Americans went on a ticket-buying frenzy on Wednesday shortly before the winning number was drawn for a lottery prize of $193.5 million -- the third largest in U.S. history.

No one had chosen the winning numbers, lottery officials said later. With the pot swelling to $280 million the next drawing will take place on Saturday.

The lottery operates in 21 states and Washington, D.C. Seventeen previous twice-weekly drawings have failed to produce a winner, causing the pot to swell. The odds of winning are about 80 million to one.

Ciara,
could you buy me a ticket in this until the pile is finally won? If so I will e-mail you my selected numbers and mail you a cheque. 10% commission OK for you?

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Answers

Can you buy me 80,000,000 different tickets please. We can split the profit - a cool $100m each unless we have to share!

Makes you think, I wonder if the winner will be a syndicate of millionaires / mafia?

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Of course I'm assuming $1 tickets. If they're $10 each, this is where my theory falls to the ground.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Planning to buy NUFC Clarky?

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

I was just wondering where I picked up that particular phrase from (falls to the ground), then it came to me:

Title: Stake Your Claim

From: Monty Python's Previous Record

Transcribed By: Jonathan Partington ( JRP1@PHX.CAM.AC.UK )

Game Show Host (John Cleese): Good evening and welcome to Stake Your Claim. First this evening we have Mr Norman Voles of Gravesend who claims he wrote all Shakespeare's works. Mr Voles, I understand you claim that you wrote all those plays normally attributed to Shakespeare?

Voles (Michael Palin): That is correct. I wrote all his plays and my wife and I wrote his sonnets.

Host: Mr Voles, these plays are known to have been performed in the early 17th century. How old are you, Mr Voles?

Voles: 43.

Host: Well, how is it possible for you to have written plays peformed over 300 years before you were born?

Voles: Ah well. This is where my claim falls to the ground.

Host: Ah!

Voles: There's no possible way of answering that argument, I'm afraid. I was only hoping you would not make that particular point, but I can see you're more than a match for me!

Host: Mr Voles, thank you very much for coming along.

Voles: My pleasure.

Host: Next we have Mr Bill Wymiss who claims to have built the Taj Mahal.

Wymiss (Eric Idle): No.

Host: I'm sorry?

Wymiss: No. No.

Host: I thought you cla...

Wymiss: Well I did but I can see I won't last a minute with you.

Host: Next...

Wymiss: I was right!

Host: ... we have Mrs Mittelschmerz of Dundee who cla... Mrs Mittelschmerz, what is your claim?

Mittelschmerz (Graham Chapman in drag): That I can burrow through an elephant.

Host: (Pause) Now you've changed your claim, haven't you. You know we haven't got an elephant.

Mittelschmerz: (Insincerely) Oh, haven't you? Oh dear!

Host: You're not fooling anybody, Mrs Mittelschmerz. In your letter you quite clearly claimed that ... er ... you could be thrown off the top of Beachy Head into the English Channel and then be buried.

Mittelschmerz: No, you can't read my writing.

Host: It's typed.

Mittelschmerz: It says 'elephant'.

Host: Mrs Mittelschmerz, this is an entertainment show, and I'm not prepared to simply sit here bickering. Take her away, Heinz!

Mittelschmerz: Here, no, leave me alone!

(Sound of wind and sea).

Mittelschmerz: Oooaaahh! (SPLOSH)

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Wonderful sketch Pilgrim. :-)

On lotteries. Adam Smith, the great Scottish Economist, responsible for "The Wealth of Nations" had a word or two to say. I cannot quote him word for word but the gist is The more tickets you buy, the more certain you are to lose. A moment's thought confirms that he was absolutely correct although you might initially suspect otherwise.

So you can buy all 80m tickets in this US lottery (or all 14 million here) and you have increased your chances of losing money, much more than if you bought a few tickets or none at all.

(#946 in "Jonno's book of Interesting Facts", a publication still awaiting it's long anticipated completion)

In the interests of academic enlightenment the actual Smith quote (it's a bliddy marvellous thing this internet thingy isn't it?) is :-

There is not, however, a more certain proposition in mathematics than that the more tickets you adventure upon, the more likely you are to be a loser. Adventure upon all the tickets in the lottery, and you lose for certain; and the greater the number of your tickets the nearer you approach to this certainty.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

ahh but that doesn't apply when there's a rollover! The risk you take is sharing your winnings with someone else. So if 3 others have the same winning number you make a loss. Unlikely... which is why there have been some lottery scams in the past.

I believe the US lotteries don't actually pay out the dosh in one lump.... you get it as a yearly sum.... so I'm sticking my $80million in the building society (or under my bed)

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

The losing ticket theory is why it doesn't make sense to bet on the Tote jackpot for example. They take a fixed amount of the winning pot (maybe 40%) and then share amongst the people who have picked the six winners. If each race has say 8 runners then you're chances of randomly winning is 1/8^6 =~ 4 in a million. The prize is usually about £20k, after deductions.

When the jackpot isn't won it is rolled forward as per the lottery. And so on until a winner does take the pool. Occasionally the jackpot will reach £300k after deductions. Suddenly the chances and the profit are coming closer together and the pro gamblers will come in. The 40% reduction suddenly becomes less relevent.

Syndicates have tried to win rollovers before, and made okay profits. It depends on how many numbers are to be chosen from. Your chance of 6 out of 50 is 15 million to one, of 6 in 42 is 5 milion to one. The problem syndicates have is actually buying all combinations. Think how long it takes to process one sheet, with 8 sets on. You also have to be able to create the sheets to hand them in.

The plus on trying is that you will more than likely get an awful lot of 5s and 4s winners.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

So my chances of winning are better if I don't by a ticket at all? Just as well, cause I rarely buy the things anyway, and won't be anywhere near DC for the foreseeable future. I really need to move to a state that participates in these things, though. ;-)

Not sure with Powerball, but most US lotteries give you the option of payouts over 20yrs, or a lump sum. But if you take the lump sum you get far less than over 20yrs. Some screwy formula where the gov't takes more of your money if you take it all at once. So instead of 280mil, you might only get 175mil if you take the lump sum. I guess you have to decide if you can afford to give up the extra 100mil or so. Much easier staying broke when your biggest decision is whether to get store brand pasta or splurge on the mock-Italian import stuff. ;-)))

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

So, can you really not get the tix ciara- or are you just negotiating on the commission? ;o{)

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Sorry, Clarky. Really can't get them as Maryland doesn't participate in that lottery and I won't be in DC anytime soon. :-(

When is the drawing? I might be going over the weekend of Sept 1.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Don't worry ciara, I'm only jibing.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

"If you haven't got a ticket, you can't get on the bus"

anon

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Well it was won....

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_383416.html

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001