Will I win the lottery?

Scroll to see replies

Original post by DailyMailIsALiar

Hello everyone.

I have just started back at University this term and already I am feeling the isolation and loneliness. I just can't see the point in existing anymore as no one here talks to me whatsoever, it's so lonely. I'm over 300 miles away from my home town here too, meaning that I can't speak to my former school friends either. As everyone here is middle/upper class, I have figured that the only way they will talk to me is that if I have money, and the only way I will get enough money to impress them is by winning the lottery, which I have never played before.

I have £3,500 in savings which I have worked for since I was 14. I was wondering whether it is likely would I win the lottery if I spent it all on tickets in Tesco.

I know that the lotto is £1, so I would have more chances of winning on that game than the euromillions, however the euromillions would see me win a lot more, and I would be able to hold my own with some of the people at this university who are on my floor/on my course.

Thank you for any help.

Why spend all that money you have saved throughout the years just to impress a ' few ' pepole ? If they don't want to genuine know you then **** them. Do your own thing and work hard, youl succeed. Forget what anyone thinks, I'm sure you'll eventually come across like minded individuals. PAITENCE.

Reply 21

username360639

Original post by Moh.1Ace

It was going so well until you spelt PATIENCE wrong :biggrin:

I agree though, don't be stupid!

Reply 22

Moh.1Ace

Original post by Loafing.Charizard

It was going so well until you spelt PATIENCE wrong :biggrin:

I agree though, don't be stupid!

Fair play to you lool can't argue with that.

Reply 23

Smash Bandicoot

Original post by Wesleigh

6 numbers are drawn at random from the set of integers between 1 and 49, which means there are 49!/(6!*(49-6)!) combinations of numbers (the draw order doesn't matter). The means that the jackpot chance is 1 in 13,983,816 or approximately 1 in 14 million.

yeah Lotto plays off people being too stupid to do the Maths-I'll admit I didn't know the exact figure until just now, thanks :redface:

Reply 24

Howbeit

Original post by DailyMailIsALiar

But if I divide that by 3,500, the odds are just 3995.376 to 1. Also, I could possibly take out a loan from the bank. I saw that they (HSBC) do loans of up to £25,000. If I bought 28,500 tickets (i'd buy them online as thats too many to buy in Tesco), my odds would be just 1 in 490.66 for actually winning millions on the lottery, that's almost certain compared to the odds of buying one ticket!

It doesn't work like that... if that was the case we would expect loads more winners.

Say winning the lottery is one in 14 million or 1/14,000,000.

You buy one ticket and your chances of winning are 1/14,000,000

You buy another ticket and your chances are 1/13,999,999

You buy a third and your chances are now 1/13,999,998

So if you bought 28,500 tickets your chances would be 1/13,971,500

I'm pretty sure this is how it works...

Have a go at this simulator (http://uklottosim.appspot.com/). I ran through 10,000 tickets, your best prize was £100 and the average return per pound was £0.25.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 25

x kat x

Don't waste your money on the lottery. Why not look through the forums on here and see if there is a group for people in your area? If not ... why don't you start one?
I haven't been on here in ages (6yrs) but there used to be meets and uni pages.

People should accept you for who you are not the amount of money on your bank balance!

Reply 26

Serpentine111

Original post by RobertWhite

Nah, that's not right as well.

Reply 27

Howbeit

Original post by Serpentine111

Nah, that's not right as well.

Instead of telling everyone they're wrong why don't you explain??

Reply 28

Serpentine111

Original post by RobertWhite

Instead of telling everyone they're wrong why don't you explain??

Lol no need to stress.

It's pretty simple really; the probability is 1 in 13,983,816 which is about 0.000000071. Imagine you have 13,983,816 tickets laid out in front of you, each ticket representing a unique combination of 6 number, then one of those 13,983,816 tickets will be the winning ticket (the jackpot, of course there are many more tickets which will win you something).

Now with the lottery being random, each ticket has an equal chance of being the winning ticket. If you buy one ticket your chance of winning is 1 in 13,983,816, if you buy 2 then the chance is 2 in 13,983,816 etc...

tl;dr so the probability is just X/13,983,816 (X being the number of tickets bought)

Not really difficult to get your head around :s-smilie:

Reply 29

SirMasterKey

You might win something OP but there is still such a high chance of you losing everything that it simply wouldn't be worth it.

Reply 30

tombayes

Original post by RobertWhite

Instead of telling everyone they're wrong why don't you explain??

i explained it in an earlier post :frown:

Reply 31

Sylvette

Getting into their "elite society" will only be a temporary happiness, or at least you would be living in a facade.

The moment when it counts the most, you will find that those "friends" of yours are suddenly gone. Then it becomes no different than before, only that you've wasted a portion of your life living a lonely dream.

Don't make money define you. There's a lot more to things than just joining the "in" club. There's a lot more that you can offer than just a fake status.
Find clubs or hobbies that you like. If you don't have one, start one. Take time off your job (if you can) and try out different things. You'll find people along the way who at least can socialize with you. You never know until you take the first step.

And let's be honest. The chances of you finding a friend somewhere with that time will be higher than winning the lottery.

All things aside though, don't take my advice and decide to join some terrorist group. You know, just in case you were thinking about it.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 32

DailyMailIsALiar

Original post by Serpentine111

Yes, I get that it was a stupid idea now thankfully. I've never played Lotto before anyway, and don't intend to start. The simulator was very helpful though!

Can you imagine how stupid I must have been to even think I'd win.

Reply 33

mphysical

Original post by Serpentine111

tl;dr so the probability is just X/13,983,816 (X being the number of tickets bought)
Not really difficult to get your head around :s-smilie:

Correct. And so was the earlier post you incorrectly dismissed.as they stated odds, and not not probability

(Original post by DailyMailIsALiar)
But if I divide that by 3,500, the odds are just 3995.376 to 1. .........
..................................................................................................
That's not how probability works mate.

DailyMailIsALiar stated roughly the correct odds

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 34

mosmof

Original post by RobertWhite

great explanation of odds and that simulation is brilliant... played 20,000 games so spent £40,000 had £100 28 times and £25 365 times.

just had one £1000 after 20,500 goes. but that is only 500 tickets at £2 each... now to go back to coursework....

Reply 35

mphysical

(Original post by RobertWhite)
Say winning the lottery is one in 14 million or 1/14,000,000.
You buy one ticket and your chances of winning are 1/14,000,000
You buy another ticket and your chances are 1/13,999,999
You buy a third and your chances are now 1/13,999,998
So if you bought 28,500 tickets your chances would be 1/13,971,500
I'm pretty sure this is how it works...

It is another way of looking at it but a slight misunderstanding.
"You buy another ticket and your chances are 1/13,999,999" No. When you buy a second ticket the number of choices has been reduced to 1/13,999,999.
Buy a third and you can pick from 1/13,999,998.

In other words each ticket has a roughly 14m/1 chance of winning.
But the more tickets you buy, the higher the probability and the lower the odds (or is it higher ???)

Reply 36

DailyMailIsALiar

Original post by RobertWhite

That simulator you've quoted is excellent, really puts it into perspective how people can spend their lives playing the lottery but win nothing at all. You're losing from day one!

I really think more people should see this to teach them (the 70% of the adult population who play Lotto) how they're onto a loser. Then again, the government makes far too much tax from the sales of lottery tickets for that to happen.

Thank you nonetheless.

Reply 37

Howbeit

Original post by DailyMailIsALiar

You're welcome :smile:

Albeit I have played the lottery before knowing these odds. Sometimes it's just fun to play and there's nothing wrong with that despite the loss of money. You get enjoyment from eating sweets, they cost similar to the price of a ticket, and they give you some joy. So as a ticket gives you a bit of excitement knowing it's possible you could win a fortune despite the incredible odd, it's just like sweets, it's a little enjoyment.

Should never play to actually win the jackpot though!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 38

Birkenhead

Original post by DailyMailIsALiar

If you really want to gamble then avoid the lottery. Very recently I ended up winning £2k in online gambling. I would recommend keeping the money if you aren't confident, however.