Re: The lottery. The odds.
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He claimed that the prize had gotten so big that betting $1 to win that overinflated pot was actually +EV. We did a little research b/c we were bored and it seemed to check out.
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Other poster: [ QUOTE ]
Powerball becomes +EV when the jackpot is around $150,000,000.
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Please elaborate.
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I don't remember the exact numbers the powerball uses, but I think it's 6 balls and the balls are numbered up to let's say 50 to make the math easy. That means that you have a 1/50 shot on each ball, or to use poker terms "street."
I think the math would go like this:
(1/50)^6= .000000000064
---This is your chance of winning given my parameters.
With that number, I think you can conclude that the powerball jackpot would have to be like 1.64 billion to make it worth it. But like I said, I'm not sure about the exact parameters of the powerball.
Oh, and it's possible that I am way out of line here. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]
Edit: I just read that the non-powerball balls can be in any order, I think that make a big difference, but I don't know how to express it in math, as I am mathematically challenged. I knew the number I came up with had to be wayyyy too high.
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You know that more than one person can pick the same numbers, right?
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