Does someone always win the Lottery?

Question

I am thinking about starting to play the Lotto in California and am curious if someone always wins?

Answer 1

Eventually, yes. On any given drawing, no - that's why the jackpot rolls over. (Now, that's talking about just the jackpot - someone always wins SOMETHING on a given drawing. It'd be beyond the realm of probability if nobody matched at least 3-4 numbers.)

Answer 2

The odds of winning are millions to one.

Something like Power Ball and Mega Millions are over 150m to one against.

As a result, most draws no one wins the jackpot at all.  So the prize is rolled over into the next draw.  This can go on for months.  Both the major lotteries have, in the past few years, made the odds WORSE, because they noticed that when the jackpot gets very high people buy more tickets.

But someone always wins EVENTUALLY!  So why not give it a go?

Answer 3

Nope, if noone gets all the numbers the money carries over to the next week and the jackpot is larger.