Questions involving gaming games based on drawn numbers: Divisions, Systems and Dividends. Consider also using (combinatorics), (probability) or (betting) where appropriate.
Questions tagged [lotteries]
185 questions
97
votes
19 answers
Should I put number combinations like 1111111 onto my lottery ticket?
Suppose the winning combination consists of $7$ digits, each digit randomly ranging from $0$ to $9$. So the probability of $1111111$, $3141592$ and $8174249$ are the same. But $1111111$ seems (to me) far less likely to be the lucky number than…
arax
- 2,815
25
votes
1 answer
How likely are you to win this multi-stage lottery?
The first round begins with a $\frac1{10}$ chance of you winning. If you win, congratulations! Once you have won, the simulation is complete. If not, you enter a second round. This second round gives you a $\frac1{100}$ chance of winning. If you…
MonitorLizard
- 353
16
votes
4 answers
How many tickets should Paul buy?
An old friend of mine who is now studying mathematics in Germany sent me an exercise from the German Mathematics Olympiads, which was thought for 16-years-old students.
Since I used to participate in MO, my friend asked me to help him with this…
Dr. Mathva
- 9,003
15
votes
2 answers
"Math Lotto" Tickets - finding the minimum winning set
"Math lotto" is played as follows: a player marks six squares on a 6x6
square. Then six "losing squares" are drawn. A player wins if none of the losing squares
are marked on his lottery ticket.
1)Prove that one can complete nine lottery tickets…
Asher2211
- 3,416
11
votes
7 answers
Is it better to play $\$1$ on $10$ lottery draws or $\$10$ on one lottery draw?
If I had 10 dollars to spend on a 1 dollar lottery draw, would I have more chance of winning if I spent all 10 dollars in one draw or bought 1 dollar tickets for 10 separate draws?
Edit:
in terms of lottery definition, you pick 6 numbers from a pool…
user2400
- 253
9
votes
1 answer
How did Mohan Srivastava crack Ontario scratchcards?
Wired ran a 2011 article about how a statistician, Mohan Srivastava, cracked Ontario scratchcards such as this one.
First, he thought about the program that produced the numbers on the cards.
'Of course, it would be really nice if the computer…
user425888
- 91
7
votes
0 answers
Probability of not guessing any number in lotto drawing
A game consists of picking 6 different numbers from a set of 36. Each player completes one or more tickets, each with 6 different numbers. After the draw is made, the winner(s) are any players who do not have these 6 numbers on their ticket. Show…
7
votes
2 answers
Boxed lottery tickets, rencontres numbers and number of degree-$n$ permutations of order exactly $d$
This is a question that I encountered at work that I am trying to get a deeper understanding of.
We sell tickets in a lottery where you guess $4$ numbers out of range of $36$ (the range is irrelevant to this problem) in an order. Four numbers are…
Q the Platypus
- 4,790
6
votes
1 answer
UK Lottery Odds Calculation Error
I found the probability topic in stats and mechanics to be very interesting, and I attempted to try using it to calculate the odds of winning the UK National Lottery, but failed. My calculation was (1/59*1/58*1/57*1/56*1/55*1/54). The reason was…
Droi Rea
- 63
- 6
5
votes
2 answers
expected winning for a lottery
You decide to make a lottery with n tickets, where each ticket is numbered between 1 and n, and each ticket is unique. Each ticket costs $5, and the lottery
works in the following manner. Once all n tickets have been purchased, a number x is…
PsychBit
- 97
5
votes
2 answers
If I double my lottery tickets, do I double my chances of winning?
After I buy one lottery ticket with odds of $14M$ to one, if I buy another ticket with different numbers, does this slash the odds to $7M$ to one? If so, if I double my tickets again to $4$ Tickets, it will halve again to $3.5M$ to one? So $8$…
Pad Regan
- 51
5
votes
4 answers
Should I pick entirely different numbers on each of the multiple tickets, for the same lottery draw?
I was discussing optimal lottery ticket purchasing strategies with a friend, and an interesting question came up. Suppose you:
purchase multiple tickets for one and the same draw.
select the option to pick the numbers at random for all tickets.
It…
dbr
- 151
4
votes
1 answer
Pigeon Hole Principle - Minimum customers needed such that at least one is a winner
I was reading about pigeon-hole principle from this paper.
If n items are put into m pigeonholes with n > m ( m,n ∈ N ∗ ), then
at least one pigeonhole must contain more than one item.
One of the applications of the principle is stated as:
Pitter…
Paras Lehana
- 41
4
votes
3 answers
Guaranteed to guess two numbers in one from twelve lottery tickets, if falls $6$ balls with numbers from $1$ to $36$
During the drawing lottery falls six balls with numbers from $1$ to $36$. The player buys the ticket and writes in it the numbers of six balls, which in his opinion will fall out during the drawing lottery. The player wants to buy several lottery…
Witold
- 982
4
votes
2 answers
Two wins in a lottery. Good chance or just luck?
I've a probability question.
"I bought a lottery ticket where just wins and blanks are possible. I don't know about the chance to win.
With the first lottery ticket i won.
Know it could be just luck or the chance to win is "good".
I took a second…
