National lottery changing this Saturday

Gra76

Bit miffed about the national lottery changing the way the lottery works from this weekend.

Instead of 1 to 49 the numbers will be increased from 1 to 59, thus decreasing the chances of winning the jackpot from an already hefty 1 in 14 million to something like 1 in 45 million.

It was bad enough odds as it was.

I run a syndicate at work (10 lines per draw for a good 5-6 years now) and in the years I've been running it I think we've only had 4 numbers a total of 5 times, all the rest of our winnings have been 3 numbers on a semi-regular basis, which still didn't add up to a huge amount at the end of the year when we split it.

To compound the 'joy' of being even more unlikely to win the jackpot now, the odds of getting 4 numbers has gone from just over 1 in 1,000 to just over 1 in 2,100 and the chances of getting 3 numbers has almost doubled from 1 in 57 to 1 in 97.

To say I'm not impressed is an understatement. I'm very seriously considering dropping out of the lottery altogether and putting the money to better use.

The guaranteed £1m per draw in the raffle won't cut it for me I'm afraid, and I consider the 'free' entry into the next draw for getting 2 numbers an insult considering the odds of actually winning anything now.

Not impressed. At least I'll be able to stop endlessly chasing work colleagues for payment now to square them up for lottery subs... :cool:

PasturesNew

It was always a Maths Knowledge Tax..... anybody playing regularly from now on will just prove this point is true.

JReacher1

Only idiots call it a tax. It's just a bit of fun

marleyboy

I can think of cheaper ways to have better fun.

JReacher1

marleyboy wrote: »

I can think of cheaper ways to have better fun.

You could say that about pretty much anything.

torbrex

Stop doing the lottery and save the money into a seperate account for outings, meals out, etc

JReacher1

torbrex wrote: »

Stop doing the lottery and save the money into a seperate account for outings, meals out, etc

I have enough money I don't need to do this.

The kids just like to get a lottery ticket and we tick the numbers off on a Saturday night.

It's £2 a week and I think the entertainment is enough to justify. Particularly when we win 3 or 4 numbers

marleyboy

JReacher1 wrote: »

You could say that about pretty much anything.

Hmmm, it must be the case then.

I guess if its just a "bit of fun" its an expensive venture, but then again only idiots would claim it was just a bit of fun.

JReacher1

marleyboy wrote: »

Hmmm, it must be the case then.

I guess if its just a "bit of fun" its an expensive venture, but then again only idiots would claim it was just a bit of fun.

That's fair enough if money for you is as tight as it seems then I agree it's foolish for you to spend £2 a week on the lottery. That money would be more useful to pay for your food, mortgage etc.

daytona0

It depends on how they set it up really, but I'm not totally against it.

There will be roughly 1/3 of the normal jackpot winners who win with 59 balls, so this will create more rollovers and more revenue generally.

On the flip side, if they allocate prizes better then they can quite possibly make your odds of winning a life changing sum much lower by offering 1m prizes for raffle winners! This could potentially make the odds BETTER than the current lottery in terms of winning 1m plus, but it depends on the setup.

The odds of winning in your lifetime (assuming you play from 16 to 85 and 3 draws a week and 1x ticket) is about 1380 to 1 currently, and will go up to about 5080 to 1 with 59 balls I think.... Probably not going to happen in either case!

That free entry for two numbers is actually CUTTING DOWN (but not by loads) the odds of winning the jackpot, as if you get 2 numbers then you have a 'free' chance of winning the next jackpot (and raffle). The only thing is that the national lottery are effectively taking money out of the prize pool (and a large chunk of it I might add, as your odds of getting 2 numbers are currently about 13% for 49 numbers) in order to generate more revenue - a sneaky and clever little trick in fairness.

I like the new design, as I am not going to be winning either the 49 or 59 number draw anytime soon. It generates action in the pools and keeps people coming back. I say smaller jackpots, more 1m prizes and more people playing!


Source: http://www.murderousmaths.co.uk/books/bkmm6xlo.htm

r2015

Look at it this way, the odds of winning anything on the lottery is evens.


You either win it or don't win it.