Is it true that if you play the lotto with the last drawing’s winning numbers, your odds aren’t actually any worse? If so how?

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So a co-worker was talking about someone’s stupid plan to always play the previous winning lotto numbers. I chimed in that I was pretty sure that didn’t actually hurt their odds. They thought I was crazy, pointing out that probably no lottery ever rolled the same five-six winning numbers twice in a row.

I seem to remember that I am correct, any sequence of numbers has the same odds. But I was totally unable to articulate how that could be. Can someone help me out? It does really seem like the person using this method would be at a serious disadvantage.

Edit: I get it, and I’m not gonna think about balls anymore today.

In: Mathematics

37 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A lottery drawing does not remember the previous drawings. So, when looking at the chance, it does not matter which numbers you play. The new drawing does not depend on the previous ones. Of course, this is given that the lottery is fair.

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