... how can Ralph have 16 times greater chance at winning than Tim?

Try this play as well ..

Assume the source table is in A1:B11 (headers in row1)

First, just data sort the table in ascending order by total points (col
B), viz.:

name Grand Total of all Points
mark 1
robert 1
tim 1
jim 2
jr 2
mike 2
harry 8
dick 9
tom 10
ralph 16

Then enter a zero in C2
place in C3: =SUM($B$2:B2)
Copy C3 down to C12
(ie copy down by one cell more than the last row in col B)
Leave C1 empty

Then, in any empty cell, just put:
=INDEX(A:A,MATCH(RANDBETWEEN(0,MAX(C:C)),C:C,1))
to generate the required "weighted" random draw which takes into account the
commensurate chances by each name's points in col B. This is achieved via col
C which produces the unique "buckets/tiers" corresponding to the sorted
points in col B.

Press F9 to re-generate / re-draw

Note that RANDBETWEEN requires the Analysis Toolpak to be installed and
activated. Check the "Analysis Toolpak" box (via Tools Add-Ins). Chip
Pearson's page has details on the ATP at:http://www.cpearson.com/excel/ATP.htm
--
Max
Singapore
http://savefile.com/projects/236895
xdemechanik
---
"Peri S" wrote:
I was hoping to avoid that because there are points for each person for each
month so that would get way up in the thousands...

"Ragdyer" wrote in message
...
I would expand the name list to include duplicates of a name, commensurate
with the number of points.
5 Toms
3 Jims
2 Tammys
... etc.