What will be the 10's "digit" in the last number of the maryland multimatch drawing saturday?

I flagged and suspended this market seeking clarification. You are asking about the first digit in the last number, but there are no options for what happens if 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 is drawn. And if using first digit of last numbers odds would be highest for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, as they occur 1 out of 43 times, where 1, 2, 3 occur 11/43 and 4 occurs 5 times.

Destry -- read it again... The first DIGIT of the last NUMBER. They are drawn out of 43, so the largest first digit would be a 4. This question is fine (Except for the very upsetting fact that dd misspelled my name).

Nope...Destry's right...or the question is unclear...usually they list the numbers in numerical order, in which case Jen would be right...but the question asks about the last number "drawn", which as Destry pointed out could be any number between 1 and 9...of course, there may be higher odds that it could be 1, 2, 3, and slightly higher for 4, but there's still a chance for a 5 or 8, or any other.

@jenni - I did read it again. It says the first digit of the last number. The last number drawn could be anything. So if that number drawn last is 5 then this question is not able to be settled. If as this question is currently written for the winning answer to be 1 the following options could occur 1,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19. That is 11 options for 1 to be the winning number. Same for options 2 and 3. Option 4 would only occur if 4,40,41,42,43 are drawn, so they only occur 5 out of 43 times. 5,6,7,8,9 occur 1 out of 43 times.

Sorry, I thought this was clearer. I see now why people are confused by it.

I've just sent the following to Ryan:
Apparently the wording on this question was a little more confusing that I thought. DD ran it past me earlier and I thought it was ok! Apologies to him..

So the Maryland lottery draws the balls in a random order BUT when they are posted, they are posted in ORDER. So the “Last number” is in an ordered list, not the actual last drawn (which I don’t believe is posted anywhere anyway).

So if the numbers drawn were 21, 41, 35, 17, 5 ==> 5, 17, 21, 35, 41 Then 41 is the last number and 4 is its first digit. Therefore the winning prediction would be 4.

Statistically, it is (near) impossible for the numbers to all be under 10, so having options other than 1,2,3 and 4 is very unnecessary. (Really the 1 is fairly unnecessary too, but fine to include). This is WAY under the 95% void rule (i.e. there is over a 99% chance that the question will be able to be settled with given options).

I hope that clears things up and some simple background will make this market clearer for everyone.

Hi,

After reviewing the market I believe it won't present a problem for settlement. As Jenni points out it is "near impossible" that this market will need to be voided. That said and with me allowing this market to continue I'd advise that these types of markets are not very newsworthy, and based on Hubdub rules may be voided due to there newsworthiness.

Market Reopened,

Ryan
Hubdub Category Editor

Thanks Jenni for clearing that up. Here in Florida they post the numbers in the order they were drawn, not in numerical order. I believe this market is one of those that isn't worth the trouble it caused. 877 in wagers and 7 comments. I agree with Ryan these types of markets not newsworthy.

@all HD'S..sorry for the confusion. the trouble was caused by some assuming all lottery's work the same way, and by me not making "more" clear that we was using the last number in the winning numbers. no more lottery questions from me.

@jenni..sorry for mis-spelling your name.

I got these probabilities using a monte carlo analysis - highest number of 5 random numbers between 1 and 43. I hope I got these right or the whole thing is incorrect.

<10 0.01%
10-19 1.2%
20-29 11%
30-39 48%
40-43 40%

Turns out there are actually six numbers. This changes things somewhat, so scratch the above and replace with the below:

<10 0.002%
10-19 0.4%
20-29 7%
30-39 46%
40-43 46%

I'll be betting on 3

Nice job pitched. I was too lazy to run it through a simulator, but it appears that diesel got pretty good odds by just estimating it. (My money is also on 3)