Answered step by step
Verified Expert Solution
Link Copied!

Question

00
1 Approved Answer

Do q2 and explain plz In 2011, the Boston Globe reported that three high-volume betting groups, the MIT group, the Michigan group, and the Boston

image text in transcribedimage text in transcribedimage text in transcribedDo q2 and explain plz

In 2011, the Boston Globe reported that three high-volume betting groups, the MIT group, the Michigan group, and the Boston & Northeastern Universities group, have been monopolizing Cash Winfall, a state lottery of Massachusetts. This report triggered an investigation on these groups as well as the Massachusetts State Lottery. There was no illegal activities found for all three groups and they each walked away with multi-million dollars, however, Cash Winfall was shut down after its last drawing on January 26, 2012 due to its flaw in design. The goal of this project is to understand how these betting groups gamed the Massachusetts lottery system using probability theory. Cash Winfall was drawn on Mondays and Thursdays. Each ticket costed $2 and a player chose six distinct numbers from 1 to 46, ex: 1,9, 17,23, 39, 40. To win the jackpot, these numbers must match all six of the numbered balls that drop out of the bin during a drawing. The minimum jackpot was $500,000 and could be higher depending on the lottery sales. The game also offered smaller prizes: $4,000 for matching five out of six numbers; $150 for matching four out of six; $5 for matching three of six; and a free $2 bet for matching two of the drawn numbers. There are two ways to pick six numbers. A player can hand-pick six distinct numbers out of 1-46. Or, a lottery printing machine can be used to print a ticket. In the latter case, the lottery machine picks a random combination (all combinations are equally likely each time the computer prints a ticket). The Massachusetts State Lottery (the Lottery in short) designed Cash WinFall to add 60 cents of every dollar wagered to the jackpot, leaving 40 cents for the Lottery to run its own operations and distribute to cities and towns in the form of local aid. Like all lottery games, Cash WinFall is designed to make money for the Lottery (and a net loss for the player) and the more Cash Winfall tickets the Lottery sold, the more money the Lottery made. Because the probability of matching all six numbers is very low, the jackpot was rarely claimed. In this case, like most lotteries, the jackpot was rolled over to the next period. In the very rare case of multiple winners, the jackpot was supposed to be split into the number of winners. However, in the history of Cash Winfall, that had never happened. However, Cash WinFall had a feature that distinguished it from other lotteries: the jackpot was capped at $2 million. If the jackpot reached $2 million and no one matched all six numbers, the money in the jackpot was distributed among the lower tier prizes for that drawing. The Lottery referred to this as a "roll-down and it dramatically boosted payouts for lower tier prizes. Cash WinFall replaced Mass Millions, a game that lost players when it didn't produce a single jackpot winner in 2003. The Cash WinFall roll-downs were designed to generate excitement and ticket sales even if no one ever won the jackpot, and it worked. The rolldowns were a topic of conversation on online forums like lotterypost.com. The Lottery published the predicted amount of jackpot of each game. The players flocked to Cash WinFall whenever the Lottery predicted a possibility of roll-down (over $2M jackpot). Here's how a typical roll-down worked. The drawing held on Feb. 4, 2010 had a jackpot of $1,631,236. No one matched all six numbers so the jackpot pool was carried over for the next drawing. By the next morning, the Lottery had estimated the Cash WinFall jackpot for the Feb. 8 drawing at $2 million, meaning bettors could expect a roll-down provided no one matched all six numbers and claimed the entire jackpot. As was typical for drawings with anticipated roll-downs, wagering was heavy resulting $2.4M jackpot by the drawing on Feb 8. And, guess what, no one hit the jackpot. As a result, that money rolled down to the next three lower prize levels using a formula developed by the Lottery when it created the game in 2004. Of the $2.4 million in the Feb. 8 jackpot, 26 percent- about $633,383 went to boost the payout for those matching five out of six numbers. Instead of receiving the standard $4,000 prize, holders of the 35 tickets matching five out of six numbers received $22,096- the $4,000 standard payout plus a 1/35th share of the $633,383 in roll-down money dedicated to this tier. Similarly, 47 percent of the $2.4 million about $1,158,000 was used to enhance the prize for those matching four out of six numbers. Holders of the 1,761 tickets matching four of six numbers received $807.52, instead of the standard payout of $150. For those matching three out of six numbers, about 27 percent of the jackpot - $652,000 rolled down to increase the payout. Lottery records show there were 29,832 tickets matching three of six numbers. Each one was worth $26.85 instead of the standard $5 prize. Lottery records also indicate that just over 209,000 tickets matched two of the six numbers drawn, entitling the holder to a free $2 bet (the prize stays the same for matching two of the drawn numbers). Normally, a lottery is designed so that the expected payoff (prize - cost) is always negative (your expected prize money is less than the cost of the lottery). However, the unique rule of Cash WinFall created an opportunity for the three betting groups mentioned earlier to rig the Cash WinFall to obtain a positive expected payoff. clearly show each presenter. Please submit either the mp4 file of the video or a link to recording along with your project report on Canvas. 1. Suppose you purchased a single $2 Cash WinFall ticket. What's the probability of winning the first place, second, third, fourth, and fifth? What's the probability of winning nothing at all? 2. Suppose that 450,000 Cash WinFall tickets were sold for the Jan 29th drawing. Six winning balls were drawn. What's the probability of having two winners of the jackpot? Assume all 450,000 tickets were printed by the lottery machine that randomly picks the numbers on each betting slip with equal probability. 3. Continued from #2, the Jan 29th drawing's jackpot is announced to be $1,060,000 ($540,000 from new sales + $520,000 rolled over from the last drawing. Treating the $2 free betting as the equivalent dollar payoff, compute the expected payoff of your single $2 ticket. Is it worth investing in the lottery given the expected payoff

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

Step: 1

blur-text-image

Get Instant Access with AI-Powered Solutions

See step-by-step solutions with expert insights and AI powered tools for academic success

Step: 2

blur-text-image

Step: 3

blur-text-image

Ace Your Homework with AI

Get the answers you need in no time with our AI-driven, step-by-step assistance

Get Started

Recommended Textbook for

Financial Accounting

Authors: LibbyShort

7th Edition

78111021, 978-0078111020

Students also viewed these Accounting questions