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To: BlueMondaySkipper
The odds of winning have absolutely ZERO to do with how many people are playing. It's all based the odds of picking the right numbers, which would be exactly the same if yours was the only ticket purchased.

Except for the fact that sometimes more than one person picks the same winning numbers and the pot is split. The odds of that happening increases when more people play. Using your extreme example, the odds of you splitting a winning ticket when you are the only player is zero. The odds of you splitting a winning ticket increase with every increase in the number of players.

198 posted on 02/17/2006 11:36:55 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: FreedomCalls; BlueMondaySkipper

>>The odds of winning have absolutely ZERO to do with how many people are playing. It's all based the odds of picking the right numbers, which would be exactly the same if yours was the only ticket purchased.

>Except for the fact that sometimes more than one person picks the same winning numbers and the pot is split. The odds of that happening increases when more people play. Using your extreme example, the odds of you splitting a winning ticket when you are the only player is zero. The odds of you splitting a winning ticket increase with every increase in the number of players.

BlueMondaySkipper explained it very well. The odds of winning are not related on the number of people playing (ie, the number of tickets sold.) The odds of guessing all the numbers remain the same irrespective of the number of tickets betting. Also whatever numbers came out in prior drawing is irrelevant because lotteries are known as independent events, ie, current outcomes are not based on prior outcomes.


199 posted on 02/17/2006 11:44:13 PM PST by TheBrotherhood (Tancredo for President.)
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