National lottery up the odds.

mex

mex

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Nigel
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I have just watched the news on BBC, Camelot are due to change the way the 'Lotto' is drawn. There will no longer be 49 balls to choose from, it is to be increased to 59 balls. The effect will be the chances of some lucky b****r winning the jackpot will go from a mere (sarcasm) 14 million to 1 right upto a monster 45 million to 1.

........Note to self :- keep the £4 every Saturday and buy a pint and a bag of crisps instead, at least you will get something to enjoy for your money.
 
I think that's the wrong way round. I would much rather see lots of £100,000 jackpots than one £1,000,000 jackpot.

A silly idea in my opinion.


Steve.
 
Who the hell comes up with their ideas? The lotto game has been dying out slowly for years, as have all the other stupid games they introduced to flog the dead horse. The only one still going strong is Euro Millions. They're even screwing up scratchcards - they don't want people just buying pound ones so they have almost stopped supplying them now, all they want to send us is £5 ones.
 
They claimed the previous changes would increase the jackpots. They've fallen instead. The other prizes are dismal. Something like £50k for 5 + bonus ball.

Massive jackpots are what get people playing more. It's not the small prizes. If you are going to beat some massive odds you need a massive prize.

I have a euromillions lucky dip now they do automatic direct debit for it. That's all I bother with. It wins just enough to keep me interested. Usually small prizes. It is gambling after all and not an investment :)
 
You'd be better off wandering in the bookies every week and randomly picking a horse at 30-1 odds and putting your stake on that. A few wins over a year I expect. Ok not millions but way more than most folk ever see on the lottery.
 
Tringa said:
A different view of what this change does for the chances - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33148109

Dave
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Quote from that article:
"Camelot said the new Lotto Millionaire's Raffle "will guarantee at least two millionaires each week in addition to 20 winners of £20,000 in every draw"

I don't play often, but that sounds OK to me. Those prizes are never shared.
 
DorsetDude said:
You'd be better off wandering in the bookies every week and randomly picking a horse at 30-1 odds and putting your stake on that. A few wins over a year I expect. Ok not millions but way more than most folk ever see on the lottery.
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But you'd never get a life-changing win, and it's that (not the odd £10 win) that gets most people (*) buying a ticket.


(*) By which I mean, most of the people buying a ticket buy it for a big win, not that most people play the lottery.
 
As Lemmy once said:

"You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby,
I don't wanna live for ever"

I don't do the lottery.:rolleyes:
 
And Lemmy is still alive. If there were a nuclear holocaust, the only living things which would survive it would be cockroaches, and Lemmy.
 
StewartR said:
And Lemmy is still alive. If there were a nuclear holocaust, the only living things which would survive it would be cockroaches, and Lemmy.
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Saying that, he was 'born' soon after the Japanese bombings
 
Keith W said:
It's all about making money for Camelot
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Not really, why do you say that? There is no more than 5% in it for them last time I read the lottery act. Yes sure, traditionally a roll over attracts more punters and will increase sales, but changing the odds does not provide Camelot with more money. Besides it is regulated by the lottery commission.

I like the life changing jackpots, much prefer then to the very nice but generally not live changing small prizes.
 
dejongj said:
Not really, why do you say that? There is no more than 5% in it for them last time I read the lottery act. Yes sure, traditionally a roll over attracts more punters and will increase sales, but changing the odds does not provide Camelot with more money. Besides it is regulated by the lottery commission.

I like the life changing jackpots, much prefer then to the very nice but generally not live changing small prizes.
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Quite.

Quoted from the dreaded Wikipedia:

All prizes are paid as a lump sum and are tax-free. Of all money spent on National Lottery games, 50% goes to the prize fund, 28% to 'good causes' as set out by Parliament (though some of this is considered by some to be a form of 'stealth tax'[2] levied to support the Big Lottery Fund, a fund constituted to support public spending),[3] 12% to theUK Government as duty, 5% to retailers as commission, and a total of 5% to operator Camelot, with 4.5% to cover operating costs and 0.5% as profit.[4]Lottery tickets and scratch cards may be bought only by people of at least 16 years of age
 
Interestingly, Camelot, a Canadian owned company made £12.2 million profit for themselves in the last 6mths, yet managed to avoid paying an estimated £10 million tax bill recently by using a loophole in the rules ( not that I blame them for taking advantage of it). IMHO Camelot have stuffed up, I can't for the life of me figure out the 'we are losing punters hand over fist,so lets make it harder for anyone to win' plan.

The entry fee for the lottery was recently raised from £1 to £2 per line and in doing so Camelot also raised the minimum prize from £10 to £25. I love the notion that the 'millionaires raffle' that will generate another 2 millionaires every week, in my local we do a weekly charity raffle, there are normally around 50 entries, in the 2 years its been running I have won it once, b****r knows how many times I would need to enter the millionaires raffle with the number of participants to get a decent chance of winning it.
 
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The odds of winning any meaningful amount now (before the changes) are already ridiculously high. Isn't winning the jackpot something equivalent to putting £1000 per week on.....for 200 yrs. :rolleyes:

Certainly won't be playing the lotto anymore. (n)
 
Keith W said:
Well they are not doing it for free

If there wasn't a decent return for them then they would not be doing it
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The return is fixed, the rules are set by the commission. They just operate it.
 
Not withstanding the 49 or 59 balls on the Lotto, how can they "guarantee" how many winners of a certain amount there is going to be?

Quote........
"Camelot said the new Lotto Millionaire's Raffle "will guarantee at least two millionaires each week in addition to 20 winners of £20,000 in every draw"
 
DavieW said:
Not withstanding the 49 or 59 balls on the Lotto, how can they "guarantee" how many winners of a certain amount there is going to be?

Quote........
"Camelot said the new Lotto Millionaire's Raffle "will guarantee at least two millionaires each week in addition to 20 winners of £20,000 in every draw"
Click to expand...

Because in a raffle, only the numbers sold are entered into the draw.
First two raffle numbers drawn each win a million....then next 20 win 20 grand apiece.
 
DavieW said:
Not withstanding the 49 or 59 balls on the Lotto, how can they "guarantee" how many winners of a certain amount there is going to be?

Quote........
"Camelot said the new Lotto Millionaire's Raffle "will guarantee at least two millionaires each week in addition to 20 winners of £20,000 in every draw"
Click to expand...

The raffle is drawn separately, you have a serial code on your ticket that is independent of the numbers chosen.
 
dejongj said:
Not really, why do you say that? There is no more than 5% in it for them last time I read the lottery act. Yes sure, traditionally a roll over attracts more punters and will increase sales, but changing the odds does not provide Camelot with more money. Besides it is regulated by the lottery commission.
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Facts are unwelcome when people make assertions based on nothing on internet forums.
 
DorsetDude said:
You'd be better off wandering in the bookies every week and randomly picking a horse at 30-1 odds and putting your stake on that. A few wins over a year I expect. Ok not millions but way more than most folk ever see on the lottery.
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I do my line in the hope of a jackpot, not of a £25 prize. I understand probability, and accept that it is vanishingly unlikely that I will win. Obviously I could spend my weekly stake on a pint of beer instead and have some pennies in change, but I choose not to.
 
srichards said:
Massive jackpots are what get people playing more.
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And I only ever play it when it becomes an obscene amount of prize money
both Euro and the UK one, rather like this past week, 10.m for the UK one and 100m (was it?) for the Euro one.
That week I had £25 from the uk one, my first ever win since the cost went to £2 a line, in line with the Euro.
So for a £10 stake on each, this last week, I was actually a fiver in front.

:D
 
I've played the lottery ever since it started, at the beginning it was in work syndicates and we used to do alright. Quite a few years we used to get our money back or a bit more, some years a little bit less. On two occasions we did fairly well with £2.3k between 10 of us so more than paid for it that year, then we won just under £2.1k each. Another work syndicate were luckier though, they got around £69k each. No longer in a work syndicate but I continue to play the lottery on my own, 2 lines on Lotto and 2 on Euro, both twice a week, less than an hours wages and I get the odd win so don't have to layout the whole amount each week. £133.90 so far this year.
 
........you keep paying your lottery 'tax'.
 
I really do think they should cap the top payout to a decent amount and then spread the rest through the ranks
 
Raincloud said:
I really do think they should cap the top payout to a decent amount and then spread the rest through the ranks
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And funnily enough that is exactly what they do...

Jeez what it going on this week, do people just moan and assume things without familiarising themselves with the facts?
 
dejongj said:
And funnily enough that is exactly what they do...

Jeez what it going on this week, do people just moan and assume things without familiarising themselves with the facts?
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I was on about capping it to say £5 Million max and then spread
 
My missus has been doing it since it came out, but now says that's it. I said just imaging if your numbers come up, she said she wont look anymore. Besides she said, what's the chance of winning :(
 
I do it infrequently... A lot less so since they doubled the cost! I could count the number of times I've won anything on one hand, so it's never something I rush out for.
 
nilagin said:
I will, who knows tonight could be the big one. :)
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Good luck! and if you do cop the jackpot drop me a pm and I can give my £1 so we can go halves.;)
 
jonbeeza said:
My missus has been doing it since it came out, but now says that's it. I said just imaging if your numbers come up, she said she wont look anymore. Besides she said, what's the chance of winning :(
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Playing the same numbers every week is so stupid, because you're locked in.
 
StewartR said:
Playing the same numbers every week is so stupid, because you're locked in.
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Not really as what is to say one wont get lucky and they will come up? Using the same numbers every week is what a lot of people do. Imagine the numbers coming up and you had decided to change them just the once!
 
Raincloud said:
Not really as what is to say one wont get lucky and they will come up? Using the same numbers every week is what a lot of people do. Imagine the numbers coming up and you had decided to change them just the once!
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That's the whole point. Change your numbers every week and it doesn't matter if you miss a week because you'll never know that you missed a big win.
Play the same numbers every week and you can never miss a week or change - you'd never forgive yourself if 'your' numbers came up the week you forgot.
 
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