Photo: RNZ
Send your questions to susan.edmunds@rnz.co.nz
Which has the greater chance of winning, buying one Lotto ticket each week in one draw or saving for a year and buying 52 tickets in one Lotto draw?
A Lotto spokesperson says there is a "very, very small statistical difference" between your chances when you have a ticket each week or 52 in one week.
"However, for the purposes of keeping it simple for your reader, the odds are almost identical. The odds of winning Lotto First Division are about one in 3.84 million per line on a ticket.
"Therefore, a $7 Lotto ticket with 10 lines would give someone 10 chances in 3.84 million per draw. If they bought 52 tickets over the course of a year that would be 520 opportunities at winning big in that year.
"Similarly, someone who saved up for a year and bought 52 tickets for a single draw would have 520 chances in 3.84 million of winning the First Division in that draw. It's worth pointing out here that 520 opportunities to win out of 3.84 possible combinations is about the same as a 1 in 7400 chance.
"In both strategies, to achieve the odds stated, the player would need to ensure that each line is composed of a unique set of numbers per game."
Unfortunately, the message here is that the odds of winning Lotto however you try to do it are very small.
I have recently had a company from overseas organise a crypto wallet for me to receive my lost naive investment made years ago. The money is in my wallet. I have been told that to get this money back into the country I would need to find a bitcoin exchange due to money laundering controls which is going to as to my cost approximately $6000. I asked them to send me by email what we had discussed - to date no email to my request. He talked about a contract and sent me notification of this but no document attached but they keep calling and I ignore their calls. I called my nephew who didn't want any details to open this wallet and he said the money is in the wallet. His advice is I can withdraw it but I would need an exchange and then the IRD will want their share as an income source. I would like to withdraw the majority of the funds but leave some in there to buy more as I have had lots of scammers promise me that they could get my initial investment back. I have paid it an no funds were forthcoming. Now I don't trust anyone. What advice could you give me?
Two key bits of advice. Don't pay anyone who offers to get you any money back that has been lost in a scam. This is a known way that scammers get people to part with yet more of their cash.
If you have made gains, you may have a tax liability, as your nephew suggests. But unless you've made huge money, it's not going to be a large tax bill.
If you want to continue to invest in crypto, you could withdraw the money and invest in a crypto managed fund or exchange-traded fund. You can access these via Sharesies or Hatch. This is a simpler and safer option, given your recent experiences.
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