Thread: How to play the lottery?

Hi there,

This is my first post, so forgive me if I have placed this in the wrong section. However, I do believe that the question I am posing, although seemingly simple, is actually rather complicated.

In England (I am not sure if this happens in the U.S.) when you play the lottery, you can choose to have a Lucky Dip option which gives you 6 random numbers. The question I am posing is as follows: Statistically, do I have a better chance of winning money by picking 6 numbers and sticking to them, or by choosing the Lucky Dip option every week? Or does it, in fact, make no difference at all?

Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated, as it has been plaguing my no-longer-regularly-studying-mathematics brain.

Many thanks,

Chris

Originally Posted by mu11cw

Hi there,

This is my first post, so forgive me if I have placed this in the wrong section. However, I do believe that the question I am posing, although seemingly simple, is actually rather complicated.

In England (I am not sure if this happens in the U.S.) when you play the lottery, you can choose to have a Lucky Dip option which gives you 6 random numbers. The question I am posing is as follows: Statistically, do I have a better chance of winning money by picking 6 numbers and sticking to them, or by choosing the Lucky Dip option every week? Or does it, in fact, make no difference at all?

Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated, as it has been plaguing my no-longer-regularly-studying-mathematics brain.

Many thanks,

Chris

Makes no difference. Each week all combinations are equally likely to occur.