MovieChat Forums > Finder's Fee (2023) Discussion > The easiest lottery ever?

The easiest lottery ever?

posted 19 years ago by Silvrhelm
6 replies | jump to latest

ok so we pick 3 numbers im guessing by the film out of 100. As in all the tickets we saw im pretty sure none of them had any numbers over 100.
Ok so we pick 3 numbers out of 100 that means the chances of winning are :-

(100x99x98) = 970200

Say the winning numbers were 10, 23, 91
Then theres 6 possible orders this could come out in

10,23,91
10,91,23
23,10,91
23,91,10
91,23,10
91,10,23

Ok so 6 possiblilities that means the chances of winning is 970200/6 = 161700
So the odds are one in 161700

Now imagine how many people do the lottery in new york, im in England so I couldn't say but im willing to bet that the odds on this lottery are well too high for the makers to make any sort of a profit.

So say they play every week, with 5 tickets bought between them. Say they played every week for 50 years the chance of them winning is 1 in 12.438..... Now excuse me for thinking this is highly good odds

Btw I liked this movie :D

[–] HailFerrell 18 years ago

Yes, it is great odds as lottery concerned, but they could play every week for 50 years and still have a 90% chance they'd never win.

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[–] KMPINTJ 18 years ago

At one point, someone says the odds are "1 in 200 million", though with just three numbers that would mean having numbers up to at least 584 (cube root of 200 million).

Your math, while thought-out, may not be correct even for 100 possible numbers, because there might be 3 separate pools (i.e., choice with replacement) or they might HAVE to be in the order drawn, so it would only be 1, not 6 out of the denominator. Regardless, 200 million is a ridiculous assertion.

Frankly, I've never heard of a Lottery with even a number as high as 91--usually the highest is around 55. a Pick 3 with numbers going to 55 would only be 1 in 166,375 (with replacement) or 1 in 157, 410 (with replacement). Which are ridiculously low odds for a city like NYC and a prize of 6 million.

[–] Cyberbengan 18 years ago

Actually, he says the odds are "1 in 900 million"

[–] cocumaluzzi 17 years ago

What are the odds that you all will STFU and never post again?

[–] vnse 11 years ago

It's actually 100 X 100 X 100 since all 3 numbers could be the same, ie the winning number could be 17, 17, 17 or 22, 22, 22.

I thought the same thing, WTF, a lottery with a $6M prize that only has 3 numbers? That would never happen since the odds are too low to make the lottery profitable.

[–] rickb69 9 years ago

It's actually 100 X 100 X 100 since all 3 numbers could be the same,

no it is not, once they pick a number out of the big bowl, they don't put that number back in play

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