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Originally Posted by politicophile
I don't mean to threadjack, but I did want to counter this misinformation.
Let's say that you're playing Pick Three, where you select three numbers from zero to nine. There are 10^3 (1,000) possible numbers. Thus if you buy one ticket, your odds of winning are 1/1000. If you buy ten tickets, your odds are 10/1000, or 1/100. Buying ten times as many tickets makes you... ten times more likely to win! (Caveat: if you buy the same number more than once, this rule does not hold true.)
The same rule applies for lotteries with more numbers, too: It's just that the difference between one out of 10 billion and one out of 100 billion aint really significant in the real world.
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Woah now, hold on a second...
You and I went to different statistics classes, and I recommend that you ask for a refund of your tuition.
Probability does not divide into itself, no matter how much you would like it to. Saying the same thing in a different way, you cannot compound your odds like that, in a random event like the lottery.
When computing odds, saying that you have a one in 10,000 chance in something and then doing it ten times DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE COMPUNDED YOUR ODDS BY A FACTOR OF TEN.
Yor now have a 10 in 10,000 chance of success, which is microscopically better, and not worth the 9 subsequent tries.
I appologize for using the words "Mathematically the Same", but I was trying to make the point that there was such little marginal benefit from purchasing the second and subsequent tickets that you might as well light the money on fire for good luck.
I am glad I could clear that up.