In this section, we present two straightforward applications of combinatorics to computing the probability of winning the lottery.

Example - Pick 3 Texas Lottery: The Texas Lottery game Pick 3 is easy to play. A player must pick three numbers from zero to nine, and choose how to play them: exact order, or any order. The Pick 3 balls are drawn using three air-driven machines. These machines use compressed air to mix and select each ball.

The probability of winning while playing the exact order is

The probability of winning while playing any order depends on the numbers selected. If three distinct numbers are selected then the probability of winning is 3/500. If a number is repeated twice, the probability of winning is 3/1000. While, if the same number is selected three times, the probability of winning becomes 1/1000.

Example - Mega Millions Texas Lottery: To play the Mega Millions game, a player must select five numbers from 1 to 56 in the upper white play area of the play board, and one Mega Ball number from 1 to 46 in the lower yellow play area of the play board. All drawing equipment is stored in a secured on-site storage room. Only authorized drawings department personnel have keys to this door. Upon entry of the secured room to begin the drawing process, a lottery drawing specialist examines the security seal to determine if any unauthorized access has occurred. For each drawing, the Lotto Texas balls are mixed by four acrylic mixing paddles rotating clockwise. High speed is used for mixing and low speed for ball selection. As each ball is selected, it rolls down a chute into an official number display area. We wish to compute the probability of winning the Mega Millions Grand Prize, which require the correct selection of the five white balls plus the gold Mega ball. The probability of winning the Mega Millions Grand Prize is