12
$\begingroup$

If I had 10 dollars to spend on a 1 dollar lottery draw, would I have more chance of winning if I spent all 10 dollars in one draw or bought 1 dollar tickets for 10 separate draws?

Edit: in terms of lottery definition, you pick 6 numbers from a pool of 49 numbers (1-49), that is classed as one lottery ticket. So each 1 dollar represents a selection of 6 numbers. Across multiple tickets you can pick the same numbers as appear on your previous tickets. If you are familiar with EuroMillions or UK Lotto, it's that kind of lottery.

http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/lotterydrawgames/lotto.ftl

Edit 2:

Let me re-phrase the question. The probability of winning the jackpot in the lottery is 1 in 13,983,816.

Would buying 10 tickets for one draw change those odds to 10 in 13,983,816 ? and if so is that better than playing in 10 different draws at 1 in 13,983,816 odds each?

  • 1
    Please define "more chance of winning".2012-03-19
  • 1
    Both current answers assume a certain type of lottery and aren't applicable to [other kinds of lotteries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_6_(lottery)), so you might want to specify what sort of lottery you were thinking of.2012-03-19
  • 18
    It would be better if you just gave me the \$10, and I get us a couple beers. You'd end up with the same loss (\$10), but we'd both have beer.2012-03-19
  • 0
    don't worry, I already bought myself two beers. this is purely out of curiosity, I don't think it would be fair of me to try and win the jackpot for a second time...2012-03-19
  • 4
    URL ends with "Lotto For The Loss". Quite apropos.2012-03-20
  • 0
    I have one certain: You will lost your money anyway...2012-03-20
  • 2
    I'm always amazed at the irony of the lottery providing state education funding...2012-11-29
  • 0
    @jshin47 http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Improbable_things_happen2012-11-29
  • 0
    @tacos_tacos_tacos Yes, clearly it's not working. At least not the statistical part of their education.2014-07-16

7 Answers 7