Retorts

Lotto

I would like to take issue with one point in your generally excellent article on Lotto. You state that more people entering can potentially reduce the value of payouts. It seems to me that if twice as many people enter, there should be twice as much money in the prize pool, and twice as many payouts (on average), giving no change in the value of payouts.

Phil Anderson, Christchurch

The statement you question referred specifically to "Jackpot" draws where the prize pool is fixed and publicised in advance. In such cases it is clear that more entrants lead to a potentially larger number of winners sharing the prize pool, hence smaller payouts. It's also worth noting that the Lotteries Commission have enough leeway in their control of the prize pool to make it unlikely that an exact 1:1 relationship will apply in any given draw. -Ed.