The 1-Billion Ultra Lotto Prize and Your Chance of Taking It Home


     So no one has yet to win the Ulta Lotto (6/58) in the Philippines. The prize has now gone up to a more than a billion pesos. Mind-boggling. All of your dreams will definitely be fulfilled by this amount of money, except if your dream is to buy a country. You’ll need more than a billion pesos for that. Filipinos everywhere are queuing at every lotto outlet, dreaming of grabbing that cash. I really am not a fan of lottery, so I haven’t placed a bet on it, though I bought tickets in the past. I actually prefer the scratch cards, the excitement and the suspense that you feel while scratching is incomparable. Lol. Incidentally, here’s an interesting STORY about the scratch cards

     But what really are the odds when you buy lottery tickets?

     It is often said that your chance of being hit by a lightning twice is better than you hitting the jackpot. The odds of you winning the Ultra Lotto is 1 to 40 million while the odds of you being hit by a lightning is 1 to 10 million. A Filipino statistician recently said that you’ll have a bigger chance of getting rich selling banana cue than on betting on lotto.

     Here’s a list of things that’s more likely to happen than you hitting the lottery jackpot:

     Your plane crashing: 1 in 11 million.
     You being an astronaut : 1 in 12 million.
     You giving birth to identical quadruplets: if you’re a woman: 1 in 13 million; if you’re a man: none.
     You winning an Oscar award: 1 in 11.5 million.
     You dating a supermodel:  1 in 800K.
     You winning an Olympic gold medal: 1 in 600K
     You siring a genius child: 1 in 250.
     Your beloved who seenzones you and always ignores you having a change of heart and finally falling helplessly, unconditionally and  head-over-heels in love with you: 1 in 100. Just kidding, I just made up that last stat, it’s actually 1 in 20 Billion.

      And what’s worse than this stats is the rumor that lottery can be manipulated. Can lottery be manipulated? Dunno, but I will share you this bizarre but true story: In 1990, there were reports that the sweepstakes was being rigged. So the president ordered NBI Director Alfredo Lim to investigate and punish the culprits. While in the course of his investigation,  NBI Director Lim bought some tickets and—hold your breath— amazingly and stunningly, won the jackpot. Elated, Lim said that the sweepstakes was honest and fair—because how else could he win if it wasn’t fair and honest— and closed the investigation. Everybody happy.

     So will I buy lotto tickets now? Nope, pupunta ako sa palengke at bibili ng maraning saging na saba.

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