What are your chances of winning the lottery? It may seem like a long shot, but one man in Maryland recently won three times using the same numbers, according to a report from Audacy’s KYW Newsradio.
This story caught our attention at “Something Offbeat” and we wanted to find out the real odds of winning. So, we reached out to Robert Davis, associate professor and chair of the statistics department at Miami University in Ohio.
“We talk a lot about the lottery in our introductory stats class because it’s an application that everyone knows about and everyone's interested in,” he said.
From the unlikely story of the man who’s first, second and third time were the charm to the odds of winning big at slot machines, host Mike Rogers and Davis dive into your odds when playing games of chance. They also touched on some games of skill, too.
“If you have a lottery where the jackpot accumulates over time… then you don't want to pick certain numbers, because you want to avoid your chance of having to split the lottery with other winners,” Davis explained.
Is there a way you could turn the odds in your favor when you buy your next ticket? Listen to find out!
Each week, “Something Offbeat” takes a deeper look at an unusual headline. If you have suggestions for stories the podcast should cover, send them to us at somethingoffbeat@audacy.com.
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