# Lottery question



## settlement (22 Sep 2014)

Hi guys, not sure if this is the right forum, feel free to move thread if necessary

We all know the odds of winning the lottery are amazingly poor. Yet in Ireland almost every week somebody wins. How can this be the case if the odds are so poor?


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## mandelbrot (22 Sep 2014)

Huh? 

Because of the number of participants (or rather the number of lines played).


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## PaddyBloggit (22 Sep 2014)

What do lottery winners do with the large amount of money they win?

If they stick it in the bank they are hit with DIRT and anything over €100k isn't guaranteed.

Does Lotto HQ provide or give financial guidance? I presume they don't just say here's your cheque and good luck with it.


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## pudds (22 Sep 2014)

settlement said:


> Hi guys, not sure if this is the right forum, feel free to move thread if necessary
> 
> We all know the odds of winning the lottery are amazingly poor. Yet in Ireland almost every week somebody wins. How can this be the case if the odds are so poor?




its just the luck of the oirish



> Does Lotto HQ provide or give financial guidance? I presume they don't just say here's your cheque and good luck with it.



They give advice on how to handle your big win, as to what the extent of that advice is, i've no idea, but will let you know shortly


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## settlement (22 Sep 2014)

mandelbrot said:


> Huh?
> 
> Because of the number of participants (or rather the number of lines played).



Do you have statistics/maths to explain? Thanks


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## mandelbrot (22 Sep 2014)

settlement said:


> Do you have statistics/maths to explain? Thanks


 
Well, have a read of these for starters and come back if you feel the need

http://www.lotto.net/irish-lotto/irish-lotto-prizes.asp
[broken link removed])

But basically, it's a mug's game - the fact that it's a very profitable business should tell you all you need to know, if for example you were a 25 year old with 15k burning a hole in your pocket... 

EDIT: And I've only just noticed that you've put this thread in the Investment Forum - let's be VERY clear, the Lottery is NOT an Investment, it's actually the complete opposite, since the expected return is always negative.


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## dub_nerd (23 Sep 2014)

settlement said:


> Hi guys, not sure if this is the right forum, feel free to move thread if necessary
> 
> We all know the odds of winning the lottery are amazingly poor. Yet in Ireland almost every week somebody wins. How can this be the case if the odds are so poor?


The individual odds of winning a lottery, and the odds of the lottery being won by _somebody_, are two completely different things. 

The former is a function of the number of possible outcomes of the lottery game. The latter is a function of the number of outcomes and the size of the playing population. The number of outcomes is set by the lottery organiser, by manipulating the game format, in order to achieve their desired jackpot size and frequency.


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## Steven Barrett (23 Sep 2014)

They say if you win the Lotto, not to make any major purchases for the first 6 months. So that means no yachts, Bugatti's etc.

Not sure if the National Lottery recommend anyone in particular to give financial advice. 


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie


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## settlement (24 Sep 2014)

Thanks all for informative responses


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## demoivre (25 Sep 2014)

If you're going to play the lotto pick a combination of numbers that would be perceived by many as having less chance of being selected such as groups of numbers eg 4,5,6,18,19,20 ! Of course each combination has the same chance of being selected ie 1 in 8145060 but if you're grouped numbers are selected you're more likely to be the sole winner ! Greed is good


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## dub_nerd (26 Sep 2014)

demoivre said:


> If you're going to play the lotto pick a combination of numbers that would be perceived by many as having less chance of being selected such as groups of numbers eg 4,5,6,18,19,20 ! Of course each combination has the same chance of being selected ie 1 in 8145060 but if you're grouped numbers are selected you're more likely to be the sole winner ! Greed is good



Of course, convincing people of the equal likelihood of each outcome can be a good antidote to them playing in the first place. I've never played, but years ago I told my elderly father that he had just as much chance of winning if he picked 1,2,3,4,5,6. He scoffed and said "sure that would _never_ come up!". Uh, yeah, exactly ...


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## Steven Barrett (26 Sep 2014)

There's someone in Donabate sitting on €86m, laughing away to themselves. 

It could be you


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## dub_nerd (26 Sep 2014)

...  and another 499,999,999 EU citizens who aren't.


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## RichInSpirit (26 Sep 2014)

dub_nerd said:


> Of course, convincing people of the equal likelihood of each outcome can be a good antidote to them playing in the first place. I've never played, but years ago I told my elderly father that he had just as much chance of winning if he picked 1,2,3,4,5,6. He scoffed and said "sure that would _never_ come up!". Uh, yeah, exactly ...



I played 1,2,3,4,5,6 in last weekend's national lottery and I didn't come out. Only play the odd time though.


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## dam099 (26 Sep 2014)

dub_nerd said:


> Of course, convincing people of the equal likelihood of each outcome can be a good antidote to them playing in the first place. I've never played, but years ago I told my elderly father that he had just as much chance of winning if he picked 1,2,3,4,5,6. He scoffed and said "sure that would _never_ come up!". Uh, yeah, exactly ...




I had a similar debate with my dad a few years ago, couldn't convince him it was just as likely as any other combinations


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## Rahul (31 Oct 2014)

*Lottery*

"What are the odds of winning the UK euromillion lottery?"


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## Setanta12 (31 Oct 2014)

Someone once described any lottery as a 'tax on idiots'.  No harm in it the odd time but to expect to win ..... sheesh!

To answer the original question, if the odds are a million-to-one -> if a million play, then someone may have won, but 999,999 have lost.


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## Jimmie88 (2 Jul 2015)

settlement said:


> Hi guys, not sure if this is the right forum, feel free to move thread if necessary
> 
> We all know the odds of winning the lottery are amazingly poor. Yet in Ireland almost every week somebody wins. How can this be the case if the odds are so poor?



Undoubtedly the odds of winning in any lottery game especially the ones with colossal jackpots are extremely low but it doesn’t mean that no one can win it. Every now and then we hear the jackpot winning stories and you could be one of them as well.


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## Barney Magoo (6 Jul 2015)

As a matter of interest does the Irish Lotto Operator publish their sales and costs? 
It would be interesting to know how much they take in sales, spend on running costs, take in profits, distribute in prizes and distribute in grants etc.


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