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Lotteries usually go according to the plan of probabilities but sometimes they don't! This happened in the UK recently when players with fewer winning balls netted more winning cash than those with more. And this caused not a little consternation and confusion amongst those "winning losers"!
It also saw the UK's Lottery operator, Camelot, coming under fire from UK gamblers after many people who thought they’d probably won a small fortune simply won a small amount instead! The ticketholders who landed five numbers from Wednesday 24th March's draw actually ended up with a smaller amount than those who bagged only three numbers, winning just £15 each. This caused understandable frustration amongst many players but it is simply a statistical glitch, according to the operator.
Camelot explained that 4,000-plus people got five of the six balls drawn. This compares with fewer than 8,000 lottery ticketholders who matched four numbers and who won £51 each. The UK operator said the situation was very rare but pointed out that a lottery is a lottery so anything is statistically possible. Meanwhile, less than 115,000 players matched three balls, winning £25 each.
But these aren’t the amounts any of us play for. Most players are after that prize that runs into the millions. This is why the regular rollover lottery jackpots in the UK cause such a huge amount of interest whenever they arise. Of course, the same principle is true for all major lotteries - and the regular roll-overs are well worth monitoring.
The Top Lotto site tracks all major jackpots available in all lotteries across the world and is well worth keeping a close eye on for rollover jackpot news, along with tips and special offers. The U.S. Powerball Lottery, the Euro jackpot and Euromillions are usually the headline acts. But the ability to play across international borders and to find out the different amounts and odds available helps make wiser lottery decisions.
Where would you go on holiday if you won the lottery?
Ultimately, most players accept that the chances of winning such huge amounts are small but that’s not the point. Players welcome the chance to make better-informed lottery purchasing decisions in full knowledge of the stats. They also welcome the chance to dream about “What if?” whilst the knowledge that state run lotteries do a huge amount for good causes is also hugely important for many players.
Most lotteries return roughly half the amounts staked in prize money, charge a small administration fee and put the rest into good causes. And many big winners even dedicate their own big wins to their own good causes. For example, Ray and Barbara Wragg from Sheffield, England gave away a whopping £5 million (around $7 million) to their own favourite good causes.
If you were a big lottery winner, would you be as generous? There's only one way to find out, buy a ticket and see if luck is on your side.
