Lotto 6/49: Finally a winner!

In yesterday’s article “Lotto Max: Is it statistically possible?“, I pointed out that out of the $50 million jackpot and the 23 MaxMillions prizes, a total of 24 prizes, only 2 MaxMillions were won. OLG lists on their site that we have one chance in twenty-eight million, one chance in 28,633,528 to be precise. I brought up my joke again about the chances of getting hit by lightning are supposedly one in 500,000.

“M” left the following comment:

Calculate what the odds are of winning at least a million bucks when there is a grand prize of 50 million and 24 max millions. If I’m not mistaken, the odds become one in under a million. I’ll take those chances, thanks.

Good point. Pulling up my trusty Excel spreadsheet and dividing 28,633,528 by 24 prizes of a million or more, I end up 1,193,064. Well now, doesn’t that up the ante. I think all of us have greatly increased our chances. Not quite under one in one million but close.

If I look at next week’s game which is advertised as having a fifty million dollar grand prize and 31 MaxMillions, I now have a total of 32 prizes worth one million or more. If I do the math, 28,633,528 divided by 32, I have 894,797.8 which definitely puts me at one chance in under a million.

Of course, I have to chuckle about all this. While statistically we may be getting a little closer to winning something – Anything, please! Throw this dog a bone! – we have to admit we are still a long way from walking home with a cool mill. Even when I look at the chances of getting hit by lightning, I have to admit that getting hit by lightning for me personally would be extraordinary. In fact, I would put that in the category called “fat chance”.

To put any of this in perspective, let’s take a glance at parachuting. Last October, I did a tandem jump and wrote about my experience in “Parachuting: If God had meant me to…“. If you haven’t had the thrill (Ha!), what a way to scare the bejesus outa ya! I’m still laughing about it while saying to myself, “I can’t believe you did that. Are you nuts!?!” Thank gawd I have this on film so I can relive the moment.

In looking at how safe the sport is, I did a little research for the article. In the United States, there are over 3 million jumps each year and about 30 people die as a result. This works out to approximately 1 death for every 100,000 jumps. So, your chances of dying by doing a skydive are 1 in 100,000.

In comparison, 40,000 people die each year in car accidents. That works out to 1.7 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles. If we take the average person driving 10,000 miles a year, you have a 1 in 6,000 chance of dying in a car accident.

This is all quite hilarious. You are almost 17 times more likely to die getting in your car than by jumping out of an airplane; 1 in 100,000 versus 1 in 6,000. Now let’s come back to getting hit by lightning – one chance in 500,000 – and then of winning the last Friday’s lottery – one chance in 1,193,064. Yes, I write about it here but believe me, I’m not planning my future on getting a million anymore than I’m worrying about getting hit by lightning. Or dying by jumping out of an airplane! Ha!

I do point out though that Friday’s game strikes me as a statistical anomaly. 24 prizes and only two of them are won? And speaking of statistical anomalies, how about Anne Lepine of Fort Smith, N.W.T. who wins the 6/49 twice? Twice!!! She and her husband won $11 million back in 2007. She has since separated and now, on February 26, 2011, she wins $7.6 million at the 6/49… again! By herself! Unbelievable.

Oh well, it is nevertheless amusing to mull over winning and what I’d do with the prize. So in that regard, the fun is in playing the game. On Monday, I’ll go by another ticket and take my chances. Ya can’t win if ya don’t play!

6/49: Saturday, April 9, 2011: $7,000,000 – winner!

Winning numbers: We have a winner!

Lotto Max: Fri Apr 15: $50 million plus 31 MaxMillions

Lotto Max: One chance in 894,797.8 (28,633,528 divided by 32 prizes of a million or more)

6/49: Wednesday, April 13, 2011: $3,000,000

Lotto 6/49: One chance in 13,983,816 (as per the OLG web site)

All the latest winning numbers

You can visit the Lotto web site and check out all the latest winning numbers including Poker, 49, Lottario, Keno, Pick 4, Pick 3 and Payday. Of course, all the Encore numbers can be found there as well.

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