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The odds
What are the odds?
When you gamble you bet that the unexpected will happen, but do you know what your chances of winning really are? This table shows the odds of winning on some of the common forms of gambling available in Victoria. No matter what the form of gambling you should always expect to lose.
| Bet | Odds of Winning | Typical Prize |
|---|---|---|
| Poker Machines – Getting 5 Black Rhinos on Black Rhinos Machine (Top Prize) ($1 Bet per line) | 1 in 9,765,625 | $5000 |
| Tattslotto – Winning First Division (Getting all 6 numbers correct) | 1 in 8,145,060 | $300,000 - $1m+ |
| Powerball – Winning First Division (Getting all 5 numbers & the Powerball correct) | 1 in 54,979,155 | $3m - $15m |
| The Pools – Winning First Division (Getting all 6 numbers correct) | 1 in 2,760,681 | $500,000 - $700,000 |
| Super 66 – Winning First Division (Getting all 6 numbers correct) | 1 in 1,000,000 | $60,000 - $90,000 |
| Super 7’s Oz Lotto – Winning First Division (Getting all 7 numbers correct) | 1 in 45,379,620 | $1m – $5m |
| Trackside – Horse number 1 wins race ($1 Bet) | 21 in 100 | $4 |
| Trackside – Horse number 12 wins race ($1 Bet) | 2 in 100 | $35 |
| Casino – Roulette (Single Zero) – Winning Straight Up (Correct bet on a single number) ($5 Bet) | 1 in 37 | $180 |
| Casino – Roulette (Single Zero) – Winning Black/Red, High/Low or Odd/Even ($5 Bet) | 18 in 37 | $10 |
| Casino – Big Wheel – Getting the Joker (Pays 47-1) ($5 Bet) | 1 in 52 | $240 |
When you compare these odds with some of the things that could happen to you, do you feel lucky? Do you still think your odds of winning when gambling are good?
| Bet | Odds of occurring |
|---|---|
| Dying of Heart Disease | 1 in 3 people |
| Having a back problem | 1 in 4.8 people |
| Having some form of cancer in the last 12 months | 1 in 6.3 people |
| Taken a sick day from work in the last two weeks | 1 in 7 people |
| Having high blood pressure | 1 in 10 people |
| Being assaulted during the last 12 months | 1 in 21.2 people |
| Having your home broken into in the last 12 months | 1 in 21.3 households |
| Being injured after falling from a height less than 1 metre in the last four weeks | 1 in 25 people |
| A woman giving birth to twins | 1 in 44 women |
| Being stung or bitten by something in the last four weeks | 1 in 55 people |
| An Australian person dying in a terrorist attack | 1 in 333,333 people |
| Being killed by lightning | 1 in 1,603,250 people |
Things that you think are rare often happen more often than winning at gambling. Also if you regularly try your luck at gambling you increase your chances of developing an issue with gambling. If you gamble at least once a week on anything other than lotteries, you have an almost 1 in 7 chance of developing an issue with gambling - better odds than winning any prize on a single payline of a poker machine.
