Is it worth playing the National Lottery?
Posted by DavidM in Interesting stuff | 6 March 2010
I occasionally have conversations with people about playing the lottery. Some, like me, have a flutter but others are dismissive, "What's the point - you only have a one in fourteen million chance of winning".
I had a dull walk with the dog this evening and was thinking about this. Yes, it is only a one in 14m chance of winning the jackpot if you play once, but what is the chance I will ever win?
I buy two lines for the national lottery twice a week, which is 208 attempts a year. So 14m divided by 208 makes it a one in 67,308 chance of winning the jackpot in a year.
Assuming I started playing when I was 30 and carry on until I'm 65, that'll be thirty-five years of entries, bringing the chance of me ever winning the lottery jackpot down to 1 in 1,923.
So, if I carry on playing the lottery twice a week for the rest of my working life the odds aren't so bad I could win, and if I do it results in a massive, life-changing event.
The odds aren't so terrible and the upside is enormous. But what about the cost? Only £7,280 over 35 years.
So thanks for the cynicism friends but I'll carry on playing.