Lottery Confusion

TurnipHead

Hi all,

I run a small lottery syndicate. Press ganged rather than volunteered!! 

Collectively, we play 6 lines @ £2 per line (£12) and do this on Wednesdays and Saturdays every week. In my mind that's 2 games per week, and as there's 52 weeks a year so that's 104 games a year.

Each member pays their subs by direct debit every 4 weeks @ £96 so over 12 months, collectively we pay £12 x 104 games = £1248.  

Yet the syndicate National Lottery direct debit payment plan for the year accounts for 105 games a year (£1260.00) and as a result we have been down in payments £12, not only last year but also this year.

Obviously 4 weeks do not fit neatly into every calendar month hence we pay subs every 4 weeks rather than on a calendar date, but according to the above we are still underpaying by £12 a year.

Can anyone help me understand what's going on as it makes no sense to me?

Thanks for reading!

MikeJXE

Count how many Saturdays and how many Wednesdays in a year rather than how many weeks 

You can bet your life there is 52 of one and 53 of the other 

TadleyBaggie

Because there are 13 four week periods in a year, not 12? 

52 / 4 = 13

One-Eye

MikeJXE said:

Count how many Saturdays and how many Wednesdays in a year rather than how many weeks 

You can bet your life there is 52 of one and 53 of the other 

52 weeks + 1 day = 365 days
There will be 105 draws only if 1st Jan falls on a Wednesday or Saturday.

52 weeks + 2 days = 366 days in a leap year
There will be 105 draws only if 1st Jan falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday

In all other cases there will be 104 draws

2022 - 53 Sats, 52 Weds (because 1st Jan & 31st Dec are Saturdays)
2023 - 52 Sats, 52 Weds
2024 - 52 Sats, 52 Weds
2025 - 52 Sats, 53 Weds (because 1st Jan & 31st Dec are Wednesdays)
2026 - 52 Sats, 52 Weds
2027 - 52 Sats, 52 Weds
2028 - 53 Sats, 52 Weds (because 1st Jan & 30th Dec are Saturdays and 2028 is a leap year)

For TurnipHead's situation it is more relevant which date in the year the direct debit starts/renews, but only approx 1 in 3 years has 105 draws and there is never a situation with 105 draws in consecutive years.

mjm3346

I believe the lotto charge a monthly DD, possibly in this case £105 = £1260, if they charged you £104 per month that would be £1248 which would mean a shortfall 1 year in 3, your lotto account should reflect any credit you are in so the money is not lost.

TurnipHead

Hey all, thanks for explaining.

Of course you are correct. In the end I made a calendar in excel and coloured in all the game days just to demonstrate to myself what was going on! Should'a done that before posting I guess ... but I'm very grateful for your responses and time.

@mjm3346 - the lottery DD is not a fixed amount - they vary it as follows. Taking the money on a fixed date doesn't help my understanding as sometimes these days fall on the weekend - colouring in a calendar helps - at least in my case!!  

02/10/2024	£108.00		9
02/11/2024	£96.00		8
02/12/2024	£120.00		10
02/01/2025	£96.00		8
02/02/2025	£96.00		8
02/03/2025	£108.00		9
02/04/2025	£108.00		9
02/05/2025	£96.00		8
02/06/2025	£108.00		9
02/07/2025	£108.00		9
02/08/2025	£108.00		9
02/09/2025	£108.00		9

I couldn't work out how you get 10 games in one month (December) but that's because the first game in that £120 payment is for Saturday 30th November and the last game is on the 1st January.

Thanks again!