Buying lottery tickets is...

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . sis always gives as token birthday or holiday gift. . . .

I had a friend who liked to buy me $10 worth of lottery tickets for my birthday. I always wished she'd just given me the cash.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . I also buy tickets for others as small tokens of my appreciation and they like it!

Don't buy me one! See post 101.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I don’t have too many beefs, but folks who hog a convenience store counter, playing lotto tix like they’re at a craps table, drives me nuts. Same with people who tie up the counter getting hundreds of dollars in tickets checked, when I just want some rolling papers.

Oh, God, don't get me started. Oh. You got me started.

My big beef is the clerks who don't send them to the back of the line to buy more. They buy a bunch, scratch 'em all at the counter while I'm waiting, then buy more. And scratch 'em all at the counter. . . .

I once watched the old drunk in front of me spend over a hundred bucks that way.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hey!

I've "won" over $13,000 with the lottery!!!

That's $1 for every day I HAVEN'T bought into it!

I quit smoking about the same time too and "won" over $30,000 for every pack of smokes I didn't buy!

Now add in all the alcohol I didn't buy since 1990 and I'm well over $50,000 ahead of the game!

See kids how easy it is to justify spending $$$ on guitars and gear!

My mom was a four-pack-a-day Pall Mall smoker. She sat down with a pencil and paper one day when she was in her forties and totted up how much she'd spent, put down her pencil, threw away the rest of her open pack, and never smoked again.

 

[Toto'sDad]

My mom and dad worked all through the war down in Mobile Alabama in the shipyards. They worked and saved to buy a farm from Mr. Cambel near Muscle Shoals Alabama. Just before momma and daddy were to turn over their down payment, my daddy took a drinking spell, got the money out of the bank, and ended up down in Florida where he gambled and pi$$ed it away.

Instead of having a nice farm with rent houses on it, we ended up being on a sharecropper's farm which is six steps below a red ant's rear end on a hot day in the summertime. I hate gambling, and more than that I hate people who take the gamblers money. Sure, there are just enough winners to keep the suckers coming back, but in the end, they ALWAYS lose. They didn't build Vega on losings.

 

[bowman]

But you still think we should try it? We thought you liked us!

See what happens when you think? Gimme five more tickets.

 

[BryMelvin]

Same here.

I'll always buy a raffle ticket from a nonprofit I like or a kid outside the supermarket who's fundraising for her soccer team. But (a) I like those folks and (b) the odds are better. The prize isn't the point.

I used to sell raffle tickets for a nonprofit I worked for, and people didn't even ask what the prizes were. They just liked the group.

Yeah I don't consider that gambling. Just a donation. Here in Tucson there is a big hospital that has a raffle every year. I've spent as much as 200 bucks on tickets but that is support for the hospital where a grandchild and great grandchild were born.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yeah I don't consider that gambling. Just a donation. Here in Tucson there is a big hospital that has a raffle every year. I've spent as much as 200 bucks on tickets but that is support for the hospital where a grandchild and great grandchild were born.

'Zackly!

 

[P Thought]

us mere mortals have never seen that kind of cash or have the where with all for the responsibility attached to it. and in all probability be broke again in less than a year.

try me

 

[THX1123]

I'm reasonably confident the chances of randomly finding a suitcase with $1 Million in cash in it are better than the greater than the 1 in 14 million chances of winning it in a lottery.

BTW, if each ticket is a 1 in 14 million chance, and you buy five tickets, you have five 1 in 14 million chances...

 

[getbent]

I'm reasonably confident the chances of randomly finding a suitcase with $1 Million in cash in it are better than the greater than the 1 in 14 million chances of winning it in a lottery.

BTW, if each ticket is a 1 in 14 million chance, and you buy five tickets, you have five 1 in 14 million chances...

 

[boris bubbanov]

So is falling in love.

If you can keep you eyes open, I think the odds are way more in your favor. Because, your counterpart is not a "professional" at this love stuff (I hope) and so IMO "The House Always Wins" could be either party - or both.

Gotta take a chance on something, no?

 

[bblumentritt]

For people bad at math.

 

[stxrus]

I do on an occasional basis. Sure the odds stacked way against me (and anyone else) but I’ve wasted $15.00 on other things. I figure if the payoff is high enough I’ll be playing
Im not greedy, all I want to do is win enough to pay off my mortgage

I’ve been known to go to the casino and spend a few hours on entertainment. In my case it’s blackjack.

Like the ad says, “bet with your head, not over it”

 

[BigDaddyLH]

. . . the bad-at-math tax.

I'm not bad at math and invite you, if you are not bad at math, too, to look into the idea of utility. Sometimes I buy a chocolate bar. Why? I get enjoyment out of eating it. Sometimes instead I buy a lottery ticket. Why? I get enjoyment out of imagining winning. Utility theory explains why someone would be willing to spend $1 for a one-in-ten-million shot at winning $10 million, but be unwilling to put down 10 million for an even odds bet at winning $10 million more. The risk is low and emotional payout is a thing.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'm not bad at math and invite you, if you are not bad at math, too, to look into the idea of utility.

I hate utilities. It's not likely you know this, but Maine has the least popular electric utility company in the country: CMP ranks last

Sometimes I buy a chocolate bar. Why? I get enjoyment out of eating it.

I get toothaches.

Sometimes instead I buy a lottery ticket. Why?

To give your teeth a break?

I get enjoyment out of imagining winning.

I don't have to pay to imagine winning. Imagining is free.

Utility theory explains why someone would be willing to spend $1 for a one-in-ten-million shot at winning $10 million, but be unwilling to put down 10 million for an even odds bet at winning $10 million more.

Sure, someone. Not me.

The risk is low and emotional payout is a thing.

Getting snookered for a buck gives me a low emotional payout.

BUT there are certainly worse ways to blow a few bucks, and chances are I've tried 'em. So if you've got the itch, scratch away. Maybe you'll get what you imagine!