On Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 12:39:47 PM UTC-5, Nancy Young wrote:
> On 1/12/2016 10:01 AM, Cheri wrote:
>
> > Nobody that buys a ticket cares about all the math and statistics, if
> > you play you have a chance at a dream, if you don't...
>
> We've been beat over the head with the sheer improbability of
> winning, yet 3 people did it. So I guess the odds for this
> drawing were 3 in however many people bought a ticket.
>
> nancy

No, the odds of winning are the same, no matter how many tickets
are sold, and no matter how many people pick the same (winning) number.
The odds of a particular ticket winning are the probability of a
particular set of balls falling out of the thingy--whatever it
is that they use to drop the balls. It's described by a
mathematical formula that is affectionately called the "choose"
function.

The more balls in the thingy, and the more balls it takes to win,
the smaller the odds of winning.

The odds of taking home the entire prize are incalculable, but
roughly speaking, the more tickets are sold, the greater the
odds that the winner will share the prize. Also, since people
often use birthdays or other important dates when selecting
their numbers, if you pick numbers between 1 and 31 your
odds of sharing the prize are greater.

Cindy Hamilton