1 entry to 1000 competitions or 1000 entries to 1?

2

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  • mjm3346
    mjm3346 Posts: 46,887 Forumite
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    Marg2k8 wrote: »
    I went the opposite way to most of you. 1000 entries into one competition. I would sooner put all my efforts into a couple of prizes that I would really love to win than lots of prizes that I wouldn't mind winning. I choose a handful of click to wins and enter them every day.

    If I could have 1,000 entries and everybody else only one then I might but me having 1,000 and everyone else having 1,000 is no different to me having 1 entry and everyone else having 1 so I'd take the 1,000 different competitions
  • mjm3346
    mjm3346 Posts: 46,887 Forumite
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    edited 21 August 2018 at 6:17PM
    sleepyjones wrote: »
    On the flipside of this, if it was lottery tickets ... I'd want 1000 tickets on one draw rather than 1 ticket on 1000 draws.

    1,000 tickets in one draw with the correct number combinations should "win" back around 100 lucky dips, £25 for matching 3 about 10 times, have an almost 50/50 chance of matching 4 instead of odds of just over 2,000 to 1 and reduce the odds of winning the Jackpot from 45,000,000 to 1 to 45,000 to 1.
    1 ticket in 1,000 draws could not guarantee a win and would not improve the odds of winning the jackpot.
  • Moneybot
    Moneybot Posts: 10,444 Forumite
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    mjm3346 wrote: »
    1,000 tickets in one draw with the correct number combinations should "win" back around 100 lucky dips, £250 for matching 3 about 10 times, have an almost 50/50 chance of matching 4 instead of odds of just over 2,000 to 1 and reduce the odds of winning the Jackpot from 45,000,000 to 1 to 45,000 to 1.
    1 ticket in 1,000 draws could not guarantee a win and would not improve the odds of winning the jackpot.

    Not totally there with your logic as both 1000 in 1 and 1 in 1000 require you to have some " correct numbers" Neither way guarantees a win.

    Most people are playing the 1 in 1000 draws if you think about it.
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  • mjm3346
    mjm3346 Posts: 46,887 Forumite
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    Moneybot wrote: »
    Not totally there with your logic as both 1000 in 1 and 1 in 1000 require you to have some " correct numbers" Neither way guarantees a win.

    Most people are playing the 1 in 1000 draws if you think about it.

    With 1,000 tickets in one draw you can perm sufficient combinations to guarantee a win and with average luck would match the odds - if you had 45,000,000 tickets you could cover every number combination and win the jackpot
    With Thunderball you can guarantee getting the Thunderball with 14 tickets in one draw, with 112 tickets you can guarantee the thunderball on 14 tickets and a minimum of 1 number and the thunderball on 5 of the 14 (might have 5 + TB, or 4 +TB with 1 +TB, etc) - cannot do that with 1 ticket in 112 draws (of course 112 tickets in 1 draw arranged that way also guarantees 98 tickets will not have the thunderball)
  • One-Eye
    One-Eye Posts: 66,436 Forumite
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    sleepyjones wrote: »
    On the flipside of this, if it was lottery tickets ... I'd want 1000 tickets on one draw rather than 1 ticket on 1000 draws.
    Moneybot wrote: »
    Why?
    Doesn't really increase your odds of winning significantly having 1000 tickets into one draw

    You have a significantly better chance of winning the jackpot with 1000 tickets in 1 draw, although the odds are still very small.
    If you do have 1000 tickets in 1 draw, you lose the infinitesimally small chance to win the jackpot twice or three times.

    Imagine a lottery where you pick 1 number from 1000 numbers to win. Play 1000 times picking 1 number and you have a 64% chance of winning. Play once picking 1000 numbers and you have a 100% chance of winning.

    An old test about comprehension of the lottery:
    A punter has one go on every Saturday’s lottery, picking the same numbers each week based on the day & month of family birthdays.
    Would the following strategies increase , decrease or make no difference to the punter’s chance of winning the Jackpot.

    1) Pick a better spread of numbers as birthdays can not include numbers over 31, and at least 3 numbers are below 13.
    2) Have a lucky dip each week instead.
    3) Save up the money each week and have 52 lucky dips in one draw at the end of the year.
    4) Pick the numbers that have been drawn out the most over the previous two years.
    5) Pick the numbers that have been drawn out the least over the last two years.
    6) Pick consecutive numbers. (eg. 11,12,13,14 etc.)
    7) Pick the same numbers that were drawn last week.
    8) Use an online random number generator.

    7 of these make no difference to your chance of winning, although some may have an unknown effect on the size of your share of the jackpot. No.3 increases your chance of winning the jackpot.
  • hdh74
    hdh74 Posts: 2,855 Forumite
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    It also depends how much enjoying entering as opposed to increasing your chances of winning matter to you. Comps that is, rather than the lottery, as buying a lottery ticket probably isn't on many people's fun to do lists.
    2018 - £562  2019 - £130 2020 - £276  2021 - £106 2022 - £140
  • sleepyjones
    sleepyjones Posts: 6,087 Forumite
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    Nobody actually enjoys enter competitions? ... it's a bore :)

    I enjoy the prospect of winning something but I certainly wouldn't say I enjoy the process of entering :)
  • hdh74
    hdh74 Posts: 2,855 Forumite
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    sleepyjones wrote: »
    Nobody actually enjoys enter competitions? ... it's a bore :)

    I enjoy the prospect of winning something but I certainly wouldn't say I enjoy the process of entering :)

    Some of it's a bore, but I enjoy quite a lot of it. Some of the things that crop up are hilarious. Some of the effort comps have me doing interesting things. When you have long-term health problems even the mudane entries can be a quite relaxing way to pass the time and are a great distraction. And it's a bit like window-shopping - with a prospect of randomly actually getting some of the stuff you spy - it's interesting to know what's out there. Some of the brands are quite fun to interact with too.

    The hit rate being what it is I don't think I could motivate myself to comp if all of it was a chore, just for the prospect of the occasional win.
    2018 - £562  2019 - £130 2020 - £276  2021 - £106 2022 - £140
  • jaibaby
    jaibaby Posts: 4,001 Forumite
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    sleepyjones wrote: »
    1 entry into 1000 competitions

    I believe if it's meant to be, it will be :)
    Thanks to all posters :A
  • hdh74
    hdh74 Posts: 2,855 Forumite
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    every time I come on this forum this thread is highlighted as if there's a new post and there isn't . so I'm making one to try to fix it.
    2018 - £562  2019 - £130 2020 - £276  2021 - £106 2022 - £140
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