Ever been tempted to try your luck for a chance to win a lottery prize? National lottery games like Powerball and Mega Millions have seen their jackpots rise over $1 billion more than a dozen times in recent years, but winning it is very slim according to a mathematician.
00:00Ever been tempted to try your luck for a chance to win a lottery prize?
00:04National lottery games like Powerball and Mega Millions have seen their jackpots rise over $1 billion more than a dozen times in recent years.
00:12The winning ticket to the largest jackpot in history, valued at over a whopping $2 billion, went to a lucky Californian in 2022.
00:19The Associated Press spoke with assistant professor Gabriel Sosa-Castille from Colgate University to provide more insight on the odds of a player taking home a prize.
00:28The odds of winning any prize is between $2.49 and $1.25, so about 4%.
00:38So not impossible. However, the odds of winning the jackpot are...
00:43Very slim is $1 in $292 million.
00:47For comparison, your odds of being struck by lightning in a year is only $1 in $1.5 million.
00:53Being bitten by a shark is $1 in $5 million.
00:57So unfortunately, the odds of winning the grand prize are pretty minuscule.
01:01Many people wonder if as excitement grows for a rising jackpot and more people buy tickets, does that change the odds of winning?
01:09All of the odds remain the same for the jackpot or for any of the minor prizes.
01:13Everything remains the same, but the jackpot keeps accumulating. So that is the only thing that is changing.
01:21What about sharing the jackpot? Is that more likely with more people playing?
01:25The odds of tying are even slimmer.
01:30So when a player does win the jackpot, there's a good chance they'll be keeping it all to themselves.
Be the first to comment