[BNM] [OT] Lottery puzzle

[Jonathan Hirsch]

> Does no one have a link with a
> correct mathematical proof?


I don't have a link, but unless I'm missing something, the maths is  
pretty straightforward, surely? They key thing is that every draw is  
completely independent of all the others (i.e. no machine tampering,  
no as-yet-unknown laws of physics that make it possible for previous  
results to influence future ones etc.).

On that basis, if the odds for each draw are 1 in 14 million, then  
surely buying one ticket each week is just resetting the odds each  
time, so it's still 1 in 14 million? Makes no difference whether you  
change your numbers each week or keep the same ones. So playing 52  
weeks is 52 lots of 1 in 14m, which is not the same as 52 in 14m. 52  
in 728m perhaps?

Whereas buying 52 tickets in one go makes the odds 52 in 14 million.  
Which is a teeny teeny teeny bit better...

(NB as someone who has recently returned from Las Vegas, I can  
confirm the old adage - the House always wins ;-)