Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Published Monday, Nov. 26, 2012 | 1:28 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012 | 11:58 a.m.
Sun coverage
-
Hitting a 00 in roulette
There’s a 1 in 38 chance your number will come up by betting 00. Of course, the payout isn’t going to be as big as the lottery jackpot. But you’re likely to be able to play longer and have more fun. It’s one of the easiest games to understand in a casino.
-
Winning a progressive slot jackpot
Want a chance at winning a lottery-sized jackpot with better odds? Play a wide-area progressive slot, such as Money Vault. Odds are a mere 1 in 25 million for those playing in Nevada. A U.S. Marine recently hit a $2.8 million jackpot on that machine at the Bellagio.
-
Picking a perfect NCAA bracket
Welcome to the exception on this list — the item with odds far longer than winning Mega Millions. Nailing a bracket is practically impossible.Picking all winners in the first two rounds of the college playoffs alone carries odds of 13.46 million to 1.
-
Getting hit by lightning
According to the National Lightning Safety Institute, there's a 1 in 280,000 chance of being struck by lightning.
-
Hitting a royal flush in video poker
Dream small. Hitting a royal flush is video poker is something you've actually got a shot at. The odds are still long — the Wizard of Odds website puts it at once every every 40,387 plays on a full-pay jacks-or-better machine — but not insurmountable.
-
Being attacked by a shark
According to the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida, the odds of being attacked by a shark is 1 in 11.5 million. That's based on 2000 data from U.S. East and West Coast beaches. You're actually more likely to drown at the beach — a 1 in 3.5 million chance.
There's an extra "million" in that probability. The probability of winning the Powerball jackpot is "only" 1 in 175,223,510, not 1 in 175,223,510 million.
Not that that's an appreciably better bet.
You are correct, RedArrow. Stray word has been removed. Thanks.
A lottery can pay for schools. Something the casinos are against. An educated populace would want better jobs than working for minimum wage at casinos. State and local government are ruled by casinos.