anyone play the lotto?

[El Diablo Blanco]

I've been playing for a long while now.  play anywhere from $1 to $20 or more a week on scratchers and the lotto.  Never win shit.  I know going in that I won't win but I still play.  That hope you get when you're drowing that God would save you but never does.  I'd estimate that if I just deposited the money I spent on tickets into a money market account I probably would easily have $100K+ dollars today at my disposal.

[Pray_4_War]

Some fat slob in my area won a million dollars from a scratcher last year.  I don't play.

[ritch]

Hell no.
Known too many people with gambling issues and don't want to go there...

[Mr Anabolic]

Scratchers suck... it's like playing slot machines in a casino... you may win a couple bucks here and there, but you never win the jackpot.  

Best to forget about the Powerball and Mega Millions games.  Someone could play the Powerball (odds 1:175,000,000) or  Mega Millions (1:270,000,000) everyday for the next 5000 years and never win.  Cash 5 games have much better odds.  I only play them when they roll up to $1,000,000, which is rare.

[gmflex]

Play every other week..
Haven't one any big prizes yet.. but I still have hope..
Spend $10 to $20
On lotto tickets and scratch offs...

[El Diablo Blanco]

Scratchers suck... it's like playing slot machines in a casino... you may win a couple bucks here and there, but you never win the jackpot. 

Best to forget about the Powerball and Mega Millions games.  Someone could play the Powerball (odds 1:175,000,000) or  Mega Millions (1:270,000,000) everyday for the next 5000 years and never win.  Cash 5 games have much better odds.  I only play them when they roll up to $1,000,000, which is rare.

There was some story of a local boston Mass Lotto that payed low $50K but sometimes ran up to $100K or more.  Some guys figured out the odds of spending about $25K would give you an super high chance of winning.  They'd go and play all sorts of combos and almost always win.  They'd risk $25K for $100K+ and win each time.  The lotto ended up putting restrictions on how many tickets a store can sell a day to slow them down from playing every possible winning combo.
You'd think the lotto corp would have had mathematicians draw out these odds before they create these games.

[JOHN MATRIX]

i havent won yet because i am neither white trash nor am i already rich. these are the only two types of people who always win.

[TheGrinch]

i havent won yet because i am neither white trash nor am i already rich. these are the only two types of people who always win.

1000000000000000% right....

No freakin' clue how amazingly true this is...


I dont get it.... nope... I dont get it...

[Nirvana]

Scratch off lottery is the definition of white trash. "Oh somebody I know won $2000" yeah and they spent $4000 over the years playing it.

Slot machines too, these fucked up people sitting there until they shit themselves because it's too addicting and they can't walk away. Why would a casino put machines on the floor that are gonna give away their own money?Again, I know you know someone who "won 80 grand" but think of all the soiled underwear it took to get there. What respectable human spends their hard earned (or otherwise) money on a game called "jaguar princess" or "eagle dynasty II"?

[JasonH]

Lotteries are basically a tax on stupid people.

The UK national lottery for instance - odds of winning the jackpot are 14,000,000/1.

To get 3 out of the 6 numbers you will win £10 for a £1 ticket (they may have changed it since but the last time I played it the prize for 3 numbers was this).

If you were to get 3 numbers right, they would pay you back at odds of 10/1. However, the true odds of getting 3 numbers is actually 57/1, yet the lottery operators are only going to pay you 10/1 so you're getting negative expected value.

In other words, if you were to play the lottery into infinity, you would never turn a profit because the true odds exceed the potential winnings.

[SF1900]

Whenever I go into the convenience store, I usually see someone buying a lottery ticket or scatch-offs. These people tend to have very similar characteristics:

-middle aged to elderly
-also buying a pack of cigarettes
-also buying a 6 pack of beer
-looks like they have not showered in a few weeks
-looks like they have not shaved in a few weeks
-grumpy attitude
-extremely skinny or extremely overweight
-looks unhealthy
-may be missing a few teeth/poor dental hygiene

[JOHN MATRIX]

1000000000000000% right....

No freakin' clue how amazingly true this is...


I dont get it.... nope... I dont get it...

dont even get me started on all the repeat-winners....

[El Diablo Blanco]

dont even get me started on all the repeat-winners....

Who's that guy in Minnesota that won a couple million, went broke then a year later won another few million?

[basil]

$20 every Wed and Sat on Canada's lotto 6/49.  1 in 14 million chance of winning.  Nvr won shit yet, but  ya gotta play to win.  I don't miss $40 a week, and the thought of waking up on Thur or Sun a milionaire is something else to look forward to.

[Victor VonDoom]

Convicted sex predator wins $3 million lottery jackpot
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/convicted-sex-predator-wins-3-million-lottery-jackpot/30144204

Life is unfair.  Bah!

[JOHN MATRIX]

Who's that guy in Minnesota that won a couple million, went broke then a year later won another few million?

there have been multiple people who have won large sums (5-6-7 figures) 2 or even 3 times. same person. the odds are so astronomical and the unfairness so stupendous it makes you wonder about the universe.

[Agnostic007]

I owned a gas station/store in Texas and sold millions of them over the years and no one hit a jackpot. Kinda puts it in perspective for me. But.. when the jackpot gets really high, I might buy a quick pick for fun. We had regulars that would spend their paychecks on scratch offs while they were in the parking lot. Buy $40 worth, go out to their cars, scratch them off, bring in the $5 they might have won, buy $40 more and repeat the process until they were out of money. People spending over $3 or $4 a week on lotto tickets in my opinion are making a bad financial decision. It goes past a fun game/gamble to wasting money that could have been invested or used elsewhere. I think people who try and justify spending more than that likely have an addiction to it.   

[Twaddle]

Lotteries are essentially a tax for people who are bad at math.   

[El Diablo Blanco]

Everyone has these stories but in my case it is true.  My dad used to play the smaller lotto that had 5 numbers, odds aren't as bad as the bigger ones and the payoff was in the couple hundred thousand dollar range.  He'd play the same numbers weekly for years.  The one week he didn't play his numbers came up.  What are the fucking odds of that?

[TheGrinch]

sure odds are against you hitting the big jackpot but what are the odds you become rich if you dont play? A heck of a lot less..


The guy who won had just as much of a chance as you did so whats the problem.


For 99.9% of people the only way to EVER have ANY chance at complete financial freedom is via the lottery if you are not born into a rich family.

[El Diablo Blanco]

sure odds are against you hitting the big jackpot but what are the odds you become rich if you dont play? A heck of a lot less..


The guy who won had just as much of a chance as you did so whats the problem.


For 99.9% of people the only way to EVER have ANY chance at complete financial freedom is via the lottery if you are not born into a rich family.

You have better odds of thinking about an idea, getting a bank loan, starting your own business and turning into a millionaire than you do by buying a ticket everyday for the rest of your life.

[SF1900]

sure odds are against you hitting the big jackpot but what are the odds you become rich if you dont play? A heck of a lot less..


The guy who won had just as much of a chance as you did so whats the problem.


For 99.9% of people the only way to EVER have ANY chance at complete financial freedom is via the lottery if you are not born into a rich family.

Your statement does not make sense.

What are the odds of you losing your money? 99.9%. How many people become broke and homeless from gambling? A LOT more than actually win it big.

Moral of the story: Keep your money in your pocket.

[Grape Ape]

I hit the lottery once for 200k.   It was pretty awesome.  I hooked up with this incredibly hot brunette with huge tits who said she loved me and that I made her what she is today.

3 years later, the money ran out, and she left.

At least I'll always have the gym....

[El Diablo Blanco]

I hit the lottery once for 200k.   It was pretty awesome.  I hooked up with this incredibly hot brunette with huge tits who said she loved me and that I made her what she is today.

3 years later, the money ran out, and she left.

At least I'll always have the gym....

Sorry to that.  Maybe if you're lucky Army of One can post about it in the future.

[YngiweRhoads]

We never buy tickets but grabbed a quick pick for the Lotto 6/49 2 weeks ago while fueling up and got 5 out of 6 numbers. Worked out to about $3k.