£125,000,000

[John Self]

You know people say "oh, well you have more chance of being struck by lightning seven times than you do of winning the national lottery" - seeing as usually at least one person wins the lottery each week, does this mean that more than one person each week is struck by lightning for the seventh time in their lives? Otherwise it's just a false statistic.

I think that people who say that lightning thing are actually saying (subtext like), "People who buy lottery tickets are soooo thick -in fact I think it's a 'tax on the stupid', ho ho, nifty turn of phrase there eh- that I hope they die: REPEATEDLY". They're just bitter and jealous that other people have got the optimism and the, well, gumption to just go out there and bloody well get themselves a ticket.


At least, I know that that's what I mean when I say it.

[Dark Sky]

Hooray! I was going to post that a few minutes after I saw Frinky's post, but I thought "Frinky might think I was having a go at him if I post that; someone else is bound to do it, anyway.". gazzyk1ns wins!

I've been used!!!

[Hypnotoad.]

You know people say "oh, well you have more chance of being struck by lightning seven times than you do of winning the national lottery" - seeing as usually at least one person wins the lottery each week, does this mean that more than one person each week is struck by lightning for the seventh time in their lives? Otherwise it's just a false statistic.

I think that people who say that lightning thing are actually saying (subtext like), "People who buy lottery tickets are soooo thick -in fact I think it's a 'tax on the stupid', ho ho, nifty turn of phrase there eh- that I hope they die: REPEATEDLY". They're just bitter and jealous that other people have got the optimism and the, well, gumption to just go out there and bloody well get themselves a ticket.


At least, I know that that's what I mean when I say it.

What a load of bollocks, it would take 30 seconds to buy a ticket on t'internet, requires no effort at all. And buying a lottery ticket does not make you an optimist

Try a smarter way of making money through gambling, such as poker

[John Self]

How do you buy a ticket on the internet though? It'd take a credit card wouldn't it? Well I -like loads of people- don't have one, cos I'm dolescum. And loads of people don't have the internet. (I'd say a lot of lottery ticket buyers fall into either or both groups here.)

Anyway, yeah, you're right, buying one doesn't make you an optimist. I've only ever brought two tickets for it -one the first week they had it, one for that first double rollover the whole country went spazzy over- and neither time did it turn me into an optimist. I mean, sure, I was absolutely convinced I was gonna win it both times, but I also thought, "I bet it won't make me happy though."

Can't stand gambling anyway: the pleasure of winning is never anywhere near the anger and stupidity I feel over losing, doesn't seem worth it.

[Hypnotoad.]

How do you buy a ticket on the internet though? It'd take a credit card wouldn't it? Well I -like loads of people- don't have one, cos I'm dolescum. And loads of people don't have the internet. (I'd say a lot of lottery ticket buyers fall into either or both groups here.)

Anyway, yeah, you're right, buying one doesn't make you an optimist. I've only ever brought two tickets for it -one the first week they had it, one for that first double rollover the whole country went spazzy over- and neither time did it turn me into an optimist. I mean, sure, I was absolutely convinced I was gonna win it both times, but I also thought, "I bet it won't make me happy though."

Can't stand gambling anyway: the pleasure of winning is never anywhere near the anger and stupidity I feel over losing, doesn't seem worth it.

I thought it was funny actually, I remember the first ever lottery, and all of us buying tickets thinking, fucking hell, I could be loaded tomorrow

I dont think I ever did it again after that to be honest

Oh and as an aside, Capital One do a pre-pay VISA, with no requirements other than you being UK resident and not currently being bankrupt

It can be handy if you ever do need to buy stuff with a credit/debit and dont have that facility through a bank account

[John Self]

Oh and as an aside, Capital One do a pre-pay VISA, with no requirements other than you being UK resident and not currently being bankrupt

Well, they asked me for a £200 deposit an' all. £200? Do they think I'm some kind of... millionaire?

I shall not be doing business with those people.

That's what they said anyway

[Hypnotoad.]

Oh and as an aside, Capital One do a pre-pay VISA, with no requirements other than you being UK resident and not currently being bankrupt

Well, they asked me for a £200 deposit an' all. £200? Do they think I'm some kind of... millionaire?

I shall not be doing business with those people.

That's what they said anyway

Yeah you're right, sorry

You better stick a quid on that Euromillions ;)

[weekender]

A ticket for the Euromillions is £1.50.  Please amend your statement, ambitionless scum.

[Hypnotoad.]

A ticket for the Euromillions is £1.50.  Please amend your statement, ambitionless scum.

I object to the term ambitionless

[session9]

How to make the poor accept the increasing levels of inequality in society - make one rich occasionally, so that the others keep on bending over in the hope it could be them giving someone else the shaft one day. Fuck the lottery.

[chand]

Yeah, if those numbers ever come up as the jackpot it'll be split many many ways that week.

I remember hearing that a ridiculous number of people put the numbers '1,2,3,4,5,6' on every week, because the point went round that those numbers had as much chance of coming up as any other set of six numbers. Which indeed is technically true, however if those numbers ever do come up, people are gonna feel smug for a minute until they find out they're sharing the jackpot with about 30,000 other people.

[Ambient Sheep]

I remember hearing that a ridiculous number of people put the numbers '1,2,3,4,5,6' on every week, because the point went round that those numbers had as much chance of coming up as any other set of six numbers. Which indeed is technically true, however if those numbers ever do come up, people are gonna feel smug for a minute until they find out they're sharing the jackpot with about 30,000 other people.

There was a very strange one a few years ago where a draw came up with something ludicrous like 54,000 winning tickets.  At first the lottery were baffled, speculating that maybe it was something to do with a popular birthday or something.  However, after a few days they said that they'd got to the bottom of it, that the circumstances were "extremely special", but that due to winners' confidentiality, were unable to say exactly WHAT.

A works' consortium stupidly buying lots of tickets all with the same number?
A millionaire businessman giving all his employees tickets for Xmas likewise?
A scam that went wrong (or right)?

I'd dearly love to know to this day.

[John Self]

You know people say "oh, well you have more chance of being struck by lightning seven times than you do of winning the national lottery"

Yep, stands to reason.

There was a very strange one a few years ago where a draw came up with something ludicrous like 54,000 winning tickets

Fuck me, that's 378,000 bolts of lightning in Britain in one week! Well come on, the weather here's never been that bad- I reckon at least some of them must have come from UFO's. Proper UFO's mind- with space-aliens. And of course Elvis.

Otherwise it's just a false statistic.

[kenneth trousers]

The record number of winners was 133 in this country Sheepy.

Much to the dismay of the marketing men, the jackpot wasn't won and had to be rolled over to the ninth draw when an all-time record 133 jackpot winners shared the prize, thus depriving everyone of a Super-winner.

With some explanation as to why here:

The remarkable draw on 14 November 1995 when there were 133 jackpot winners is a clear example of the effects the team had deduced. The winning numbers were 7, 17, 23, 32, 38, 42 and 48 which all lie in the second and third columns of the ticket and were hence picked by lots of players.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

It contained 23 and 42!

[Ambient Sheep]

The record number of winners was 133 in this country Sheepy.

Meh.  54000, 133, what's the difference?  <blushes profusely>

Hmmm, since 133 x 54000 = £7,182,000...maybe the 54k figure was what they all got each.  Nah, probably bollocks, but I'd love to know where my head got that figure from.

If the thing about columns of numbers was all it was, why didn't they just say that?  Because I *definitely* remember them saying that they couldn't tell us why it had happened due to winner's confidentiality.  Perhaps just PR spin to avoid loads of people getting paranoid about sharing their big prize, and thus stopping playing.

Thanks for the info anyway.

[Baxter]

if only two people were to place bets and choose the exact same numbers am i right in thinking they have half the chance of wining the full jackpot as if they has both chosen completely different numbers?

[Leila]

There was a very strange one a few years ago where a draw came up with something ludicrous like 54,000 winning tickets.  At first the lottery were baffled, speculating that maybe it was something to do with a popular birthday or something.  However, after a few days they said that they'd got to the bottom of it, that the circumstances were "extremely special", but that due to winners' confidentiality, were unable to say exactly WHAT.

A works' consortium stupidly buying lots of tickets all with the same number?
A millionaire businessman giving all his employees tickets for Xmas likewise?
A scam that went wrong (or right)?

I'd dearly love to know to this day.

This was mentioned in Private Eye. If my memory serves me correctly, the winning numbers were mentioned in fortune cookies all across the land. The fortune cookies were mass produced and had the same numbers in each cookie so shitloads of people gambled with the same numbers.

[hansen mork]

I fthe odds are 7,000,000 to 1 to win the jackpot, and you can only win with one set of numbers, why not just do one line and with the other pound but a bet on at the bookies that you will win the lottery?

[Ambient Sheep]

if only two people were to place bets and choose the exact same numbers am i right in thinking they have half the chance of wining the full jackpot as if they has both chosen completely different numbers?

No.  They both still have exactly the same chance (1 in 14 million), but they'll only get half the money if they win.

However, the odds of EITHER of them winning does indeed halve.

Just to try to clarify that, with the same numbers there's a 14 million to 1 chance that they'll both win it together and get half of the money each.  With different numbers, each person still has a 14 million to 1 chance that they'll win it (and get ALL the money to themselves), but overall the chance that one OR the other will win it is 7 million to 1.

[John Self]

This thread had filled me with hope, and I've decided that I'm gonna buy a lottery ticket for the first time in years.

My numbers will be:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5....









and 7



aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh...

[Lady Beaner]

Do you have to get ALL the numbers to win anything on Euromillions?  I bought a few tickets and have not even bothered to check them since no one won the big jackpot.

[Daaaaaaan]

I fthe odds are 7,000,000 to 1 to win the jackpot, and you can only win with one set of numbers, why not just do one line and with the other pound but a bet on at the bookies that you will win the lottery?

Do you think you could really do that?

[hencole]

Do you have to get ALL the numbers to win anything on Euromillions?  I bought a few tickets and have not even bothered to check them since no one won the big jackpot.

No, in fact it is far easier than the National Lottery to win a small prize.

[Lady Beaner]

Thank fuck I haven't binned my tickets then. Huzzah, cheers!

[hansen mork]

I fthe odds are 7,000,000 to 1 to win the jackpot, and you can only win with one set of numbers, why not just do one line and with the other pound but a bet on at the bookies that you will win the lottery?

Do you think you could really do that?

Probably not. It would be a lot to pay out and loads of people might start betting, therefore narrowing the odds that the bookies will have to pay out to someone. I think there may be a large difference betwen the actual odds of winning the lottery and the odds you could get for a bet on it.
Might be worth asking about though.

[Daaaaaaan]

I reckon they might take a bet from you but you'd have to bet a large amount for it to be worth their while.

[Alberon]

Lottery lunacy is underway again. Ticket sales are now, according to the BBC, at 1200% above normal in the UK and it is expected that ticket sales will be higher in the last hour before the draw than the three million sold in the same time last week.

Presumably because there are some people who feel that £100,000,000 wasn't worth buying a ticket, but £125,000,000 is.

To ressurect the arguments about odds, also according to the BBC, bookmakers have the same odds on winning the Euro lottery as the world coming to an end or Chantelle being named the new England manager.

Apparently the odds of being killed in a road accident today is a mere 1 in 6 million.

[hencole]

Presumably because there are some people who feel that £100,000,000 wasn't worth buying a ticket, but £125,000,000 is.

Those people would probably be right! It's all down to odds. There is now so much dead money (money from previous weeks, with no chance of winning) it now makes sense to buy tickets this week as opposed to last week. In fact if you had a spare £70,000,000+  It might be worth buying every single ticket (not 100% sure on that, but it would be close). You would struggle to buy that number of tickets in such a short time though, so you'd have to personally buy more machines in.

[Timmay]

In fact if you had a spare £70,000,000+  It might be worth buying every single ticket (not 100% sure on that, but it would be close). You would struggle to buy that number of tickets in such a short time though, so you'd have to personally buy more machines in.

You could buy them online. I myself have just spent £8,400 on tickets via their website. I got offered 0% interest on a credit card and took them up on it, so have blown the lot on 5,600 tickets. I should make my money back at least. Fingers crossed!

One other special thing about this week, is it's the last week that the rollover amount will be put towards the full jackpot. Assuming no one wins the lot tonight, from next week it would seem that the rollover amount will then be spread to the next tier of prizes.