Preview: Personal Finance

In the fickle hands of Lady Luck

Glenn Stapleton has a dream. The Toronto shipper and receiver is not asking for much--he just wants to make a million dollars and retire in the lap of luxury. Freedom 55, perhaps? Try freedom 6/49. Stapleton, 34, is staking his hopes for future financial security on matching six numbers on a Lotto 6/49 entry form. So far, the most he has ever won is $76. But relentessly optimistic, he keeps buying tickets, spending about $25 a week. "I like going for big things--if I lose it, I lose it," says the Newfoundland native, who has yet to invest in a registered retirement savings plan. "Maybe if I keep on trying, I might win."

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AGAINST ALL ODDS

The chances of winning any prize in Ontario's Lotto 6/49 are slim--let alone an average $2-million jackpot. Even the odds of winning the minimum $10 fifth prize for just three correct numbers are the same as flipping six heads in a row.

PRIZE	ODDS AGAINST	EQUIVALENT NUMBER OF SUCCESSIVE HEADS
Jackpot	13,983,815 to 1	24 heads in a row
Second prize	2,330,635 to 1	21 heads in a row
Third prize	55,490 to 1	16 heads in a row
Fourth prize	1,031 to 1	10 heads in a row
Fifth prize	56 to 1	6 heads in a row

SOURCE: PROF. FRED M. HOPPE, McMASTER UNIVERSITY

MACLEAN'S / NOVEMBER 4, 1996