Lottery Odds Compared – 8 Helpful Examples

Lottery Winning Odds

We all know that winning the lottery is something that happens to other people. Well most of us do anyway or at least those capable of rational thought. In fact, the odds of winning are so extraordinarily remote, so emphatically improbable, that it takes some pretty outlandish events to offer any sort of equivalence. Like these, for example.

Being Hit By an Asteroid

Being hit by an asteroid tends to happen just once. So it’s with some relief that we can tell you that the chance of being struck by one is in the region of 1 in 1.6 million. Although estimates differ wildly regarding the exact odds, we’ve decided on 1 in 1.6 million because it’s akin to winning the 6/35 Delaware Multi-Win Lottery which offers similar numbers of 1,623,160 to 1.

Struck by Lightning

The odds of being struck by a bolt of electrostatic discharge are about 960,000 to 1. These constitute better numbers than pretty much every lottery in the world, unless you visit the Czech Republic of course. Their Lucky 10 game offers one chance in 819,855 of becoming a koruna millionaire – slightly more favourable than becoming a lightning rod.

Shark Attack

Being dragged into the murky depths by one of nature’s most efficient killing machines is possibly one of the most horrendous ordeals that could befall a human being. Thankfully the chances of you becoming shark-fodder stand at around 1 in 12 million so you can go back into the water. Alternatively you could pay a visit to Denmark and play the 6/48 Viking lottery where you’ll have a 1 in 12,271,512 chance of winning.

Contracting Ebola

This particularly nasty disease became extremely popular in Sierra Leone a couple of years back. Mercifully there was only one reported case in the UK. So going on that evidence we reckon that you have a 1 in 64.1 million chance of contracting the illness; roughly the same as winning the Malaysian Grand Toto lottery with odds of 67,945,521 to 1.

Becoming a Movie Star

The likelihood of becoming a movie star (aka glib political commentator) is around 1 in 1.5 million. Therefore, it’s probably worth considering a different career. In fact you’ve got a better chance of winning Malta’s Super 5 lottery at 1,221,759 to 1.

Dying in a Plane Crash

If you’re one of those people who regurgitates the line, ‘you’ve got more chance of being hit by a car crossing the road’ to reassure frantic flyers, then you might want to revise your unhelpful and laughably inaccurate guesstimate. Because meeting one’s maker while flying the friendly skies is estimated to be 1 in 1,000,000. This is compared to a 1 in 8000 chance of begin mowed down by an automobile. The odds of pocketing a few million Euros on Germany’s Super 6 lotto are also 1 in 1,000,000.

Having Quadruplets

The chance of spawning quadruplets are about 8000 to 1 while same-sex identical quadruplets are a tad higher at 15,000,000 to 1. We couldn’t find any lottery operators daft enough to offer odds of 8000 to 1 so we’ve gone with Croatia’s Lotto 7/39 as a comparison; the odds are reassuringly unrealistic at 15,380,937 to 1.

Winning an Olympic Gold Medal

The chance of winning an Olympic Gold Medal without the aid of performance enhancing drugs are thought to be about 662,000 to 1; just ask the Team GB Cycling Team. Taiwan’s Receipt Lottery shares similar odds at 575,000 to 1.