How to use the jackpot calculator
- Choose a jackpot from the list, or pick "Other jackpot" and enter the number of games and the price of one line.
- Enter how many doubles (two results covered) and triples (all three covered) you plan to play.
- Set how often you expect a single pick to be right, and how often a double will be right.
- Read the number of lines, the ticket cost, your chance of getting every game right and your chance of reaching a bonus.
The table underneath shows the chance of getting exactly 17, 16, 15… right, and of getting at least that many, so you can see how close a ticket really gets.
Why the cost climbs so fast
Every double doubles the number of lines on your ticket and every triple triples it, because the jackpot has to play every combination of your covered results:
| Ticket | Lines | At KSh 99 a line | At KES 15 a line |
|---|---|---|---|
| No doubles | 1 | KSh 99 | KES 15 |
| 2 doubles | 4 | KSh 396 | KES 60 |
| 3 doubles | 8 | KSh 792 | KES 120 |
| 5 doubles | 32 | KSh 3,168 | KES 480 |
| 2 doubles + 1 triple | 12 | KSh 1,188 | KES 180 |
| 3 doubles + 3 triples | 216 | KSh 21,384 | KES 3,240 |
Each extra double helps the chance of a perfect card, but the cost doubles each time while the gain gets smaller. That's why it pays to put doubles only on the closest games.
How the chances are worked out
Each game is treated as its own event. A single is right with the chance you set, a double with the double chance, and a triple always. The calculator then works out, exactly, the chance of every possible number of correct picks. Nothing is simulated or rounded along the way.
The chance you set matters more than anything else. A blind guess between three results is right 33% of the time. A careful pick on a typical jackpot game, where the matches are chosen to be close, is right somewhere around 45–55% of the time. Even at 55%, a 17-game jackpot comes in about once in 26,000 tickets, while 12 or more correct comes in about once in 7.
Where the numbers for each pick come from
The best way to set your chance per pick is to look the games up. Our predictions give every match a home, draw and away percentage. If the favourite of a game is at 60%, a single on it is right about 60% of the time, and a double covering the favourite and the draw is right about as often as those two percentages added together.
Read the guides
Every major jackpot has its own guide on this site, with its rules, bonus tiers and real chances: start with the jackpot guides.