> Cool, as a rough approximation, it is close to (1/50)^6, right? No. 50^6 is about 938x bigger than (50 choose 6), which is the correct chance of picking 6 o

> Cool, as a rough approximation, it is close to (1/50)^6, right? No. 50^6 is about 938x bigger than (50 choose 6), which is the correct chance of picking 6 of 50 numbers. > And wouldn't the odds really be: p = (1/49 * 1/48 * 1/47 * 1/46 * 1/45) for the balls to be drawn in order in one lottery? This is not correct either. There are 45 sequential possibilities of winning numbers: 1-2-3-4-5-6, 2-3-4-5-6-7, ... 45-46-47-48-49-50. So "45 / (50 choose 6)", about 647 times more likely than that calculation for p. Of course, if you start adding in other striking patterns like 2-4-6-8-10-12, the chance of a "fishy" draw becomes more and more likely.