is it too expensive to play Lotto ?

prinzeugen · 02-05-2016 1:12am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I play the Irish lotto but not the Euromillions.

At least with the Irish lotto you know that some of the money you are spending is at least going to some good cause and you also have a chance at winning money, win/win.

I am the opposite. Stopped doing the Irish lotto last year as I am sure its fixed.

You always get 2 or 3 numbers the same being drawn across the 3 draws. For example, two numbers, 14 and 34 were drawn twice on Sat. Look back at other draws and its the same.

Some mathematical egghead in the pub worked out that the chances of that happening every draw are greater than the odds of winning the jackpot!

Win something on the EuroMillions regularly. More than I ever got on the Irish lottery.

byronbay2 · 02-05-2016 1:35am

wush06 wrote: »

Been doing €60 a week for the last 15 years a syndicate of 6 of us. The biggest win was about 300 punt may moons ago.

Richard Hillman wrote: »

That is over 150k. You could have gotten yourselves a female horse and have it covered with greatest horse of all time.

I think you need to check your sums there, Mr. Hillman. :rolleyes:

The Randy Riverbeast · 02-05-2016 2:40am

prinzeugen wrote: »

I am the opposite. Stopped doing the Irish lotto last year as I am sure its fixed.

You always get 2 or 3 numbers the same being drawn across the 3 draws. For example, two numbers, 14 and 34 were drawn twice on Sat. Look back at other draws and its the same.

Some mathematical egghead in the pub worked out that the chances of that happening every draw are greater than the odds of winning the jackpot!

Win something on the EuroMillions regularly. More than I ever got on the Irish lottery.

Not quite, each draw is independent of each other. The chances of the draw being 1,2,3,4,5 for two weeks in a row have the same chance of 1,2,3,4,5 and 7,21,22,18,34 or 1,2,3,4,6 so while it looks like there's very little chance of it happening, it is as likely as any other option.

prinzeugen · 02-05-2016 2:50am

The Randy Riverbeast wrote: »

Not quite, each draw is independent of each other. The chances of the draw being 1,2,3,4,5 for two weeks in a row have the same chance of 1,2,3,4,5 and 7,21,22,18,34 or 1,2,3,4,6 so while it looks like there's very little chance of it happening, it is as likely as any other option.

That maybe so but its almost every Wed and Sat...

JackieBauer · 02-05-2016 3:49am

Too dear, I don't play it anymore. Fiver a ticket? Forget it

Ally Dick · 02-05-2016 12:37pm

Someone once said that if you picked 1,2,3,4,5,6 as your numbers, you would be sharing the jackpot with hundreds of others, if they ever came up !

Fighting Irish · 02-05-2016 1:41pm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Do you reckon its too expensive now these days to play Lotto at €4 minimum for play? - I personally think it is .

I think if they introduced a one line for €1 or €1.50 but with a maximum of a Million Euro Jackpot I would be inclined to do it regularly rather than the way it is now, thats why I personally hardly ever play it and certainly not every week like some people.

When I settled in Ireland in the 90's it was £1 irish punts to play, I know you got to factor inflation and larger prizes and everything but €4 is no longer attractive to me whereas before when it was £1 we either done the lotto once or twice a week.

Daily millions

Pete123456 · 02-05-2016 1:55pm

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Daily millions

And now its TWICE a day. 2pm and 9pm. one euro, one line, one million...

utter sh!te... the higest prize won last night was 25 quid. It was won by 48 people who matched 4 numbers. TOTAL number of prizes last night was 682! You can be sure there were thousands of tickets/lines sold around the country.

Aside from the odd 3 quid i see when i check customer's tickets, there's feck all being won on the daily. There was a million won here the first or second draw when it was launched and since then barely anything. Its a joke of a game.

02-05-2016 1:57pm

keeponhurling wrote: »

You get much better odds in the bookies, for all except the jackpot

If you pick 3 from the 6 numbers drawn the current odds are 600/ 1.

What do you get for 3 on the lottery, scratch card?

Pete123456 · 02-05-2016 2:02pm

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

If you pick 3 from the 6 numbers drawn the current odds are 600/ 1.

What do you get for 3 on the lottery, scratch card?

Dont think thats right though... if you think about it, youre only picking 3 in the bookies and you have to match 3. if you do a line on the lotto you have 6 numbers to match 3 from. That surely lowers the chances

I think you get between €9-12 (depending) now for 3. you get the €3 scratchcard if you have 2 and the bonus ever since they added in the new numbers.

02-05-2016 2:08pm

No, if you get 3 out of the six numbers drawn (doesn't matter about order) you would get €601 for €1 stake)

If you choose out of 7 numbers, odds are 329/1

twowheelsonly · 02-05-2016 2:17pm

darkpagandeath wrote: »

More chance of being mauled by a great white shark.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Statistically you might be better off investing in shark repellent.

There's a few hundred people around the country (700+ millionaires AFAIK) in nice houses driving nice cars that are glad they didn't put their money into that repellent I reckon.
If you don't go in the water you won't get bitten by a shark, if you don't do the lotto you won't win it making the odds of either of those things happening to you statistically identical.

Statistics mean jack-sh*t really.

mansize wrote: »

What's the statistical probability of knowing one?

I definitely know 3 personally, probably a couple of 'quiet ones' as well I'd say..

Sam Kade · 02-05-2016 2:28pm

twowheelsonly wrote: »

There's a few hundred people around the country (700+ millionaires AFAIK) in nice houses driving nice cars that are glad they didn't put their money into that repellent I reckon.
If you don't go in the water you won't get bitten by a shark, if you don't do the lotto you won't win it making the odds of either of those things happening to you statistically identical.

Statistics mean jack-sh*t really.

I definitely know 3 personally, probably a couple of 'quiet ones' as well I'd say..

I know 2 people and another related to a neighbour that won.

It's jack Schitt

ofcork · 02-05-2016 2:54pm

Some weeks if i dont do either lotto or euros i think that would be the time id have one it!

Arrow in the Knee · 02-05-2016 4:19pm

I used to do the Irish Lotto whenever the Jackpot was around 4 million euro but since the price increase and 2 extra balls I haven't done it since.

Is there any statistics about how many are doing the Irish Lotto since the changes?

The Randy Riverbeast · 02-05-2016 4:37pm

Ally Dick wrote: »

Someone once said that if you picked 1,2,3,4,5,6 as your numbers, you would be sharing the jackpot with hundreds of others, if they ever came up !

Yup, people tend to pick certain patterns like 1-6 or birthdays. If a pattern is common it is as likely to win as any other combination but it is also more likely that another person has also chosen it so in the case where you did win it would be split.

Humans love patterns, its why we notice things like 13,14 coming up often but if someone actually analysed the results they would see it isn't as often as you thought. I should start up a business selling optimised lotto numbers.

Baron Kurtz · 02-05-2016 4:38pm

mansize wrote: »

Gob****e tax!

A tax, is it? Said like all must pay it.

mahoganygas · 02-05-2016 4:53pm

prinzeugen wrote: »

I am the opposite. Stopped doing the Irish lotto last year as I am sure its fixed.

You always get 2 or 3 numbers the same being drawn across the 3 draws. For example, two numbers, 14 and 34 were drawn twice on Sat. Look back at other draws and its the same.

Some mathematical egghead in the pub worked out that the chances of that happening every draw are greater than the odds of winning the jackpot!

Win something on the EuroMillions regularly. More than I ever got on the Irish lottery.

You had me right up until this point.

mahoganygas · 02-05-2016 4:57pm

I stopped doing the lotto and now do it in the bookies.

€4 stake on 2 numbers. Return: €164
€1 stake on 4 numbers. Return: €3,801

Tzardine · 03-05-2016 4:58pm

mahoganygas wrote: »

I stopped doing the lotto and now do it in the bookies.

€4 stake on 2 numbers. Return: €164
€1 stake on 4 numbers. Return: €3,801

What does a €4 stake on six numbers win.

I doubt it's in the millions.

prinzeugen · 04-05-2016 12:24am

mahoganygas wrote: »

You had me right up until this point.

The guy is at Trinity College and could do sums to get a rocket to space on the back of a fag packet..

The Sidewards Man · 04-05-2016 12:39am

Arrow in the Knee wrote: »

I used to do the Irish Lotto whenever the Jackpot was around 4 million euro but since the price increase and 2 extra balls I haven't done it since.

Is there any statistics about how many are doing the Irish Lotto since the changes?

We need a link on this, I feel a link could prove difficult.

B.A._Baracus · 04-05-2016 2:29am

The lotto is getting a bit expensive. But what really grinds my gears (yes peter griffen joke :pac: ) are the people who say 'the lotto is for idiots'

I just don't get that statement. I mean come on, everyone knows the odds. But you just play it with the chance. But there is one certain fact out there in this world and that's anyone who's won big money wouldnt have if they didnt play.

So play what you can. Only costs a couple of euro for a ticket. However of course, should the price of a ticket be 10 euro in a couple of years then they can feck off :pac:

shocksy · 04-05-2016 3:05am

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

So play what you can. Only costs a couple of euro for a ticket. However of course, should the price of a ticket be 10 euro in a couple of years then they can feck off :pac:

It costs €5, so not exactly a couple of euro.

B.A._Baracus · 04-05-2016 3:08am

shocksy wrote: »

It costs €5, so not exactly a couple of euro.

This a wind up or are you serious? :pac:
Sorry cause I just dont know. I mean if I had 5 apples you could say I had a couple of apples right?

mansize · 04-05-2016 3:18am

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

A tax, is it? Said like all must pay it.

Gob****es do!

Badly Drunk Boy · 04-05-2016 7:15am

dxhound2005 wrote: »

In the UK you get only £15 for five numbers. You get three times as much for matching four. Weird, isn't it?

https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/results/lotto/draw-history/prize-breakdown/2113

That was an aberration. I checked the draw after the example you gave, and matching 5 got over 10 times matching 4. The draw after that, it was 8.5 times more for 5 numbers.

smash · 04-05-2016 7:38am

I see the lotto now have 2 daily millions games. So also considering the Euromillions and the lotto plus games, this brings the lotto games to 26 draws a week?

ArtyC · 04-05-2016 8:05am

Pete123456 wrote: »

Dont think thats right though... if you think about it, youre only picking 3 in the bookies and you have to match 3. if you do a line on the lotto you have 6 numbers to match 3 from. That surely lowers the chances

I think you get between €9-12 (depending) now for 3. you get the €3 scratchcard if you have 2 and the bonus ever since they added in the new numbers.

You can do multiple bets on lotto numbers in the bookies. I've won a nice few quid from that without spending much. Odds on euromillions being the best as its 5 numbers drawn from 50. Never do it in the shop

04-05-2016 9:24am

Pete123456 wrote: »

Dont think thats right though... if you think about it, youre only picking 3 in the bookies and you have to match 3. if you do a line on the lotto you have 6 numbers to match 3 from. That surely lowers the chances

I think you get between €9-12 (depending) now for 3. you get the €3 scratchcard if you have 2 and the bonus ever since they added in the new numbers.

I read your post correctly this time

You're right, in the lotto you pick 6 numbers to get the 3 from but in the bookies, you just choose 3. Still a nice return though for just one euro.

Euro millions odds are 1500/1 for 3 numbers. I've seen that win for the same person a couple of times.

Deise Vu · 04-05-2016 9:26am

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

That was an aberration. I checked the draw after the example you gave, and matching 5 got over 10 times matching 4. The draw after that, it was 8.5 times more for 5 numbers.

On a similar point the Euro Millions has some strange prize allocations. Last night match 4 + 2 lucky stars paid €2,521 for one number off the jackpot! Yet match 5 with no stars paid €51k. I make the odds on the former about 2.5m to 1 and on the latter about 2.1m to 1 (with a payout 25 times higher!!).

Then there was a very nice €1,073m for matching 5 + 1 star. That is 20 times higher than match 5 when the odds are only 5.5 times higher (11 stars with 2 chances to get them right).

The bottom line I suppose is that people are paying a small amount to dream big. I even fall for it myself. I have a sneaky online account, you get an email when you win. I was full sure for about 10 mins that I had won €88m once!

Permabear · 04-05-2016 10:34am

This post has been deleted.

flutered · 04-05-2016 10:46am

shocksy wrote: »

It costs €5, so not exactly a couple of euro.

get a large jar, pretend you are doing the lotto twice weekly, put a fiver in each time, christmas sorted

MarcoAntonio23 · 04-05-2016 11:29am

1 in 10,000,000 odds to win

Deise Vu · 04-05-2016 1:15pm

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

It has been a long time since I did probability but I thought the odds on getting 5 numbers out of 50 would be 50/5 X 49/4 X 48/3 X 47/2 X 46 which is 2,118,760. The odds on getting four numbers plus two stars would be the same as the first four above and substituting 46 for 11/2 X 10 which is 55 giving odds of 2,533,300.

TLDR the odds on getting the fifth number are 46 to one, the odds on matching two stars are 55 to one so the odds on matching 4+2 must be higher than the odds of matching 5.

I'm going to have nightmares about doing the Leaving tonight now!

astrofool · 04-05-2016 1:33pm

It's priced at the right level that enough people pay to generate jackpots big enough, pay the charity they have to, and earn themselves a nice profit.

There's no such thing as too expensive or too cheap, they could increase it to 90 balls and 10c per line (http://www.smartluck.com/odds-of-winning-lotto-games.htm) but they'd probably lose money in administration overhead.

If you do the lotto, be sure to pick random numbers, not numbers that other people use (1-6, multiples of 7) otherwise, if you do win, you'll divide the jackpot with lots of other stupid people.

04-05-2016 4:38pm

1 in 10,737,573 odds to win - so if you played 2 lines, twice a week, 50 weeks a year, live for another 50 years,

that is 1 in 1,073.7 chance of winning the jackpot during your life at current odds. Cost: 25 grand! Granted, you would make some of it back on the smaller prizes, and you also have the same chance of winning either the plus 1 or plus 2 jackpots, but I think I'd rather keep the 25 grand and stand no chance of ever winning the lotto or the smaller prizes. So to recap: the odds of winning either the main jackpot, plus 1 or plus 2 jackpots at some stage over the next 50 years if you spend 10 euro a week for 50 weeks a year, and shelling out the equivalent of 25 grand, is still only about 358/1 ....
I suppose though if you spend only 5% of that amount by doing it 5% as often (eg. when the jackpot is really high) then it might be worth the 1,250 euro you spend over your lifetime, giving you odds of winning a big prize of 7,160 to 1 and something to dream about ...

smash · 04-05-2016 4:42pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

1 in 10,737,573 odds to win - so if you played 2 lines, twice a week, 50 weeks a year, live for another 50 years, that is 1 in 1,073.7 chance of winning the jackpot during your life at current odds.

No you wouldn't!

Maximus Alexander · 04-05-2016 4:50pm

Deleted User wrote: »

1 in 10,737,573 odds to win - so if you played 2 lines, twice a week, 50 weeks a year, live for another 50 years,

that is 1 in 1,073.7 chance of winning the jackpot during your life at current odds. Cost: 25 grand!

That's not correct. Those are your odds if you spent that 25 grand on a single draw.

Your odds of ever winning by playing two lines twice a week are much, much longer.

04-05-2016 4:53pm

Yo

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

1 in 10,737,573 odds to win - so if you played 2 lines, twice a week, 50 weeks a year, live for another 50 years,

that is 1 in 1,073.7 chance of winning the jackpot during your life at current odds. Cost: 25 grand!

That's not correct. Those are your odds if you spent that 25 grand on a single draw.

Your odds of ever winning by playing two lines twice a week are much, much longer.

Yeah I was going to put in a disclaimer saying that that might not be how probability theory works!

smash · 04-05-2016 4:54pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Yo

Yeah I was going to put in a disclaimer saying that that might not be how probability theory works!

Would you like to join my pyramid scheme?

04-05-2016 4:55pm

smash wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

Yo

Yeah I was going to put in a disclaimer saying that that might not be how probability theory works!

Would you like to join my pyramid scheme?

I'll have you know my model is known as the "Trapazoid" and guarantees all of you an 800% risk free return .....

miezekatze · 04-05-2016 5:05pm

I don't play it that regularly and when I do I never win anything. I agree that it's too expensive. Not sure why you have to do a minimum of two lines for the normal lotto? It would be more affordable to be able to do just one. Euromillions is more affordable for that reason.

Iwasfrozen · 04-05-2016 5:14pm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Do you reckon its too expensive now these days to play Lotto at €4 minimum for play? - I personally think it is .

I think if they introduced a one line for €1 or €1.50 but with a maximum of a Million Euro Jackpot I would be inclined to do it regularly rather than the way it is now, thats why I personally hardly ever play it and certainly not every week like some people.

When I settled in Ireland in the 90's it was £1 irish punts to play, I know you got to factor inflation and larger prizes and everything but €4 is no longer attractive to me whereas before when it was £1 we either done the lotto once or twice a week.

Stop paying the poor people tax. Problem solved.

smash · 04-05-2016 5:25pm

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Stop paying the poor people tax. Problem solved.

Stop being so in-pc. It's the vulnerable in society tax!

Wheety · 04-05-2016 7:12pm

I thought the Daily Millions was only 36 numbers? 39 is ridiculous for an extra game.

Now there are 2 draws? It really is just praying on the vulnerable and addicted in the society. I play occasional but I imagine the only people who play Daily Millions twice a day can't really afford to.

Fighting Irish · 07-05-2016 2:53pm

Pete123456 wrote: »

And now its TWICE a day. 2pm and 9pm. one euro, one line, one million...

utter sh!te... the higest prize won last night was 25 quid. It was won by 48 people who matched 4 numbers. TOTAL number of prizes last night was 682! You can be sure there were thousands of tickets/lines sold around the country.

Aside from the odd 3 quid i see when i check customer's tickets, there's feck all being won on the daily. There was a million won here the first or second draw when it was launched and since then barely anything. Its a joke of a game.

Maybe because people don't play daily millions as much as the normal wed/sat lotto draws?
Also, the daily millions is better than the normal draws, price and odds wise

racso1975 · 07-05-2016 3:02pm

I just play in the bookies now .10c a line so if i was to pay the 5 euro i obviously get 50 attempts

odds are

40000/1 for 5 from 7
3800/1 for 4 from 7
375 for 3 from 7
38/1 2 from 7

I always do it from 7. while the odds are from 6 numbers the one time i did it my 4th number was the bonus :mad:

Shergar6 · 08-05-2016 1:01pm

It does add up but woman down the road from me won the big jackpot years ago and my aunt is after winning 2k on the euromillions - Twice!

barney4001 · 02-06-2016 9:25am

I am beginning to wonder it the daily million is fixed like some of those lotteries run by various clubs round the country, and it has had so many breakdown of machines and this 8 million debacle about it still not being paid ,never any problems like this with An Post when they were running the lottery

is it too expensive to play Lotto ?

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