Better Bet Than The Lottery

joggerjayne | 10:48 Sun 17th Jul 2011 | ChatterBank

23 Answers

Here's a much better bet than the Lottery.

Place a bet that you will be struck by lightning.

You will get good odds, and the chances of winning are almost 20 times better than winning the Lottery (1/700,000 as opposed to almost 1/14,000,000)

With chances of 1/700,000, any decent bookmaker would give you 500,000/1.

You could win half a million and, like I said, you are twenty times more likely to collect than if you spu nk your pound on a Lottery ticket.

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boxtops

How do you collect then? - do you have to set a deadline (if you'll pardon the pun)?

joggerjayne

Question Author

ps. Article mentioning the odds ... from the Daily Mail, so it must be accurate.

http://www.dailymail....ble-CCTV-footage.html

jno

but have you factored in climate change? Does it make a difference if you live in Kansas? Etc. These statistics can be misleading.

joggerjayne

Question Author

Yes, the deadline is one year.

It's an annual statistic.

boxtops

so you have to be struck by lightning to collect? I don't think I'll bother.

jno

boxtops, people do survive, and then they hold conferences

http://www.spiegel.de...0,1518,491477,00.html

joggerjayne

Question Author

jno ...

The US odds are totally different. 1/700,000 is UK only.

jno

it doesn't say that in the article, JJ.

joggerjayne

Question Author

** groan, sigh **

Look ... in the US, the odds are 1/280,000 ...

http://www.lightnings..._pls/probability.html

Wrongn3mber

Joggerjayne what is the criteria to qualify if you are hit? Live witness's? A doctors/hospital report? Cctv footage? Are you allowedto lets say fire rockets with wires at thunder clouds or stand in an empty field next to a large tree or at a golf course with your golf iron raised? There has to be some stringent rules, no?

joggerjayne

Question Author

Yes, I suppose so.

jno

this says 1 in 576,000 for the USA

http://www.open2.net/...isualisingchance.html

(which curiously is almost double the figure the other site gives)

jno

there need to be underwear checks too, Wrongn3mber

http://www.independen...-bra-wire-395256.html

weecalf

So thats why during thunder and lightning so many people are seen under trees clutching dockets .Mostly bus drivers for some reason .Oh yeah realised the other guys are conductors so it would be hard to prove if they were hit or not .Big band leaders have not got a hope either .