Lotteries

[red750]

Well, Australia's largest lottery has been won. The $200 million Powerball first division was shared by two ticket holders, $100 million each. Unfortunately, I was not one of them.

 

I had a small ticket, as did my daughter, but the winners were not from Victoria. I checked the reults of both tickets online, but got this message..

 

 

I believe that if fate determines that you will win, one game would be sufficient. If you are not destined to win, 1,000 games won't help. It amazes me when you see people walking away from the ticket window with tickets a couple of metres long. I only buy tickets when the jackpot is $10 million or more, and I buy a mini quickpick, normally 8 games. If the jackpot exceeds $100 million , I buy a 12 game ticket. 

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Your odds of winning don't change with the prize draw, but the risk/return ratio does..

 

I seem to remember you could play more than the six numbers in tattslotto - it was called a system ticket or something.. But the price went upo massivel with the more numbers you selected.

 

I don't know the odds of a standard ticket winning in Aus - here it is 1 in 36m. Those chances are often deemed statistially impossible - though of course there is a chance. If somneone buys 100 tickets, it does not mean it reduces to 1 in 360,000 chances; they have something like 1 in 35.9m chances or there abouts... will have to look it up.

 

If someone is walking away with a ream of tickets, they may be better going for a Systems entry (we don't have that luxury here).

[red750]

The odds of winning Division One in Powerball (7 numbers plus the powerball) are 1:134,490,400.

 

They say you have more chance of being hit by a meteorite while walking to the Lotto shop.

[rgmwa]

I don't buy any tickets and I think I'm well ahead.

[pmccarthy]

Never in my life.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Like Red, I do buy them when a big prize comes out. Last week was £110 million. My luck of course is that the meteorite will hit me just after I buy the winning ticket.

 

[onetrack]

I can never think about lottery wins without remembering a cartoon sequence I saw decades ago.

 

1. A little bloke who looks down and out, is lying in bed. He has a dream where he sees a sequence of numbers.

2. He wakes up in excitement, and writes down the numbers.

3. He runs to a lottery ticket agency, and buys a ticket with the numbers he dreamed about on it.

4. He runs out of the agency with his ticket in his hand, staring at the numbers, and with a dream bubble above him going, "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$".

5. He runs across a busy road still staring at his winning numbers - without looking for traffic - and gets ironed out by a speeding bus.

6. The number plate on the bus is the numbers that he dreamed about.  

[onetrack]

The only reason I buy lottery tickets is because our lottery is State-owned and State-run, and all surplus funds go to community projects and worthy beneficiaries - not already-wealthy shareholders, as in Tatts Group Ltd.

 

In W.A., the beneficiaries are local community groups and projects such as playgrounds, sporting facilities, mens sheds - and the RFDS.

 

The RFDS gets a huge amount of money from Lotteries West. Last year, Lotteries West gave away over $300M to these groups. Lotteries West built a new $3M hangar for the RFDS.

 

Anyone can apply for a Lotteries West grant, provided they can show a worthy need for a grant.

 

I buy Systems lotto tickets and I go into online syndicates. These do increase your chances of winning, although the syndicates do reduce your overall level of winnings. I think syndicates are a good idea, it spreads the money around.

 

I was quite amazed to read about a fraud artist who conned people out of millions with a financial investment scheme promotion. Of course, he used most of the money to fulfil his own personal greed.

But what amazed me was he spent around $27,000 of the stolen money on purchasing tickets in a big Lotto draw - and he won $1.5M.

Of course, he didn't pay any of his victims back, he just went out and bought more luxury items with the winnings.

 

This shows that people who buy big numbers of tickets, or who are in syndicates, have a substantially increased chance of winning the lottery.

I have seen syndicates bragging about how they had won 1st division prizes several times, over the years.

 

However, I'm convinced some people are simply born lucky, such as the people who have never bought a ticket in their life, and they buy their first ticket ever - and it wins them a 1st division prize.

 

Edited February 1 by onetrack

[facthunter]

There's a lot of recorded winners and I know of no-one getting hit by space dust. When the OPERA HOUSE in Sydney ran over budget they started the Opera House LOTTERY enabling it to be finished. You won't WIN IT if you aren't IN it. Pokies and scratchies etc are a very poor expectation of return. It PROVIDES SOME hope of a windfall. I probably have used up all my luck in other ways.   Nev

[old man emu]

Legally, pokies in NSW are required to return at least 90% of their income OVER THE LIFE OF THE MACHINE, not per playing session. It is up to the operator of the machine to determine what that percentage will be for each machine. If you watch a machine being played, you will soon notice that the payouts for the minor wins (pairs or triples on a 5-reeler) are less than the price of a spin. Those minor returns are included in the machine's percentage return. It is only the rare "five in a row" spins that make the big payouts.

 

I treat pokies as a form of entertainment and expect to pay for that entertainment. If a session results in my coming away with more than I put in, lucky me. I was taught by my parents that as soon as you have accumulated wins equal to what you started with, pull out your original stake and play with the machine's money. If the machine claws its money back, leaving nothing in the tray, then you've been entertained for free.

[spacesailor]

I remember a " Keno " jackpot winner , being refused his payout .as he was Not a member of the " Blacktown  Workers Club " , even through he was signed in  by a member .

So the Rule is , if you lose you can play .

If you win only.members can win .

spacesailor

 

Edited February 2 by spacesailor
It changed my spelling

[facthunter]

Not fair. Declare that SITE "BLACK".  Nev