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Seagull58

In the Algarve
Jan 31, 2012
7,505
Vilamoura, Portugal
There's one small caveat in the "two tickets double your chances of winning" thing, and that is that the tickets must have different numbers on them. If, say, you bought 2 lucky dips and they both drew the same numbers, then your chances of winning are still 1 in 120m.

(In this scenario you would, however, win a greater share of the winning prize if others also had winning tickets.)

In the case of a 6 number lottery only 1 number needs to be different on the two tickets for the odds against winning to halve. Only if all 6 numbers are the same do the odds remain unchanged.
 


hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
61,633
Chandlers Ford
60,000 tickets are sold each week in the Lotto with the same combination 1,2,3,4,5,6.....if they came in there would utter joy across the nation, for an hour, until they were all told they had won two bob each

Is that for real? ha.
 




EDS

Banned
Nov 11, 2012
2,040
This is rubbish. Each ticket has the same odds but you now have 2 tickets so your odds have halved. Stop digging!

Absolute shite. If I buy two tickets for the lottery the odds of me winning do not suddenly become 7 million/1? so how do I halve them odds again?
 






EDS

Banned
Nov 11, 2012
2,040
I'm afraid your logic is also rather flawed. Buying a second ticket does indeed halve the odds of winning but buying a third ticket does not halve the odds again. You have to add the odds not multiply them. Buying 3 tickets gives you 3/120 = 1/40, buying 4 tickets gives you 4/120 = 1/30, buying 7 tickets gives you 7/120 = 5.833333333% chance of winning. Join the dunces club.

Are you sure of that, genuine question
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
60,062
The Fatherland
But odds as quoted by a bookmaker are a measure of how much money you will obtain if an event occurs, rather than the probability that the event will occur, which is the use of the term 'odds' in probability theory.

True. I'm not sure of your point though.

My point is that odds can be used in the context which Eaglesdestroyseagulls used it, as well as by bookmakers. Unless I missed something El Pres alluded to the fact they could not and that Eagles was getting confused.
 




Seagull58

In the Algarve
Jan 31, 2012
7,505
Vilamoura, Portugal
Absolute shite. If I buy two tickets for the lottery the odds of me winning do not suddenly become 7 million/1? so how do I halve them odds again?

Yes, they do. To halve the odds again to 3.5 million to 1 you have to buy another 2 tickets. To halve the odds again to 1.75 million to 1 you have to buy another 4 tickets, so 8 tickets in total. To halve the odds again to 0.875 million to 1 you have to buy another 8 tickets, so 16 in total. Do you get it yet? At this point you have 16 chances in 14 million or 1 chance in 0.875 million. Keep up at the back!
 




jgmcdee

New member
Mar 25, 2012
931
Absolute shite. If I buy two tickets for the lottery the odds of me winning do not suddenly become 7 million/1? so how do I halve them odds again?

Out of curiosity, and in a vague attempt to bring this thread to some sort of conclusion, what do you think the odds become if you have two tickets in this situation?
 




EDS

Banned
Nov 11, 2012
2,040
Yes, they do. To halve the odds again to 3.5 million to 1 you have to buy another 2 tickets. To halve the odds again to 1.75 million to 1 you have to buy another 4 tickets, so 8 tickets in total. To halve the odds again to 0.875 million to 1 you have to buy another 8 tickets, so 16 in total. Do you get it yet? At this point you have 16 chances in 14 million or 1 chance in 0.875 million. Keep up at the back!

Yes I get it, I also know that 7 into 120 is 17.14
 




EDS

Banned
Nov 11, 2012
2,040
Out of curiosity, and in a vague attempt to bring this thread to some sort of conclusion, what do you think the odds become if you have two tickets in this situation?

I believe I have two chances of winning the lottery at 14m/1 I do not believe I now have a 1/7m chance of winning it
 










jgmcdee

New member
Mar 25, 2012
931
I believe I have two chances of winning the lottery at 14m/1 I do not believe I now have a 1/7m chance of winning it

Okay, so some basic probability.

Your probability of a successful outcome is (number of successful outcomes)/(number of possible outcomes).

If you have one ticket then your probability of a successful outcome is 1/14,000,000.

If you have two tickets then your probability of a successful outcome is 2/14,000,000. Which is twice as much as if you have one ticket.

Happy now?

(As has been mentioned previously, this assumes that you don't have the same numbers on both tickets).
 




EDS

Banned
Nov 11, 2012
2,040
Okay let me get this straight then! If I have one ticket then my odds are 14,000000/1. If I have two tickets my odds are 7,000000/1. Seagull58 said that when I double the amount of tickets again the odds half so four tickets 3,500000/1, eight tickets 1,750000/1...and so on and so forth, is that correct?
 


jgmcdee

New member
Mar 25, 2012
931
Okay let me get this straight then! If I have one ticket then my odds are 14,000000/1. If I have two tickets my odds are 7,000000/1. Seagull58 said that when I double the amount of tickets again the odds half so four tickets 3,500000/1, eight tickets 1,750000/1...and so on and so forth, is that correct?

Yes, although you might be better off leaving your number of possible outcomes the same when writing the odds (so 14,000,000:4 rather than 3,500,000:1); same resultant number but easier to read to yourself as "this many outcomes, that many chances of winning".
 


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