The lottery up to a billion now !!!

[beagle9]

What I can't figure out is this...... If the odds are so great against we the individual/people winning the mega, and all due to millions upon millions of people playing, then how about if we reverse that in order to ask ourselves this, "how is the computer playing against the same odds, and then not pushing that winning number out against those millions holding a sequence of numbers that could win after a drawing is made" ?????????

Ok, if a computer is not involved, and it's just that little ball machine that uses air to force the little balls up into the holder for the read, then how is it beating those kinds of odds against it pumping out the winning sequence as well ???

Got me scratching my head now.

Anyone ???

 

[Auld Phart]

1.6 Billion at last report

 

[petro]

Lottery...
Biggest winner is government.

Hilarious that I still can't play online poker where some amount of skill is required , but the government is encouraging gambling in a pure suckers bet.

I never play as it would be more statistically believable that I would get struck by lightening and hit by a meteorite simultaneously.

 

[MarathonMike]

It is straight probability. Whether it's a computer generating the random numbers or a ping pong ball machine when they changed the RANGE of how big each lottery number can be it greatly increased the odds of matching all numbers. I think heard the odds are 300 million to one. Another way to think about it is until the jackpot gets to 300 million it isn't even paying off at true odds. But at 1.6 billion, the tickets are paying more than 5 to 1 true odds.

 

[beagle9]

Lottery...
Biggest winner is government.

Hilarious that I still can't play online poker where some amount of skill is required , but the government is encouraging gambling in a pure suckers bet.

I never play as it would be more statistically believable that I would get struck by lightening and hit by a meteorite simultaneously.

Well one sequence is all it takes when it finally decides to spit one out, so one ticket is all one needs. "I GUESS".

Sure wouldn't buy more than that in the situation. That's just me though.

If truly wanted to see the lottery make an impact on people's lives, and spread the wealth though out the nation, then why not break it down to 10 million per winner as would be picked, otherwise have as many winners as it takes to complete the total amount give away in each mega millions game or give away ??

 

[beagle9]

It is straight probability. Whether it's a computer generating the random numbers or a ping pong ball machine when they changed the RANGE of how big each lottery number can be it greatly increased the odds of matching all numbers. I think heard the odds are 300 million to one. Another way to think about it is until the jackpot gets to 300 million it isn't even paying off at true odds. But at 1.6 billion, the tickets are paying more than 5 to 1 true odds.

But how is the machine beating the odds against it producing a sequence of numbers to win against those odds ????????????????????

 

[MrShangles]

Lottery...
Biggest winner is government.

Hilarious that I still can't play online poker where some amount of skill is required , but the government is encouraging gambling in a pure suckers bet.

I never play as it would be more statistically believable that I would get struck by lightening and hit by a meteorite simultaneously.

I’m with you on the poker thing, it’s our money right, but government doesn’t get their half of the winnings


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[percysunshine]

What I can't figure out is this...... If the odds are so great against we the individual/people winning the mega, and all due to millions upon millions of people playing, then how about if we reverse that in order to ask ourselves this, "how is the computer playing against the same odds, and then not pushing that winning number out against those millions holding a sequence of numbers that could win after a drawing is made" ?????????

Ok, if a computer is not involved, and it's just that little ball machine that uses air to force the little balls up into the holder for the read, then how is it beating those kinds of odds against it pumping out the winning sequence as well ???

Got me scratching my head now.

Anyone ???

Ok...this is standard statistics.

Mega Millions - Wikipedia

A one in 300 million chance of winning on a specific event.

If 300 million people buy a ticket, that does not guaranty a winner, because many people will select the same set of numbers and reduce the pool of possible winning number combinations.

Just remember, the game can be fair, and still be a voluntary tax. Play at your own risk level.

 

[MarathonMike]

It is straight probability. Whether it's a computer generating the random numbers or a ping pong ball machine when they changed the RANGE of how big each lottery number can be it greatly increased the odds of matching all numbers. I think heard the odds are 300 million to one. Another way to think about it is until the jackpot gets to 300 million it isn't even paying off at true odds. But at 1.6 billion, the tickets are paying more than 5 to 1 true odds.

But how is the machine beating the odds against it producing a sequence of numbers to win against those odds ????????????????????

Think of it this way. If you flip 3 nickels, your chances of getting all three to be heads is 8 to 1. But if you flip all 3 nickels 8 times that doesn't mean you WILL get all heads in the 8 tries. I don't know how many lottery tickets were sold last night but if it is more than 300 million, the odds were that someone SHOULD have won but on one did. The more tickets over 300 million sold increases the chances of a matching ticket.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Q. Do you take half if you win, or 1/26th for 26 years?

 

[2aguy]

Q. Do you take half if you win, or 1/26th for 26 years?

I would take it over the years.....according to the calculator I looked at the first check, after taxes, is 17 million...the last check 30 years later is 44 million dollars.....generational wealth....and you get more money that way vs. taking it in a lump sum....

 

[percysunshine]

Q. Do you take half if you win, or 1/26th for 26 years?

Ok, this is another aspect to the scam. A typical state lottery will pay out about $350,000 on a one million dollar win. They purchase an annuity from an insurance company that pays out in nominal dollars over 30 years. They also tax the winnings, and take a straight up 50% cut before putting the money in the payout pool.

In Vegas, if a casino did this, the owners would go to jail. The house take for a game of blackjack in Vegas is 5-7%. For a government lottery, the house take is 80-85%.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Lottery...
Biggest winner is government.

Hilarious that I still can't play online poker where some amount of skill is required , but the government is encouraging gambling in a pure suckers bet.

I never play as it would be more statistically believable that I would get struck by lightening and hit by a meteorite simultaneously.

Agreed. In fact, your online poker should be legal, and lotteries (a/k/a the tax on the poor) should be illegal.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Q. Do you take half if you win, or 1/26th for 26 years?

Always take all you can up front. You can put that money in guaranteed annuities that pace inflation. The other way, the money actually devalues, while the government keeps all the interest (that could be yours) that it earns in the meantime.

 

[beagle9]

It is straight probability. Whether it's a computer generating the random numbers or a ping pong ball machine when they changed the RANGE of how big each lottery number can be it greatly increased the odds of matching all numbers. I think heard the odds are 300 million to one. Another way to think about it is until the jackpot gets to 300 million it isn't even paying off at true odds. But at 1.6 billion, the tickets are paying more than 5 to 1 true odds.

But how is the machine beating the odds against it producing a sequence of numbers to win against those odds ????????????????????

Think of it this way. If you flip 3 nickels, your chances of getting all three to be heads is 8 to 1. But if you flip all 3 nickels 8 times that doesn't mean you WILL get all heads in the 8 tries. I don't know how many lottery tickets were sold last night but if it is more than 300 million, the odds were that someone SHOULD have won but on one did. The more tickets over 300 million sold increases the chances of a matching ticket.

Any machine or ping pong ball set up can't continue winning this far out against the odds against it is my opinion..... Otherwise the machine keeps winning against the odds of millions upon millions playing against it continually as it keeps winning, otherwise as they keep losing, so how is the machine (not us), beating those odds ??????

Remember, I'M not talking about the players odds on winning against the machine, but rather I'm talking about the odds against the machine, and it continually winning against the amount of players playing against it.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

It is straight probability. Whether it's a computer generating the random numbers or a ping pong ball machine when they changed the RANGE of how big each lottery number can be it greatly increased the odds of matching all numbers. I think heard the odds are 300 million to one. Another way to think about it is until the jackpot gets to 300 million it isn't even paying off at true odds. But at 1.6 billion, the tickets are paying more than 5 to 1 true odds.

But how is the machine beating the odds against it producing a sequence of numbers to win against those odds ????????????????????

Think of it this way. If you flip 3 nickels, your chances of getting all three to be heads is 8 to 1. But if you flip all 3 nickels 8 times that doesn't mean you WILL get all heads in the 8 tries. I don't know how many lottery tickets were sold last night but if it is more than 300 million, the odds were that someone SHOULD have won but on one did. The more tickets over 300 million sold increases the chances of a matching ticket.

Any machine or ping pong ball set up can't continue winning this far out against the odds against it is my opinion..... Otherwise the machine keeps winning against the odds of millions upon millions playing against it continually winning, otherwise as they keep losing, so how is the machine (not us), beating those odds ??????

Remember, I'M not talking about the players odds on winning against the machine, but rather I'm talking about the odds against the machine, and it continually winning against the amount of players playing against it.

But we don't have any reason to believe that this ping pong ball machine is any less "random" then a computer algorithm designed to shoose numbers at random. Studies have been done on this, and especially so by those who want the lottery to go away. Despite their desire for the study to show a bias, the studies did not show this.

Furthermore, even computer random number generators (RNGs) are not truly random, and instead approximate randomness. One can make a strong argument that the physics of these balls arranged in a different starting configuration each time and bouncing off of each other unpredictably is even more random than these computer algorithms.

 

[beagle9]

It is straight probability. Whether it's a computer generating the random numbers or a ping pong ball machine when they changed the RANGE of how big each lottery number can be it greatly increased the odds of matching all numbers. I think heard the odds are 300 million to one. Another way to think about it is until the jackpot gets to 300 million it isn't even paying off at true odds. But at 1.6 billion, the tickets are paying more than 5 to 1 true odds.

But how is the machine beating the odds against it producing a sequence of numbers to win against those odds ????????????????????

Think of it this way. If you flip 3 nickels, your chances of getting all three to be heads is 8 to 1. But if you flip all 3 nickels 8 times that doesn't mean you WILL get all heads in the 8 tries. I don't know how many lottery tickets were sold last night but if it is more than 300 million, the odds were that someone SHOULD have won but on one did. The more tickets over 300 million sold increases the chances of a matching ticket.

Any machine or ping pong ball set up can't continue winning this far out against the odds against it is my opinion..... Otherwise the machine keeps winning against the odds of millions upon millions playing against it continually winning, otherwise as they keep losing, so how is the machine (not us), beating those odds ??????

Remember, I'M not talking about the players odds on winning against the machine, but rather I'm talking about the odds against the machine, and it continually winning against the amount of players playing against it.

But we don't have any reason to believe that this ping pong ball machine is any less "random" then a computer algorithm designed to shoose numbers at random. Studies have been done on this, and especially so by those who want the lottery to go away. Despite their desire for the study to show a bias, the studies did not show this.

Furthermore, even computer random number generators (RNGs) are not truly random, and instead approximate randomness. One can make a strong argument that the physics of these balls arranged in a different starting configuration each time and bouncing off of each other unpredictably is even more random than these computer algorithms.

Just like with us as ticket holders, it's all about the odds against us when playing, but I can't figure out how the machine is holding out against the odds it's playing against as well.

 

[percysunshine]

Of course, then there is the 'buy every possible number combination' strategy.

AUSTRALIANS LUCK OUT IN VA. LOTTERY

This can only work because the pool of money accumulates, and past losing players have to buy new tickets to play again.

Since this happened, states have fixed the rules about how many tickets you can buy at one time.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

It is straight probability. Whether it's a computer generating the random numbers or a ping pong ball machine when they changed the RANGE of how big each lottery number can be it greatly increased the odds of matching all numbers. I think heard the odds are 300 million to one. Another way to think about it is until the jackpot gets to 300 million it isn't even paying off at true odds. But at 1.6 billion, the tickets are paying more than 5 to 1 true odds.

But how is the machine beating the odds against it producing a sequence of numbers to win against those odds ????????????????????

Think of it this way. If you flip 3 nickels, your chances of getting all three to be heads is 8 to 1. But if you flip all 3 nickels 8 times that doesn't mean you WILL get all heads in the 8 tries. I don't know how many lottery tickets were sold last night but if it is more than 300 million, the odds were that someone SHOULD have won but on one did. The more tickets over 300 million sold increases the chances of a matching ticket.

Any machine or ping pong ball set up can't continue winning this far out against the odds against it is my opinion..... Otherwise the machine keeps winning against the odds of millions upon millions playing against it continually winning, otherwise as they keep losing, so how is the machine (not us), beating those odds ??????

Remember, I'M not talking about the players odds on winning against the machine, but rather I'm talking about the odds against the machine, and it continually winning against the amount of players playing against it.

But we don't have any reason to believe that this ping pong ball machine is any less "random" then a computer algorithm designed to shoose numbers at random. Studies have been done on this, and especially so by those who want the lottery to go away. Despite their desire for the study to show a bias, the studies did not show this.

Furthermore, even computer random number generators (RNGs) are not truly random, and instead approximate randomness. One can make a strong argument that the physics of these balls arranged in a different starting configuration each time and bouncing off of each other unpredictably is even more random than these computer algorithms.

Just like with us as ticket holders, it's all about the odds against us when playing, but I can't figure out how the machine is holding out against the odds it's playing against as well.

Well,considering the odds are still stacked against everyone, it wouldn't be beyond reason for the power Ball to go 1000 more weeks without a winner. What should be more surprising is that anyone ever wins at all. They only way we overcome these 300,000,000 to 1 odds is by sheer carpet bombing. And even then, I don't believe it has ever been the case that anything even approaching all 300,000,000 combinations have been chosen in any cycle.

 

[Auld Phart]

Q. Do you take half if you win, or 1/26th for 26 years?

I would take it over the years.....according to the calculator I looked at the first check, after taxes, is 17 million...the last check 30 years later is 44 million dollars.....generational wealth....and you get more money that way vs. taking it in a lump sum....

I'm 68

I can't wait 30 years for the last payment