Internet industry gambling news has been slow this week. The industry is waiting with baited breath for Congress's next move. I've also been moving rather slow this week. My husband is in the US for work and I have the joy of taking care of my two adorable sons' ages 5 months and 2 years and 8 months alone. This is especially fun at night as my 5 month old is teething and waking up every two hours or there about and my two year old simply refuses to sleep in his bed. Let's just say my eyes are barely open as I type this and my mind is in a sort of fog. Times like this make your head wander off in odd directions, sometimes it's helpful and sometimes it's more like a maze. Last night I started wondering whether your odds were better winning the lottery or winning the jackpot from a progressive slot machine.

Today I decided to see if I could find out that information online.

Now, the odds of winning either are rather slim, so what I am looking for are the odds of winning comparable sums. For my search I am looking for the statistics of winning one million dollars in either the lottery or in an internet casino progressive slot machine. I remember that last year at least two people won over a million from progressive slots machines. I remember that one person wagered $16 to win over a million and I think the other wagered $19. However, this doesn't help me know the odds. For that I started to search.

I came across Lottery Math (http://members.cox.net/mathmistakes/rawdata.htm) in my search for answers. This person is clearly against spending all of your money on the lottery, which is fair enough. All gambling should be for entertainment purposes only, especially lotteries as the odds are not even close to your favor. According to Lottery Math the odds for winning the Lotto are insanely slim: "The odds of a "Lotto" style lottery can be found with the formula: n! / (n - r)! r! where n is the highest numbered ball and r is the number of balls chosen. This is called in math a combination. An easier way to think about it is if there are 40 balls and 6 are chosen, there are 40 possible numbers that can come up first, leaving 39 that can come up second, then 38, 37, 36, and finally 35 on the final number. To find out how many numbers that is you multiply 40 ×39 ×38 ×37 ×36 × 35 = 2,763,633,600 making the odds 2 and a half billion to one." Yes, that's billion. I'm fairly certain your odds of winning a progressive slot are better than that. Using old data, that is still fairly accurate, Lottery Math calculates the chances of winning the Power Ball when it was at $260 million and figures, "The odds of winning are around 80 million to 1 per ticket."

He or she has a better idea for lottery players. "Here is a better way to play the lottery, write down 5 numbers between 1 and 49, then pick a Powerball number between 1 and 42 (you can reuse any of the previous 5 or pick another number). Don't buy a ticket, then when the drawing is held, and your numbers don't match, you can congratulate yourself for saving a dollar."

Calculating the odds for a progressive slot machine is basically impossible. The first bit would be easy enough, just take all of the different variables of the rows and multiply them together (like the 40 balls and 6 chosen example above). It's the other unknown bit that makes this one tricky. Progressive slots don't give the jackpot away daily and we never know when the next one will give its lot away. Furthermore there's no way of knowing how many people are playing against you. What we do know is that the average slot machine payout online is anywhere between 96% - 98% per month. (That number changes drastically when a big payout has been won, but we aren't including those months in the average.)

My search online for information and help regarding internet progressive slots jackpot probability ended up empty. All I got was a lot of advertising for online casinos.

Now if I take the formula above and use it to figure out the chances for a regular slot the odds aren't so bad comparatively. Cashanova is the latest slot from Microgaming. It has 12 variables for symbols and three rows of five reels. The pattern of winning depends on the five reels, so the numbers would work as follows: 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12, (because you have 12 options for each reel) which equals 248,832 to one of winning the jackpot on this slot. Now, the jackpot on this slot is less than one million so the odds should be smaller. The total jackpot possible on Cashanova is $187,500.00, not exactly enough to quit your job over.

The possible win amounts for most lotteries are huge. They can be significantly larger than winning your jackpot in your favorite internet casino. However, the odds of winning the jackpot in your favorite progressive slots are better than winning the lottery. 

Playing either game should be fun and entertaining. Spending more than your budget allows with the hope and a prayer of winning isn't smart gambling. The nice thing about playing in your favorite internet casino is that it responds to you. A lottery card just sits there, static cardboard, while a progressive slot has movement. With Lotto you have to wait with your numbers to see if you have won, while you know thirty seconds later if you have won with a slot machine. 

The other nice bit about progressive slots is that even if you don't get the big win your odds are better that you will win something. The overall odds are always in favor of the house, of course. However, your odds of winning something on a progressive slot are better than winning something in the lottery. Where would you rather spend your entertainment dollar? Me? I'd rather be sleeping.