Question

Almost anyone in the United States can play the lottery. Many people dedicate more than $50 a week to playing lotto games. But can the game you choose to play significantly affect your chances of winning? Calculate your odds of winning if you spend $1 on a ticket for the Pick 6 game in New Jersey. Then calculate your odds if you spend $50. Compare these odds to the odds of being struck by lightning or being hit by a meteorite.

Answer 1

SOLUTION:

44 states in the US run lotteries. To state a few New Jersey Ohio, Arizona, Indiana etc.

Let us consider the game Pick 6. For example, the Pick 6 costs $1 with an additional $1 for the Megaplier option.

(a) The odds of winning or sharing a Pick Six jackpot (2013-2017 version): 1 in about 258.9 million.So, the odds of winning with a $1 bet is almost nil.

(b) The odds will still remain the same if a person puts a $50 dollar bet, that is, the person is buying more than one lottery tickets to increase his chance of winning. Thus, the odds of winning is still negligible.

(c) About 1 in 645 people are in a accident and your chances of dying in a car or traffic accident are one in 5,000.and the chances are 1 in 161,856 for fatal injuries caused by lightning and hit by a meteorite. These probabilities are still higher than the probability of winning a lottery game.