alleycat asked:


I was just reading an article on Yahoo about a couple who believe they have come up with a formula for winning the lottery. Someone in the article said that there is no formula for winning the lottery unless you buy every ticket. Would it be possible to buy a ticket for every possible number combination and still come out ahead?

For example, the big lottery here in California is Mega Millions. Let’s say that the jackpot is at $300 million. There are close to 176 million possible number combinations that can be played. You spend $176 million on tickets, take about 30% taxes out of the winnings ($90 million), subtract your initial cost of $176 million, you are still left with $34 million. (The problem would be coming up with that much money initially and filling out 176 million different tickets!)
Chuck, that is a great point! If another person also won, you will be out alot of money.

Marcus