Maximize Your Odds: Choosing Winning Lotto Combinations from 1 to 58

[kiki_danc]

I bought 16 tickets recently and didn't even get 3 digits (out of 6) right.

The lotto is from 1 to 58. You choose 6 numbers. The prize is 12 million dollars.

How do you compute the probability to get 6 numbers out of 58 numbers?

Any tips what combinations to get? I chose many with numbers less than 10 and the recent lotto has 6 numbers between 20 and 58.

Also one can still buy tickets 15 minutes before the draw. Can't one use General Relativity to peek winning number 15 minutes into the future (since time is just a coordinate)?

Can you suggest good 6 numbers to bet (from 1 to 58) for this week? If I won 12 million dollars. I'd share 1 million dollars to the person who gave me the winning number. Lol!

 

[Dale]

How do you compute the probability to get 6 numbers out of 58 numbers?

Does the order matter and can the same number be used more than once?

Any tips what combinations to get?

Yes. Don’t get any. Stay away from it entirely. It is a waste of money.

Can't one use General Relativity to peek winning number 15 minutes into the future (since time is just a coordinate)?

No.

 

[Nik_2213]

IMHO, bandits, bingo, lotto, the ponies etc etc are a tax on the credulous.

YMMV.

 

[kiki_danc]

Does the order matter and can the same number be used more than once?

The order doesn't matter and same number can't be used. For example the latest result is:

24 - 35 - 56 - 38 - 28 - 42

12 million dollar prize no winner... I didn't even get three numbers right... i'll bet again tom... it's 1 to 58 numbers...

how do you compute the probability?

Yes. Don’t get any. Stay away from it entirely. It is a waste of money.

No.

 

[Dale]

how do you compute the probability?

The function to compute this is called the combination function:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combination

Here is an online calculator

https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/discretemathematics/combinations.php

For your lotto there are 40475358 combinations.

 

[kiki_danc]

The function to compute this is called the combination function:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combination

Here is an online calculator

https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/discretemathematics/combinations.php

For your lotto there are 40475358 combinations.

Each ticket costs about 40 cents.. so 40,475,358 combinations x 0.4 = 16,190,143 dollars ($16 million).. but then won't the prize be much higher from original of $12 million to say $20 million.. so if you buy all combinations.. won't you get at least 4 million dollars extra?

 

[Dale]

I don’t know the rules, but generally they are set up as a losing proposition. Meaning the more tickets you buy the more certainly you will lose money.

 

[kiki_danc]

I don’t know the rules, but generally they are set up as a losing proposition. Meaning the more tickets you buy the more certainly you will lose money.

What is the rule in your place? If you bet all combinations.. maybe the increase in prize would be in the next draw?

 

[jedishrfu]

Historically some people find flaws in the math and have managed to game the system to win big:

0) Robert Lustig's tips on winning the lottery:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012...r-how-to-win-powerball-jackpot_n_2203717.html

1) Stanford educated PhD statistician buys all her tickets from the same country store:

https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/...n-20-million-playing-over-over-for-years.html

2) Michigan couple find a math error in the lottery:

https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/...ng-over-over-for-55-weeks.html?utm_source=red

3) Romanian mathematician wins lottery 14 times:

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-one-guy-won-the-lottery-14-times-2016-1
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ian-hacked-system-stefan-mandel-a8527556.html

4) Statistics lecturer wins $100K:

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/sta...-lottery-shares-lottery-tip/story?id=43522064

5) BAD PROGRAMMER BAD: Insider information leads to convictions in Powerball lottery:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...mployee/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.76521048a24d

6) More historical greats for other games of chance:

https://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/15-brilliant-math-geeks-who-outsmarted-the-system/

7) LAWYER finds a way to game Life Insurance and eventually gets disbarred:

https://www.propublica.org/article/death-takes-a-policy-how-a-lawyer-exploited-the-fine-print

8) Waking Ned Devine, a great Irish movie and how villagers game the Irish National Lottery:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waking_Ned

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Intro...rature_and_Film/Irish_Film:_Waking_Ned_Devine

 

[kiki_danc]

There is another draw 12 hours from now. Prize is 13 million dollars. I feel discouraged to buy anymore when the chance is about 40,475,358 combinations. In spite of it. Does anyone among you still buy lotto tickets? And why would you do that?

 

[jedishrfu]

You can’t win if you don’t play.

 

[kiki_danc]

If I use combination of say 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 or 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20... how is this chance compared to random like 24 - 35 - 56 - 38 - 28 - 42 (for 6 out of 58 combinations without duplicate and in any order)?

 

[jedishrfu]

Your chances are the same no matter what you choose in a fair game.

 

[kiki_danc]

Is there any powerball (or lotto results anywhere worldwide) where the winning numbers were consecutive numbers like 11-12 -13 -14 -15 -16? Date of the draw and place?

 

[jedishrfu]

I'm sure there's some lottery somewhere where the numbers lined up to something meaningful at the time. We can't know this however unless we can view the records of that particular lottery.

One thing though is that people might look suspiciously at such a lottery wondering if it wasn't fixed.

 

[jedishrfu]

Since the OP has gotten pretty much all they can from this thread, I think its time to close it.

Thanks to all who have contributed here.

Jedi