Sparky's said:
What part of "the dice always forget" did you not understand. The odds of him winning twice are still one in 623,825. After he wins once, the odds are right back where he started. The Lotto tickets don't know if he won or not!!
No, the odds of him winning *again* are still one in 623,825. The odds of him (or anyone) winning twice (assuming they buy only two tickets) are one in 389,157,630,625.
Compare with the dice analogy: If you throw a die, the odds of getting a six are one in six. If you throw the die again, the odds of getting a six again are still one in six. But the odds of throwing two sixes in a row is one in thirty six. The 36 outcomes with two dice are 1&1, 1&2, 1&3, 1&4, 1&5, 1&6, 2&1, 2&2, 2&3, 2&4, 2&5, 2&6, 3&1, 3&2, 3&3, 3&4, 3&5, 3&6, 4&1, 4&2, 4&3, 4&4, 4&5, 4&6, 5&1, 5&2, 5&3, 5&4, 5&5, 5&6, 6&1, 6&2, 6&3, 6&4, 6&5, 6&6. Count them, and count how many are double-six. There is only one chance in the 36 equally likely outcomes. Therefore the odds are one in 36! To save the counting, just multiply the odds, as I did with the lotto odds.
As for how he spends the money, I hope he does whatever makes him and his family happy. If he wants to donate some to charity, then that's great, if not then that's also fine. I worked for a charity for 2 1/2 years and after that I am very disillusioned with the voluntary sector. The waste and mismanagement I saw was enough to put me off donating for a long while. I now choose very carefully before giving my money away, I don't want it to be wasted.
