READER Val Barnes enjoyed the recent piece about the Lottery but raised a question.
“I don’t do the lottery because of the very odds you mention,” she says. “I was interested to read, though, that you say the odds of winning don’t increase with the more lines you buy.
“Let’s say you bought 14 million lines, then you would have a better chance, but may end up with prizes totalling only £2m! Just a thought.”
The odds of winning the UK Lottery are 14 million to one. If you covered every combination of numbers you would win the jackpot but you would have spent £14m and your return might well be as low as £2m.
Less if you had to share it.
The numbers chosen are random. This means last week’s winning jackpot line is just as likely to be redrawn as any other combination. It also means that if you buy 10 tickets, each ticket has exactly the same odds of winning – 14 million to one. You just have more chances at the same odds.
As Val says: “They say you are more likely to die while watching the Lottery results on TV than actually winning it.”
Doesn’t stop people dreaming, though.
