smitsturbo

i never thaught about it or laughed at people that said it was until today,
how come there is never any more than 5,6,7 winners???

focusv8

The same reason bookies don't go bust.

Mathematics is the answer.

.

smitsturbo

so if the numbers where averagely gapped why do say 50 people not win it why is it always no more that say 5 winners?

dangerousbrian

i doubt its fixed but every time i get 2 lucky dips there is always one number on both lines

rstdave

iTrader: (3)

Lol i'm sure if people were getting all the numbers and not being allowed to be a 'winner' as they alreasdy had 5 or 6, we'd have heard about it by now and it's not like you can't choose the same numbers as your mate is it
The odds are just so so small unfortunately, but still not that many games that you 'could' win that sort of money for the sake of Ł1!

smitsturbo

i reckon the machine's pick numbers that only a small amount of people (say 5) have

H7 CYA

iTrader: (3)

Nah dont think there is a need to fix it they still have to give out the same amount of money.

smitsturbo

but there would be an uproar if 75 people iout of 20 million picked the same 6 numbers

H7 CYA

iTrader: (3)

Yeah i see what you mean that would be my luck lol.

t4 and greys

iTrader: (5)

ever heard the words "illuminati" or new world order
as the lotto is just one big savings account for them , like you say chaps funny how so few win at the same time !!!

rik-rs

not saying it is or isnt but...

cossiejay

13.5 million to one chance to win they only sell about 20 million tickets so the odds are less then 2

JokerDisco

iTrader: (4)

It's not a fix i'ts down to the odds of winning.

To win Ł10 you need to match any 3 balls out of the six drawn. This has odds of around 1 in 56.
To win the jackpot you need to match all 6 balls drawn. This has odds of around 1 in 14 million.
You see the difference there?
Let me say that for you again just to make sure it sinks in.
Odds of winning Ł10 are 1 in 56.
Odds of winning Jackpot are 1 in 14 million.

For completeness all the odds are:

3 numbers – 1 : 55.65593
4 numbers – 1 : 1,031.397
5 numbers – 1 : 55,490.33
5 numbers + Bonus ball – 1 : 2,330,365
6 numbers – 1 : 13,983,815\

From a purely statistical point of view the lottery is a waste of time. However, the lottery is not just about winning the jackpot, there is also the thrill of anticipation that you just might win a price. There are many things in life which, if we break them down, are just not worth the money, for instance I am currently spending money on getting drunk. This will not lead to any significant gains in my life but will give me enjoyment. Similarly with the lottery, if you enjoy playing (and on the caveat that you don't start spending more than you can afford fishing for the elusive big win) then I see no reason why not to throw a couple of quid its way each month.

cossiejay

wow what other info have you got tucked away up there if there was a prize for not getting any numbers i would win most weeks

matts1

Pretty sure there have been some larger number win, wasn't there 14 winners one week on a couple of million quid?

my old lady told me about the sun bingo years and years ago, there was apparently a 'miss print' in the paper and the ques of people was around the block who had winning tickets, was only meant to be a couple lol!!

and a mate of mine worked in a printers, they printed some scratch cards for the army, it was an internal thing and the top prizes where 1 x holiday, 1 x car etc. then loads of little wins.

BUT, one of every ticket design/prize was laid up on one big plate and then thousands of that pages would get printed with, but the big prizes would be collated and removed and only one of each would go into circulation.

Pitty someone forgot this VITAL part!! it wasn't until 3 or 4 holidays had been claimed that they realised and had to pull the tickets and refund people - lucky it was an internal thing or could have finished the printing firm!!

Rich_bloor

do you know what sort of state a horse would have to be in to get a 13500000 to 1 in a race ???

lol

original

no its not, our family friends won Ł26million on euromillions a couple of weeks ago, my brother went car shopping with his friend for 911's, turned up in a Pug206 and assured the salesman that securing the money would not be a problem

He was given a test drive of the new BMW M3 for 3 days to 'see how it fits into his life.....'

.....very nicely thank you very much!



the odds of winning the national lottery are...

(6/49 x 5/48 x 4/47 x 3/46 x 2/45 x 1/44) = 1 in 13,983,816

JokerDisco

iTrader: (4)

Ha Ha, Hit the nail on the head, I imagine it would look something like this:

BM08

Benni

If I put money on all the other horses, I'm confident it would win. Probably be dragged along by the winning horse, only for the winning horse to give in near the end letting the rocker carry its speed over the line.

Benni.

alistairolsen

Assuming even distribution amongst the population of the uk (61399118) there should be 4.4 winners every time. The entire population doesn't buy a ticket so it should be fewer than this. You shouldn't therefore be questioning why so few, but rather why so many when 6 people share the jackpot.

Mike C

iTrader: (1)

Lots of people have x number of lines though, so that helps bump it back up closer to those figures.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Apparently (according to Carol Vorderman) if you buy more than one line you're better off buying the same numbers for each line!

AlexF

That cant be true?

Can it ?!

B16JUS

i think they should make loads of millionaires rather than 1 or 2 big winners

lets be honest on a normal week if there was 8 winners of Ł1million each its still a lot of money or 26 winners of Ł1million each on a friday still make a lot of happy people.

someone work out if that happens how long we would have to wait until everyone in the country has won Ł1 million lol

Mike C

iTrader: (1)

But how would that work?

I think the prizes should be higher for 5 numbers though. I got 5 numbers a few years back and collected about Ł2300 I think it was. Pisstake!

B16JUS

bit like premium bonds everyones numbers in and then picked out at random

i.e x amount for Ł1m each x amount for Ł500k each etc etc etc

Lambchop

iTrader: (1)

fix?

Pob

Play the hotpicks, 450 win for 3 numbers. Sister has won it twice-so far this year

Fast Guy

Do you mean just jackpot winners? I'd rather there was just a couple splitting the jackpot unless it was my time to win of course or it was a massive jackpot where you'd still get a good 5million or so to set you up for life.


It is all down to maths as said above. The odds of winning are 14million or so to one. If 70million tickets were sold, you'd expect there to be at least 5 winning tickets.

Paul_RS

iTrader: (4)

It'd never happen as its impossible

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Yeah because if you win the jackpot along with three other people you get two fifths of the jackpot rather that a quarter.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Why would there be uproar? The money would just be split equally.