The debate about odds has been going on ever since I joined LP and it's always about comparing odds to chances. If one ticket is bought, there are 15,000 tickets sold, and of those tickets only one is a winner than each ticket has a 1 in 15,000 chance of being drawn. If each ticket costs $100 and the prize is $300,000 then you divide the prize by the cost of the ticket; $300,000/$100=$3000 so the payoff odds are 3000 to 1. Depending how it's expressed, you're equally correct by saying the odds are 1 in 15,000 or 3000 to 1.
This debate started when somebody said "the odds [15,000 to 1] sound good" and Floyd pointed out you're only getting a return of 20% of the odds. And since the objective in the first post was to win $300,000 on a $100 bet getting 1 chance out of 15,000, I showed a better way to win $300,000 by making a $60 bet on the pick-4 with 1 chance out of 10,000.
After reading the details of how a developer is donating a $300,000 home as first prize in a raffle where the proceeds will go to the Ronald McDonald House, it's not really a $100 bet but a charitable contribution and possibly a tax deductible. If you want to make a donation, buy a raffle ticket but if you want to win $300,000 with better odds for less money, play the lottery.