{"id":11349,"date":"2024-04-16T07:16:13","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T12:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/?p=11349"},"modified":"2024-04-17T04:19:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T09:19:41","slug":"why-people-play-the-lottery-despite-terrible-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/why-people-play-the-lottery-despite-terrible-odds\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are The Odds of Winning The Lottery & Why Do People Still Do It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The odds of winning the top prize in some of the most popular lotteries range from 1 in 302,575,350<\/strong> to 1 in 13,983,816<\/strong>. <\/strong>Or in other words, very close to zero. And yet, it is still one of the most popular and respected games of chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, you will see what the odds of winning the lottery are, why they are so low<\/a>, whether you can increase them<\/a> (and how), as well as why people continue to play<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Are The Odds Of Winning The Lottery?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The odds of winning the lottery depend on each lottery design, but are usually one in millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The probability of winning a prize in a given lottery is the ratio between the number of combinations eligible for that prize, and the total number of possible combinations from all of the lottery numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most of the lotteries, winning the highest prize or the jackpot assumes hitting all the numbers in the draw, which forms one single combination. Therefore, the probability of winning the top prize is usually the easiest to work out: it is one in the total number of possible combinations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In math terms, the odds of winning a prize in a lottery is a “combinatorial probability”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost all state lotteries actually display odds charts on their sites. But for now, let\u2019s see what the odds of winning three of the most popular lotteries are: 6 from 49, Mega Millions, and Powerball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odds Of Winning The 6 From 49 Lottery: 1 in 13,983,816<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In this lottery, 6 numbers are drawn from 49, and a line to play consists of six numbers. To win the top prize, a player must hit all the six numbers in their line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the number of all possible number combinations is 13,983,816, the probability of winning the top prize with one played line is 1 in 13,983,816. This latter number is nearly the population of Rwanda.<\/strong> Winning the top prize is like picking one given person in this population blind-folded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the second category of prizes (five numbers hit out of six) the probability changes to 1 in 54,201, which is still very low. This is the equivalent to being randomly picked from the crowd of a full and large stadium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the third category of prizes (four numbers hit out of six), the probability is 1 in 1,032. Comparing to the previous ones, it may seem a decent probability, but it’s actually still low \u2013 it\u2019s like someone opening the Miriam-Webster dictionary for you, and you correctly guessing the page they opened it to, without seeing the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odds Of Winning The Mega Millions Lottery: 1 in 302,575,350<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the Mega Millions lottery<\/a>, the numbers are drawn from two separate pools \u2013 five numbers from 1 to 70 (the white balls) and one number from 1 to 25 (the gold Mega Ball). You win the jackpot if you hit all six numbers drawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The white numbers can be combined in 12,103,014 different ways. Multiplying this number with 25 (the number of possibilities for the gold ball), we get 302,575,350 possible number combinations for the entire draw – an astronomical number! In kilometers, this is almost twice the distance from the Earth to the Sun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The probability of winning the jackpot is very close to zero: 1 in 302,575,350. If we write this fraction as a decimal number, we can see eight zeroes after the decimal point: 0.000000003304961.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The odds for the next categories of prizes are much higher than for the jackpot, but still very low: <\/p>\n\n\n\n