BlueDuck — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 11:32:19 GMT

Mediabrat:

Ahhhh ......., about my most probable sum question???? Probably not a very good question. Back testing should answer the question just as well. Please continue to do what your doing.

Thanks,

BlueDuck

Reply #154

RL-RANDOMLOGIC — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 09:11:03 GMT

CT

This is funny, The odds for the game never change unless the matrix changes. The persons chances

increase with each ticket purchased. Buying one ticket gives you a much better chance than not buying

a ticket and having more than one is even better. Chances of hitting a lower prizes improve with with

every ticket purchased unless you play the same numbers. I don't believe in prediction per-say but there

are many things a person can do to build a smarter set. If-or-and are three... [ More ]

Reply #153

Coin Toss — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 07:22:54 GMT

In a field of 175,000,000 combinations it takes a lot more than 175,000 to = 1 in 1,000.

Now who is stupid Floyd?

Mayh is an exact science, there are no variables. If your magic fractions to reduce the odds worked, the fraction you think you've reduced them to would be reflected by the same exact amount of combinations played and not played.

It doesn't work.

Reply #152

KY Floyd — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:31:48 GMT

I believe the point of it was to illustrate that the odds are still long even at that grand scale.

You misunderstand what he's saying. He doesn't believe that buying 175,000 tickets gives you odds of 1 in 1000.

Reply #151

KY Floyd — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:30:11 GMT

I realize that it may be a difficult question given your nearly infinite supply of stupid, but if you play 20% of the possible combinations, what do you supose are your chances of winning, as a percentage?

Here's another challenging question for you. If your chances of winning are 1 in 5.757, are you more likely to win or to lose

Reply #150

mediabrat — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 01:36:10 GMT

I'll see what I can do. Right now my number generator is on the simple side; it selects from the full range of numbers without regard to sums or anything like that, and it ensures that every combination is unique. I'm reluctant to change the parameters of the original project because I don't want to affect the integrity of the data, but since there seems to be enough interest, maybe I'll do a side project of various one-offs like sum ranges, wheeling, and state games. Also, I'd have to read up o... [ More ]

Reply #149

butch2030 — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:25:35 GMT

The stated odds for winning the Mega Million are 1 in 175,711,536 because these odds are to cover every possible combination. But what if; there are certain combinations and patterns that come in more than others. Your odds are still the same, but you chances have improved drastictly. To view/download combos patterns found in the Mega Millions game - Go To - http://www.box.com/shared/egb8g98jzt

There have been 702 drawings from 06/24/05 thru 03/13/12. I have come up with 201 groups so far, th... [ More ]

Reply #148

SergeM — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:16:48 GMT

The way that I see the odds it is simpler.

You want the jackpot and the rest is not winning to you.

So there is winning and losing, two cases, 1:1 chance.

Reply #147

BlueDuck — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:51:34 GMT

Mediabrat:

Great idea and many thanks. Could you try this please? Could you select draws that center around a range of sums of 106----143(mid)----179 for the 5/56 MM Lottery Game

and

111-----150(mid)----189 for the 5/59 Power Ball Game?? This might answer the question: Will winning tickets, happen most often, when the range of sums add up to the Most Probable Sum as hypothesized in the Lottery Masters Guide?

Will be looking at your blog with much interest,

Thank you,

Blu... [ More ]

Reply #146

mediabrat — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:35:59 GMT

Maybe I'll modify my program so that I can do one-offs of state games. It already allows me to pick the number of lines I want.

EDIT: I saw the disregard notice, I just thought I'd respond to the first post anyway.

Reply #145

Coin Toss — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:26:30 GMT

Disregard above post, my bad. I see you're using Mega Millions, let's see what happens when 1750,000 combinations of over 175,000,000 are covered.

Reply #144

Coin Toss — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:50:28 GMT

Sounds like an interesting idea mediabrat. I haven't checkd you blog yet but for the game I mentioned the lower payouts are set,

2 of 5 pays $1

3 of 5 pays $10

4 of 5 pays $100

So since we're talking make believe $175,000 plays it would be real easy to get buried real quick.

Reply #143

mediabrat — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:14:45 GMT

Man, we're still going at this?

Anyway, this thread gave me an idea. Somewhere in this mess, someone (I think it was Coin Toss) offered the scenario of playing 175,000 MM/PB lines at once, effectively reducing the odds/increasing your chances to 1 in 1000. I believe the point of it was to illustrate that the odds are still long even at that grand scale. That got me to thinking: What if you actually did that? There's still a 99.9% chance that you won't win the jackpot, but what kind of winners... [ More ]

Reply #142

Coin Toss — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:04:27 GMT

Stack47,

No one hit it last night, it's now $325,000, but had we played our 100,000 tickets (one line of numbers per ticket) despite the hype job of fractions, we would have had 100,000 combinations played and 475,757 not played.

In other words 17.4% of the combinations played and 82.6% of the possible combinations not played, that is the true story on fractions.

Reducing them, in this case to 5.575 or 4.757 to one sounds good, but it just isn't valid. But the lotteries sure do delight... [ More ]

Reply #141

Stack47 — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:46:07 GMT

So using your math above I'll put $100,000 on it, reducing the odds against me to 5.757 to 1, 575,757 / 100,000 according to KY Floyd.

It's chances to lose to chances to win reduced to the lowest common denominator. (575,757 - 100,000) / 100,000; 4.75757 to 1. And not a good bet when the payoff odds are only $1.50 to $1.

The starting jackpot is $100,000, tonight's is $250,000, so I'll play my $100,000, make a $250,000 score and there you go, right. 250% return, not bad.

You forgot to... [ More ]

Reply #140

Coin Toss — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:54:43 GMT

OK Floyd, I'll play.

The Illinois Little Lotto - a 5/39 game , 1:575,757 - jackpot tonight is $250,000.

So using your math above I'll put $100,000 on it, reducing the odds against me to 5.757 to 1,

575,757 / 100,000 according to KY Floyd.

Surely anyone can make a score at those odds, cutting 575,757:1 down to 5.757:1.

The starting jackpot is $100,000, tonight's is $250,000, so I'll play my $100,000, make a $250,000 score and there you go, right. 250% return, not bad. In poker is c... [ More ]

Reply #139

RJOh — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:06:00 GMT

I suppose you'd have to buy thousands of tickets to actually make a dent in the odds....

I think after a thousand tickets, you start talking different combinations instead of tickets.

Reply #138

KY Floyd — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:52:30 GMT

It's unlikely that you're so bad at math that you can't figure the odds with extra tickets. The lotteries do the hard part of figuring out how many possible combinations there are and then tell you what your chances are if you buy 1 ticket, such as 1 (chance) in 175 million (possible combinations) for PB and MM.

You're right that it is a common sense thing. That 1 on the left side of the odds literally represents one chance. If you buy more chances all you have to do is change the 1 to reflec... [ More ]

Reply #137

PoeticJustice32 — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:57:35 GMT

Thanks BlueDuck.

Reply #136

PoeticJustice32 — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:56:15 GMT

I don't know. I'm terrible at math. I just think its kind of a common sense thing. Two is better than one, three is better than two...so on and so forth. I don't know by how much an extra ticket would increase your odds, and I don't even know where to begin to try to compute that, but it just seems like it would. Even if its a miniscule amount, an increase is an increase. I suppose you'd have to buy thousands of tickets to actually make a dent in the odds....but that still adds to the general th... [ More ]

Reply #135

SergeM — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:20:16 GMT

Buying more tickets does make you lose more money .

It is known that, mathematically speaking, your odds of guessing the numbers right are increasing by getting more tickets, but the point is at which price? If by math you lose 50 to 75 cents for every dollar that you spend on tickets, then with every extra ticket that you buy, you are losing more money.

1 ticket = -1 + 0.25 = -0.75

2 tickets = -2 + 0.5 = -1.50

...

100 tickets = -100 + 25 = -75

...

The lottery always wins.

Reply #134

savagegoose — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:53:33 GMT

i cant believe this thread is still going.

Reply #133

RJOh — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:10:48 GMT

We all read posts and think we know what the writers are trying to say. Some post one thing and try to say something different. When THRIFTY says BUYING MORE TICKETS DOES NOT INCREASE YOUR ODDS , he is right in spite of what he may think. Buying more tickets REDUCE your odds. If the odds of winning are 1:175M with one ticket then buying five tickets reduce those odds to 1:35M.

Reply #132

KY Floyd — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:19:00 GMT

Of course nobody believes that, and of course none of us who understand the math has ever said it works that way. Still, we've got at least one poster who seems to think that really is what we're saying.

Reply #131

SergeM — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:40:11 GMT

I believe that 1:175,711,536 is a ratio. In accoutancy you have ratios like 1.5 or 5.2 or 0.5.

In case one should say for two tickets: Odds of winning the jackpot are, by buying two tickets, 2:175,711,536.

Reply #130

BlueDuck — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 07:16:29 GMT

PoeticJustice32,

Welcome to LotteryPost and hope you have a Great time.

Best Luck,

BlueDuck

(forgot my manners, there, for a minute.

Reply #129

RJOh — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 04:16:14 GMT

If that made any sense, there would be players with such a budget trying it. When Massachusetts had a roll down scheme for their lottery that such a budget could beat, big spenders came from out of state to play.

Reply #128

BlueDuck — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:44:52 GMT

The halving theory of Odds Calculation for MegaMillions

(that nobody on LotteryPost believes)

One ticket purchased. Odds of Jackpot 1:175,711,536

Two tickets purchased. Odds of Jackpot 1:87,855,768

Three tickets purchased. Odds of Jackpot 1:43,927,884

Four tickets purchased. Odds of Jackpot 1:21,963,942

Five tickets purchased. Odds of Jackpot 1:10,981,971

Six tickets purchased. Odds of Jackpot 1:5,490,985

Seven tickets purchased. Odds of Jackpot 1:2,745,492

Eight... [ More ]

Reply #127

PoeticJustice32 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:05:43 GMT

I've been lurking on this board for years, but this thread is what made me decide to get an account. I just wanted to add my 2 cents and say that yes technically buying more tickets will increase your odds, but when you talk about the big lotteries like MM and PB its not going to be by much. The average person buys maybe 5-10 lines every drawing. That person's odds is higher than the one who just bought one line, but the percentage is incredibly small. Even though I know this, I still buy at lea... [ More ]

Reply #126

SergeM — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:25:26 GMT

I think that with a budget of 123 870 USD or EUR, we could play decently.

My plan would be to check out all the odds and payouts for all the games there first.

After that, having a look at the history of the game. There are enough programmers here.

It is up to Todd I believe, to make a fair deal of it. Play to win and share, just deducing the costs.

S.

Reply #125

THRIFTY — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:37:55 GMT

THE SHOTGUN PLAYING METHOD.

HITTING THE TARGET.

when a shotgun is fired all those pellets that are crammed into the cartridge spread out so it's easier to hit the target.

Yes you can increase your chances of winning by buying more tickets, but every single ticket will go against the Odds of the particular game.

Thrifty is right, each individual ticket (one line of numbers) is up against the very same odds, 175,000,000 to one.

Reply #124

Stack47 — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:08:16 GMT

Interesting that you're now trying to include another number in the bet on 12.

I was talking about making another bet, the same amount with the same odds against winning as the 12 . The payoff remains the same just like the MM jackpot remains the same when I buy two tickets with two different combinations. But by betting on the 2 , I now have two chances of winning the same prize. The odds are in both games, the bets will lose, but it doesn't change the fact two chances to win the same jackp... [ More ]

Reply #123

mcginnin56 — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 02:58:53 GMT

Happy Birthday ACPutz!, I couldn't think of a better gift to get yourself!

The law of diminishing returns head doe's appear horrid to gaze upon. Do not look at to long, lest you turn to stone.

Maybe the man in the blue suit with red cape could save some of these souls? (can we settle for a red hat instead

Reply #122

New York — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:14:01 GMT

burrrrrrrrn!!!!!!!

Ohhhh!!!!!!!!

This thread just became pure BS!!!!!!! OHHHHH! That's a fight on my block lol!

I bought 3 scratch off tickets today and two were winners... buying more tickets does not increase your odds? That's insane why would someone think that lol.

Of course if you lose, then that means your just someone whos miserable haha.

check this out: I guess this answers the thread lol: http://www.mtv.com/photos/rob-and-big-episodic-flipbook-season-3-ep-8/15822... [ More ]

Reply #121

RJOh — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:11:09 GMT

Someone should have posted the disclaimer

for entertainment only

on this thread a long time ago before it became just pure BS.

Reply #120

ACPutz — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:05:50 GMT

I hear you CT - I just was simplifying - saying out of 800,000 possible combinations total - not whatever lottery game/odds you guys were dealing with. If there are ONLY 800,000 possible combinations and you have 799,999 tickets with different combos no one can (or should) be able to say your odds haven't increased by quite a bit.

Reply #119

Coin Toss — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:50:45 GMT

Stack47,

Nope but if placed the same bet on another number with the same odds (like 2 ) the odds are 34 to 2 or 17 to 1 by reducing them to the lowest common denominator (exactly the same way the 5 and 9 odds are reduced to 3 to 2). The payoff would be reduced to 15 to one too; I'm pretty sure betting $2 to win $30 is 15 to one odds. If you're having a problem with the way odds are expressed, put them into a percentages. Odds of 17 to one only have 5.88% chance of winning still over twice as... [ More ]

Reply #118

ACPutz — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:32:17 GMT

Ah... another sane mind in the midst. I hear you Mcginnin. As an early birthday gift to myself I'm giving up posting on this thread. The law of diminishing returns has long reared it's ugly head and those who chose not to be saved, will not be saved.

Reply #117

mcginnin56 — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:48:33 GMT

Wait a minute!........... hold on here for a second!.......... now your talking about pure undiluted mathematics. That ain't fair, youv'e just taken

away all the emotional BS away from these arguments. What right do you have for being so logical and purely academic? Stop it!! Stop it!!!

Your going to ruin the long continuation of this monumental thread. The LP police will silence you soon my logical friend. Prepare yourself.

Reply #116

ACPutz — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:35:41 GMT

Actually the question is Does buying more tickets increaase your odds of winning - As stated in the first post on this really annoying thread. You guys continue to say it doesn't but offer no mathamatical proof, and now your just going to disregard actual proof.

For the last time for those who may be opening to learning something - yes each individual ticket has the same odds of winning.. but collectively they increase your overall odds of winning. If you can't understand that because yo... [ More ]

Reply #115

Stack47 — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:47:31 GMT

The 87,500,000 to one implies that odds have been halved. Not the case. Each ticket is up against 175,000,000 to one.

You explained how the odds in Craps are determined, chances of losing to chances of winning, but you keep on saying buying extra chances in MM doesn't decrease the losing chances or increase the winning chances. You even agreed Crap odds are reduced to the lowest common denominator but again are saying MM odds can't.

When a player buys two tickets for one drawing and says... [ More ]

Reply #114

time*treat — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:39:16 GMT

Two bets on 12 ... The odds aren't better...

but, if you win, the payout is twice as nice.

while if you lose, the payout is no worse than any other two incorrect bets.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/119799/saturday-night-live-barkleys-bank

Reply #113

SergeM — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:15:50 GMT

That is statistics, calculating probability.

The question is how good are you in predicting the numbers, no matter what the tool is, from rv to computer, or wild guess,

and what did you win with that.

If you want to learn, start with coin flips and roulette.

Reply #112

KY Floyd — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 06:46:32 GMT

1. Thanks for reminding me. I forgot to mention your inability to understand what you read in my previous post. If you tell us which part of Buying More Tickets Does Not Increase Your Odds. you're having trouble with, maybe somebody can explain it to you.

2. I'm absolutely stunned that you decided to change the subject instead of answering the question.

Reply #111

Coin Toss — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 06:05:50 GMT

Stack47,

On prop bets if the player doesn't say anything the bet stays up (the house wants to keep it in action). If they want the bet back they say down . $5 on 12 would be $155 and down if they wanted the bet back.

The odds bets on the Pass line and Come bets, and Don't Pass and Don't come are the only bets in a casino that pay true odds, but you have to make the flat bet to take or lay the odds, thus the house still has an edge.

Custer was a Don't bettor - Vegas saying.

The game... [ More ]

Reply #110

time*treat — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:45:47 GMT

[S]tatistically speaking, you gain no advantage over buying more than one ticket.

Those WV fellas who just cha-chinged $14 million bought more than one ticket.

Each winning ticket paid cash, statistics did not.

Reply #109

ACPutz — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:21:14 GMT

I know this is a mistake to weigh in here again, but I'm so tired of this nonsense. A simple google quest of does buying more tickets increase your chance of winning the lottery turns up this answer. (hint: YES IT DOES!!!) Now if you still want to argue with Doctor Math so be in... continue to believe that extra tickets don't help your odds, and the world is indeed flat... and of course good luck with that bridge investment!

Powerball Odds When Buying More Tick... [ More ]

Reply #108

Stack47 — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:05:41 GMT

Since dice have been mentioned here, the payout for hitting a 12 or 2 (not the odds, the payout, follow aliong) is 30 TO 1. This is expressed as 30:1.

With Craps when a player makes a prop bet and wins, they are given the odds payoff marked on the table. If they bet a $5 red chip on the 12 , midnight, or boxcars and it's rolled, the player is given $150 in chips and his original $5 bet remains on the 12 . The player has the option to pocket the chip, let it remain or add to the bet. In Roule... [ More ]

Reply #107

mcginnin56 — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:30:10 GMT

Odd's are they'll be seven more x seven.

Reply #106

SergeM — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:48:15 GMT

How about payout? HINT

Reply #105

savagegoose — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:29:21 GMT

so its been 7 pages of discussion over the use of the word odds

Reply #104

Coin Toss — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:40:09 GMT

Well I guess a lot of people just don't realize how odds are expressed.

Since dice have been mentioned here, the payout for hitting a 12 or 2 (not the odds, the payout, follow aliong)

is 30 TO 1. This is expressed as 30:1.

some casinos, to make it sound better, labeled their prop bets 31 FOR 1. leading some players to think they were getting an extra $1. Not the case, the for includes the bet.

The real odds are 35:1, 36 combinations, one has to hit. 35 TO 1 is expressed as 35:1, i in... [ More ]

Reply #103

Bigheadnick — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:24:14 GMT

SHOW ME ONE SINGLE POST WHERE ANYONE HAS MADE THAT CLAIM !!!!!!! WHO THE HECK HAS SAID THAT

Reply #102

savagegoose — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:42:14 GMT

2/175 000 000 = 1/87 500 000 = 99.99999885714285714% of failure

theyre all the same thing.

Reply #101

Coin Toss — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 07:58:02 GMT

Floyd,

Most of this discussion is about the false belief that more tickets increases the player's odds tremendously.

It just isn't the case and the results prove it over and over most drawings.

Reply #100

KY Floyd — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 07:29:57 GMT

And this statement If the fraction theory worked all we would need would be one massive LP pool to hit jackpots left and right does zero for your argument.

You're not understanding what it is or how much he doesn't understand. Notice that he said Each one adittional line eliminates 14,000,000 combinations! Forget that it doesn't seem to have any realistic relationship to the numbers he started with. Ignore his disagreement for the moment. He doesn't even understand what it is he's being told... [ More ]

Reply #99

Coin Toss — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 07:28:21 GMT

Your arguing with mathematical facts. Odds are indeed based on total number of combinations VERSUS COMBINATIONS PLAYED.

Read the back of the playslip. Odds are based on having the one winning combination of the total number of possible combinations.

If you think that's a false statement I suggest from hereon you skip the formality of actually playing your tickets and just send the money that would have been spent on fractions straight to the lottery of your choice.

Reply #98

Bigheadnick — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:54:51 GMT

Couldn't answer the question huh? I know because an honest answer would defeat your argument.

Not saying that an additional ticket reduces the combinations in half merely the odds.

And it wouldn't continue to be cut in half with each ticket merely divided into the total number of combinations.

Your arguing with mathematical facts. Odds are indeed based on total number of combinations VERSUS COMBINATIONS PLAYED.

It is a fact that 2 - 175mill still leaves 174,999,998 but that does not... [ More ]

Reply #97

Coin Toss — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:26:04 GMT

Bigheadnick,

We are only saying that your odds can be expressed as a fraction and they improve upon each combination played

and mediabrat explained how much they are improved:

It's just that those odds are so infinitesimal (roughly six ten-millionths of one percent on a single play) as to not make a difference.

Bigheadnick,

2 tickets will make those odds 87.5mill to one

This is the same as saying the second ticket eliminates 87,500,000 combinations. Saying it reduces the... [ More ]

Reply #96

CajunWin4 — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:00:31 GMT

Your right their is no need to buy large amount of tickets . When you can do it with 1 or 19 set combinations .All that matters is if you have all the right digts being played to win ...

Reply #95

Bigheadnick — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:52:10 GMT

You don't get it do you? We're not saying that 140,000,000 combo's were eliminated, We are only saying that your odds can be expressed as a fraction and they improve upon each combination played. Just the same as 20-1 can be expressed as 10-1, Do you beleive that we're saying that 10 of the 20 just disapeared? No, We are simplifying a fraction. I don't understand at all how you and thrifty can make this argument. It's that we're dealing with such mind boggling numbers that they are twisting your... [ More ]

Reply #94

Bigheadnick — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:28:35 GMT

Really ? Have you even read this thread? I've been going back and forth from the start. The emoticon was meant to express my exasperation with this argument. Next time I guess I'll have to spell it out or psykomo the forum police will come and give me the business. Good grief, don't be a troll please.

Reply #93

savagegoose — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:42:16 GMT

next ill be told buying ea week wont increase my odds of winning

Reply #92

Stack47 — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:16:47 GMT

So you believe that the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th lines of numbers have taken the 175,000,000 to 1 odds down to 35,000,000 to 1?

Nope and I said there are FIVE 35 million to 1 chances. It means for every 35 million to 1 winning chance, there are 34,999,999 losing chances. Multiple that by five because there are four other 35 million to 1 chances and you'll have the same number of losing chances you began with.

It's like in the 500,000 ticket raffle games with four chances to win $1 million... [ More ]

Reply #91

psykomo — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:56:10 GMT

Bigheadnick:

u

answeredddddddddddddd????????????????

psykomo

Reply #90

Coin Toss — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:17:17 GMT

Stack47,

So you believe that the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th lines of numbers have taken the 175,000,000 to 1 odds down to 35,000,000 to 1?

Wow, that's amazing, just 4 more lines of numbers has eliminated 140,000,000 combinations. Holy Cow! Each one adittional line eliminates 14,000,000 combinations! Holy Lotto Tickets Batman!

In this thread we have this, from mediabrat:

It's just that those odds are so infinitesimal (roughly six ten-millionths of one percent on a single play) as to not m... [ More ]

Reply #89

Stack47 — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:38:56 GMT

As a craps dealer, I'm betting you had to tell players hundreds of times when they made odds bets on the 5 or 9 they had to bet in units divisible by 2. If they had a $5 pass line or come bet, the odds bet had to be $2, $4, $6, $8, or $10 on a double odds table. I'm positive you knew the odds of rolling a 5 or 9 were based on the number of ways a seven could be rolled (6) compared to the number of ways a 5 or 9 (4) could be rolled. Since odds are reduced to the lowest possible denominator, odds... [ More ]

Reply #88

mcginnin56 — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:27:16 GMT

Wake me when this is over.........ZZZZ....ZZZZZZ......ZZZZZ......ZZZZZ

Reply #87

Bigheadnick — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:08:54 GMT

Reply #86

THRIFTY — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:08:46 GMT

RICH GET RICHER WALL STREET GUYS WIN $254M WITH $1 LOTTERY TICKET. FINANCE PROS TURN $1 INTO $254M WITH LOTTERY. THEY'RE RICH AND RICHERER.

November 2, 2011 POWERBALL WINNING NUMBERS: 12-14-34-39-46+ POWER BALL ( 36 )

Thrifty is right, each individual ticket (one line of numbers) is up against the very same odds, 175,000,000 to one.

There is one, and only one set of sinning numbers drawn - not one set of winning numbers drawn for each line played.That's why the fracti... [ More ]

Reply #85

Stack47 — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:16:13 GMT

When the odds against winning are that high it really doesn't matter what they are, but most players understand if they buy 2 tickets they have 2 chances to win. If two chances are better than one, they increase their chances and if they buy 5 tickets they have 4 more chances than if they buy 1. I'll be waiting for a reply from anyone explaining why having 5 chances to win a jackpot is not better than 1 chance.

Same thing applies when buying 5 lines in the lottery: 5/175,000,000 = 1/35,000,0... [ More ]