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The Game of Keno (Posted on 2022-07-12) Difficulty: 3 of 5
In the game of Keno, a player bets $1 on precisely five of the numbers from 1 to 80 inclusively. A machine draws at random precisely 20 of the numbers from 1 to 80 inclusively.

Between the player's numbers and the machine's numbers:
• If the number of matches is less than 3, the player loses his bet.
• Otherwise, the player gets back an additional $2, $25 or, $331 if the matches are respectively 3, 4, or 5.

What is the expected value of money won by the player in a game?

*** Adapted from a problem by S.W. Golomb.

No Solution Yet Submitted by K Sengupta    
Rating: 4.0000 (1 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Solution | Comment 1 of 3
The number of matches can be any of x={0,1,2,3,4,5}  There are n=80*79*78*77*76 possible drawings.  So the the probability P(x)=C(x)/n where:

C(0)=60*59*58*57*56
C(1)=60*59*58*57*20*5
C(2)=60*59*58*20*19*10
C(3)=60*59*20*19*18*10
C(4)=60*20*19*18*17*5
C(5)=20*19*18*17*16

The expected value of each x is its probability multiplied by its value
The total expected value of a ticket is the sum of the x values.   

[2*C(3)+25*C(4)+331*C(5)]/n = 1972190880 / 2884801920 = 19659/28756 = 0.6836

The expected money won is therefore negative: 0.6836-1=-0.3164 
This game has a very low pay-off.  

If matching all five numbers had a payoff $821.52 then the game would be fair.  (The other payoffs remaining the same)

***Edit:
See Charlie's response for a better interpretation of the question.  I hadn't considered the word 'additional' in the payouts.


Edited on July 12, 2022, 2:24 pm
  Posted by Jer on 2022-07-12 09:30:25

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