Investment & Investing

Meanwhile, the odds of being eaten by a shark are around one in 3.7m, according to National Geographic. So, again, you’re far more likely to be eaten by a shark before you win the main prize.

So even if you buy 2 or 3 or 10 tickets you're more likely to be eaten by a shark. The stats may seem to get better but in real life terms, there is no difference. 1 ticket gets you in the game, any more tickets per game is a waste of money.

The lottery is entirely rational if you can afford it as part of your disposable income. I often spend more on beer in one night than I do on the lottery in one month.

Yes the chances of winning the huge prize are vanishingly small, but there are greater chances of winning the smaller prizes.

It's also a form of giving to charity, plenty of Olympic and Paralympic athletes are funded by lottery causes.

Purely anecdata but I'm also about evens on the lottery thanks to a small (<£1000 each) lottery win as part of a work syndicate years ago.

1 ticket gets you in the game, any more tickets per game is a waste of money.

Not mathematically, and not if you have the disposable income for multiple tickets not to be a problem for you.

Not mathematically

Agreed but practically...

What you have better luck with?

Your chances of winning an Academy Award are a relatively small 1 in 11,500, but that's still almost 4,000 times more likely than winning the lottery.

I mean... That's not going to happen...

I find the £2 fee for being able to dream a little is worth the price on the rare times I play in the work syndicate

That's also what GME is for

Stonk to the moon or whatever!

the odds of being eaten by a shark are around one in 3.7m, according to National Geographic

I always wonder how they calculate this? Not all of the earth's population are able to get to the sea. Fewer still will swim in waters which have sharks in them and then an even smaller percantage will go deep enough to get into shark territory. One in 3.7million seems a pretty low estimate to me.

Anyway, I digress, how 'bout that FTSE, eh?

It's also a form of giving to charity, plenty of Olympic and Paralympic athletes are funded by lottery causes

this is my only argument for playing the lottery*. i worked in a off license growing up and it was amazing how much cash we paid in vs out. although i did pay out £150 once i recall. anything over £500 you have to write to camelot iirc

*I have never actually played

Got to be in it to win it lads

huge euromillions jackpot this friday

huge euromillions jackpot this friday

@ChasnotRobert did you buy £50million of tickets??? 😂😂😂

There’s an explainer here on Premium Bonds returns; point 3 ‘The rates 1% but most won’t earn that’. A higher outlay increases net probability.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds/

Obviously v different systems ….but is this applicable to National Lottery too?

it will be <0% but would interesting to see exactly how much

Wanna buy a new place, can't find a new place, is there any point doing anything funky with my deposit? It needs to be accessible relatively quickly and not disappear.

Also, Interactive Investor at £20/month for a SIPP, is there anything else around now that's cheaper?

Premium bonds?

Only problem with PB is that if you buy them now (or any time up until the end of October) and the first draw they will be part of is the one on 1st December, they don't go into the next month's draw but the one after that.

Selling the bonds (easily done online) takes about 3 working days for the money to appear in your account via BACS.

Also, I already had a NS&I account with Premium Bonds in it, I've no idea how quick it is to set one up from scratch.

(I stuck a chunk of cash in PB and have been drawing it down before I find/start a new job. Won three £25 prizes this month too, with ~£14k of bonds)

Deposit isn't play money so I would put it somewhere safe like a 1 or 3 month notice account that would maybe give 1%. Not punt it on crypto. Not even a little bit of it...

Iweb is about the cheapest SIPP, £45 per quarter and £5 per trade.

that's a better way of looking at it - is there a difference in % loss depending on size of Lottery stake or is it directly proportional to outlay - ?

I can't find anything that does the same as the PB calculator/explainer - anyone got any ideas?

I stuck a chunk into premium bonds bc I’d used up my ISA allowance and there was really nothing else to be done with it (I need relatively easy access). Ytd I’ve earned 2.5% from the PBs which is much worse than my S&S isa but 🤷‍♂️

I’d used up my ISA allowance

user tenderloin you know it will be like piranha 3D in the golf club thread when this gets copy pasted

I have other accounts for crypto. #golfclub Nerds tended to get into it early. Smart nerds didn't use it to buy pizzas...

For £60/yr, it's probably not worth my hassle moving but thanks for the info. At

You're right, there'll be a similar effect. With premium bonds this is because the smallest prize is £25. (So if 25 people stick in £100, all expect £1 but only only of them actually gets the £25 prize and median prize is £0.) I thought you could win smaller prizes on the lottery which would reduce the effect. Just had a look and it seems the lowest two prizes are "free lucky dip" and then £30. Does the free lucky dip mean another entry into the same draw? Because that's interesting if so and will make the calculation recursive and horrible.

It's for the next draw, but it's not automatic.

Last weekend the prize rolled down so lucky dip winners got a fiver as well.

https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/results/lotto/draw-history/prize-breakdown/2692

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Of all money spent on National Lottery games, around 53% goes to the prize fund and 25% to "good causes" as set out by Parliament (though some of this is considered by some to be a form of "stealth tax" levied to support the National Lottery Community Fund, a fund constituted to support public spending). 12% goes to the UK Government as lottery duty, 4% to retailers as commission, and a total of 5% to operator Camelot, with 4% to cover operating costs and 1% as profit.

So at best you're getting a -47% return on average...

Yeah, it's not worth switching unless you are paying loads more.