Uses of a Lottery Machine – 2 Shortlisting

When you need a fair way to whittle down a large group into a smaller one, Guinevere II is your perfect choice.

Heart FM uses Guinevere II to shortlist their finalists for their Make Me A Millionaire draw. In 2024, 28 people opted to enter for a chance to win a million pounds, even though they could have received a guaranteed prize of between £1,000 and £16,000!

All 28 finalists were assigned numbers in the order they were chosen to participate in the millionaire draw: the first person was assigned ball #1, the second ball #2, and so on. Heart FM then used Guinevere II to pick the nine finalists.

The order in which these finalists get selected determines the sequence in which they go in the Grand Final: the person whose ball gets chosen first goes first in the final.

Guinevere can hold and display up to 80 balls, but you can use it to whittle down larger groups, for example, if you have 320 people, you need to whittle down to 11. Split the 320 into four groups of 80, then run four draws to select up to 20 people (you can choose fewer, but you must ensure you have 80 or fewer in your final round). Then you run a final round where you select the 11.

You can even do it for odd-numbered groups, for example, if you have 137, you need to reduce to ten finalists. 137 is a prime number, and everyone needs an equal chance to be in the final ten, so you can’t split into groups of 63 and 64 because those in the first group have a slightly greater chance of being selected. There is a way to do it: You have 64 in each draw, with ball #64 in one draw not representing anyone. Then draw 20 balls from each, giving you 40 balls for the final round to select your ten winners.

Do you need a fair way to shortlist a group? Then contact us today to find out how we can help you. Contact Paul now.