Exploding Popular Myths about the Lottery

There is so much material that gets published about lotteries. Over time, myths have grown about everything from who plays the game to whether playing the same numbers for every draw will eventually win you a jackpot. Many of these myths are just that, they are not to be believed. Let’s look at some of these and reveal the truth.

Watch out for that Lightning

A popular saying is that there is more chance of you being struck by lightning than winning a lottery jackpot. This isn’t entirely correct though and remember, probability is very important when it comes to lotteries. The US National Weather Service says that the odds of someone being struck by a bolt of lightning is 1 in 600,000. Compare that to the odds of 1 in 292 million that exist for winning a Powerball jackpot.

That doesn’t tell the whole story though. In 1995, 1.136 people were lucky enough to win over $1 million dollars playing lotteries. The same time period only saw 91 people killed by lightning. Yes, there are massive odds on a jackpot win, whatever the game you are playing. But there are plenty of other great prizes to be won at much lower odds.

Another myth that needs to be discounted is that lotteries are a form of taxing the poor. Critics have claimed that lottery players aren’t just on low incomes but not very well educated either. Does that exclude Madonna, George Clooney, Simon Cowell, and Wayne Rooney who all admit to playing lotteries? Studies have shown that members of the middle-class also regularly play lotteries, so this is another lottery myth that be discounted.

The same can be said about the myth that the only people benefiting from playing the lottery are its winners. That’s a rather ignorant comment considering the massive amounts that are given by companies such as Camelot to deserving causes. Lotteries benefit lots of people, even those who don’t even buy tickets.

It’s all about the Odds

Do you use the same numbers for every draw? Plenty of players do but the myth that this tactic will eventually win you the jackpot just isn’t right. It’s a random draw so just because you might have been using the same numbers for the last few years doesn’t give you an advantage at all.

It’s the odds of you winning that are important. Another myth says that if the jackpot is small, then there are better odds on you landing it. Regardless of the size of the top prize, the odds of you winning it are still the same.

Repeat Wins Do Happen

Let’s discount a few more myths. One says that if you do win a big prize, it’s impossible to win another one. That’s simply not true, it’s all down to the odds of your numbers winning. It’s nothing to do with whether you have already had a big win in the past. In Arizona, the Carmichaels won a $2.5m prize and then 16 years later won another $1m. If you still need convincing, come back to this site tomorrow to read a story about a double lottery winner.

There are those who say that playing lotteries can lead to a gambling problem. There is little evidence that playing lotteries is any more likely to do this than betting on football. If players practice responsible gambling, this won’t happen.

You just can’t believe everything that is written about lotteries. That’s not the case at Lottery24 where you can trust every word we write. Playing lotteries is great fun, so keep on buying those tickets but don’t believe all these myths.

Get your tickets online now at Lottery24!