Quote:
Originally Posted by AllJackedUp
Local casino offers free lottery tickets daily. What is the value of each ticket?
Each ticket gives you 5 random numbers between 1-99.
There is a weekly drawing of 4 random numbers.
If you match 2, you get $50.
If you match 3, you get $500.
If you match 4, you get $20k.
(multiple winners will split the 20k, or if nobody wins it carries over to 30k next week, 40k the week after, etc... but I think just figure one winner at 20k to make it easier on you, and it'll be close enough to satisfy me)
Odds of winning the big prize is 5c4/99c4 = 5/3764376 = 0.00000132824 or 1 in 752,875
Value of a ticket (before taxes), if we assume you'll win 20,000 if you hit the top prize =
(50 x 5c2 x 94c2 + 500 x 5c3 x 94c1 + 20000 x 5c4) / (99c4) = (2,185,500+470,000+100,000) / 3,764,376 = 73 cents