2019 Ohio Bottle Lottery Odds Extravaganza

Hopefully, you were able to enter the 2019 Ohio Bottle Lottery. Like last year, I thought it would be fun to check what kind of odds we really have of winning and answer some other questions around the process.

I reached out to the State of Ohio for the number of entries for each lottery... however, I only received one number of 65,389, so that is the number I'll be going off of. I also asked for specifics on how many of each would be available and I received the vague number of nearly 900 bottles available... so for this thought exercise, I'll be using 899.

With those numbers, that puts the odds of winning a bottle at 1.37%, which puts this years odds around 1 out of 72....

For context.... here are some things that you have a better chance of happening than winning the Ohio Bottle Lottery....

• Chance of getting arthritis: 1 in 7 (14%)
• Chance of getting the flu this year: 1 in 10 (10%)
• An adult will spend less than $100 on Christmas gifts in a year: 1 in 33 (3%)
• Get admitted to Harvard: 1 in 20 (5%)
• Repaying your Student Loan in full 1 in 6 (17%)

So to summarize, you have better odds of getting into Harvard than you do winning a bottle...

Other things on the Ohio Bottle Lottery.... 

• If you are wondering how the winners are selected? A random drawing with each entry getting assigned a number (not their ticket number), and the top numbers are the winners.
• If you are wondering when does the actual drawing happens? The drawing took place the morning of Dec. 16. At that time, the winners were sent to the Ohio BMV to be verified for eligibility.
• What happens to the bottles if the winners don't purchase their bottle? Is there an additional drawing? The state holds what they call a “bonus” bottle lottery. The next entries in line are then given the opportunity to purchase the unclaimed bottles.

So there you have it... best of luck to everyone. If you have any additional questions you want answered, drop a note in the comment box below. 

Sources: Greatist.com, Savethestudent, OHLQ