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PSA: Megamillions won by some lucky people in MD, Kansas, Illiinois

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homercles337 said:
What a sad reflection on our society when a 1 in 1e+2^256 gamble garners such attention. I do not want to live in this country anymore.
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I find it more pathetic that it's even possible for welfare recipients to use their EBT cards to buy these lotto tickets.

Bet if they won they'd still be able to receive benefits for a long period too.
 
I was going to buy $5 worth of quick picks on the way home today but every 7 eleven and gas station i passed had a long line of people inside. No thanks.

EDIT: Nightly news just mentioned that theres no jackpot winner in California... 29 people did get 5 numbers.
 
With the jackpot odds at 1 in 176 million, it would cost $176 million to buy up every combination. Under that scenario, the strategy would win $171 million less if your state also withholds taxes.
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Why do people fail at math? There are 21 billion combinations of numbers. 56*55*54*53*52*46 = ~21 billion, not 176 million.
 
drebo said:
Why do people fail at math? There are 21 billion combinations of numbers. 56*55*54*53*52*46 = ~21 billion, not 176 million.
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Speaking of someone who fails at math..... LOL

it's 56! / 6!*(56-6)!

if it's pick 6 numbers out of 56

but megamillions is more complicated than that, you have to match the bonus number to win the jackpot, and that's 1 out of 46 numbers and not 56, so that complicates the math. Suffice it to say they know how to calculate the odds and 1 in 176 million sounds about right.

Players may pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers - five different numbers from 1 to 56 and one number from 1 to 46 - or select Easy Pick. You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing.
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disappoint said:
Speaking of someone who fails at math..... LOL
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There are 5 numbers which are non-repeating and can be any number from 1 to 56. Then there is a 6th number which can be any number from 1 to 46.

That means that the total number of combinations is equal to 56*55*54*53*52*46...which is ~21 billion.

Unless, of course, the order in which the numbers appear is unimportant...which the megamillions site does not clarify and which I wouldn't know as I've never played the lottery.

If that's the case, you've got 56*55*54*53*52*46/120, which is ~176 million, so I guess that'd be why those are the odds. Seems an aweful round-about way to wind up at that rule...they could just state that on the "How to Play" page...it'd be a lot easier.
 
drebo said:
There are 5 numbers which are non-repeating and can be any number from 1 to 56. Then there is a 6th number which can be any number from 1 to 46.

That means that the total number of combinations is equal to 56*55*54*53*52*46...which is ~21 billion.

Unless, of course, the order in which the numbers appear is unimportant...which the megamillions site does not clarify and which I wouldn't know as I've never played the lottery.

If that's the case, you've got 56*55*54*53*52*46/120, which is ~176 million, so I guess that'd be why those are the odds. Seems an aweful round-about way to wind up at that rule...they could just state that on the "How to Play" page...it'd be a lot easier.
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You're like the 20th+ person I've seen come into a lotto thread acting all badass and trying to show how smart you are with numbers basically just going "blah blah, the odds are this! blah blah I don't play the lotto and don't know the rules".
 
Schfifty Five said:
You're like the 20th+ person I've seen come into a lotto thread acting all badass and trying to show how smart you are with numbers basically just going "blah blah, the odds are this! blah blah I don't play the lotto and don't know the rules".
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Well, I wouldn't have had that problem if they'd put that simple rule on their webpage.

As it is, it isn't specified one way or the other anywhere on their site. I shouldn't need to be a statistician in order to be able to learn the rules.
 
I didn't win, however oddly enough out of the blue my mother did get a call from Ross Perot tonight. Something about an affair when my mother was only 17, a pregnancy, and his asking about the male child. Then, something about Ross re-writing his will.
I couldn't hear the whole conversation, but what I was able to hear sounded promising.
(Fingers crossed !!!)


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homercles337 said:
What a sad reflection on our society when a 1 in 1e+2^256 gamble garners such attention. I do not want to live in this country anymore.
Click to expand...

🙄

Then be sure to avoid all of the following countries as they have lotteries which would garner at least as much attention for a prize of this size regardless of the odds.

Kenya
South Africa
Mauritius
Argentina
Barbados
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Colombia
Chile
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Honduras
Mexico
China
Hong Kong
Israel
Japan
Lebanon
Macau
Malaysia
Mongolia
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Vietnam
Australia
New Zealand
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Channel Islands
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Macedonia
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Slovenia
Spain
Ukraine
United Kingdom
 
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