[Math] If I buy 2 lottery tickets do I double the chance of winning

combinatoricsprobability

There's a lottery. There are 6 balls chosen randomly from 49 and you have to match all the balls to win.

I buy one ticket. If I buy two tickets with different numbers for the same draw, do I double my chance of winning the jackpot.

What's the correct formula here?

Best Answer

Yes, you do double your chance of winning. There are $\binom{49}{6}$ different possible draws. The probability of winning with one ticket is the chance that the 6 drawn balls are one specific combination, i.e. $\frac{1}{\binom{49}{6}}$. With two tickets, there are two winning combinations, so the probability is $\frac{2}{\binom{49}{6}}$

Basically, the reason it is doubled is because winning one ticket and winning the other ticket are mutually exclusive, i.e. you can't win both tickets (note the problem statement says "different tickets"). If there was a chance of winning both, the chance would be less than doubled.

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