Poll of the Day > Do you ever play the lottery?

(+) Yeah! (+)

That one jackpot is up to a lot btw.

no. why throw away money?
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I bought a few tickets when the lotto max was at a record high not too long ago and won a free play then lost on the free play. Figured I didnt miss much in the years prior of not buying tickets.
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Just scratchies once in a while. Nobody wins the numbers thing.

No lotto in Nevada.
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FooFighters25 posted...

No lotto in Nevada.

did not know this

nope

it isn't worth the cost until it gets to record breaking amounts of money
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CwebbMichSac4 posted...

FooFighters25 posted...

No lotto in Nevada.

did not know this

From what i understand, Casinos dont allow it cause it stops people from gambling in them
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J_Dawg983 posted...

I bought a few tickets when the lotto max was at a record high not too long ago and won a free play then lost on the free play. Figured I didnt miss much in the years prior of not buying tickets.

I will always buy when lotto max hits the 60 million

And buy daily grad weekly
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I go outside every day.
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Only idiots trhow money after a lost course.

Occasionally when the jackpot hits absurd levels.
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Zangulus posted...

Occasionally. Its been a long while. Usually when I have throw away money. But I havent for awhile.

Same. Cause it is throw away money

Occasionally. Its been a long while. Usually when I have throw away money. But I havent for awhile.

The kitties need food ^.^;
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Only twice, when the prizes were ridiculously high.
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Occasionally! I won $3,000 about 2 years ago but haven't won anything since.

Yeah occasionally. Daily 3 has always been good to me. I wont win life changing money, but I've regularly won $50-250ish.
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No, the odds of winning are always too small. Actually, maybe when the prize is really big, the expected payoff is bigger than the price of one ticket (assuming you're the only winner, which could easily not be the case), but the absolute odds of winning are still so small that I can't care enough to track that.

My parents sometimes get me scratch-off lottery tickets for my birthday and Christmas, and while they never get me more than a few dollars' worth, I always wish they'd spent that money on something else for me.

When it's high, I'll throw a 5 spot down.

DPsx7 posted...

Nobody wins the numbers thing.

People win in all the time.
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When Powerball gets to $200M + I play twice a week until the jackpots gone
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I tried to play the lottery once but I talked to my friend and I didnt know that isnt allowed. So they asked to see his id but he's an asshole that doesn't like having anything in his pockets so I was told to throw my paper thing away and I couldn't try again
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I've spent maybe 5 dollars on the loop and won 2 dollars.

As long as you aren't hoping to win anything, the lotto is cool, and semifun

No. I really dislike things that are entirely dependent on chance. At least some level of skill needs to be involved. If theres nothing I can do to effect the outcome I just get really annoyed.
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No.
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There is a way to 100% guarantee that you will win the lottery. The way to guarantee a win is to buy every possible combination of numbers.

The odds of winning the lottery are 1 in 292 million because there are 292 million possible combinations. So you would need to buy 292 million tickets. At $2 per ticket, you would need $584 million to buy them all.

Therefore, you would only have a net gain in winnings if the lottery is more than $584 million. Actually it needs to be significantly more than $584 million since you will have to pay taxes and such on the winnings. Lottery winnings are also taxed at the highest percentage. So, I'm not sure of the exact calculation, but I would guess that the lottery would need to be around $800-$900 million to actually have a net gain.

Also, consider the possibility that there may be another winner besides you. That does happen sometimes. You would have to split the winnings with the other person. So your $900 million actually becomes $450 million and you lost money.

Another thing to consider is just how impractical it would be to handle and sort 292 million tickets. That's a LOT of tickets, and you would need to come up with some way to practically sort through them.

Hold on. If there's a sudden spike in people playing when winnings reach record amounts, wouldn't the odds of one person winning be even lower than usual?

Only the lottery that is life. I always seem to lose though.
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Rarely
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Some really dumb logic in this topic.

"It's just throwing money away!" The tickets are like $2... I think most people can afford $2 once in a while. It's not something you're meant to play every drawing. Most people probably throw away more money on a weekly basis on coffee, fast food, cigarettes, alcohol, etc.; I bet they could fit $2 every few months into their budget.

"It's only worth it if it's a high jackpot!" Uh, what difference does it make if you only win $100 million instead of $700 million? It's a several thousand percent return either way if you win. Plus the high jackpots that get a lot of publicity end up with more players, which means a higher possibility that it ends up splitting winners anyway.

Chewster posted...

Some really dumb logic in this topic.

"It's just throwing money away!" The tickets are like $2... I think most people can afford $2 once in a while. It's not something you're meant to play every drawing. Most people probably throw away more money on a weekly basis on coffee, fast food, cigarettes, alcohol, etc.; I bet they could fit $2 every few months into their budget.

The difference being you actually get something out of the money you're spending.
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Only when it's really high. It helps me out... emotionally. Like buying a dream for the day.

To add on, I do tend to fall victim to the publicity and only buy when it's high, so that alone is fine with me. It's the people who are saying it's only "worth it" at that point who make no sense.

Sometimes
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I used to. Haven't in years.
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I rarely play scratch off tickets(once a month at the most). In the last three tickets Ive won $25 then just today I won $50 on a $5 Monopoly scratch off.

Other than those two wins Ive actually never made back more than ticket cost so Ive had a pretty good few months recently.
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Chewster posted...

Some really dumb logic in this topic.

"It's just throwing money away!" The tickets are like $2... I think most people can afford $2 once in a while. It's not something you're meant to play every drawing. Most people probably throw away more money on a weekly basis on coffee, fast food, cigarettes, alcohol, etc.; I bet they could fit $2 every few months into their budget.

You get nothing from a lottery ticket, realistically speaking. There are plenty of nifty little things you could save up for by not spending $2 every so often on them.

"It's only worth it if it's a high jackpot!" Uh, what difference does it make if you only win $100 million instead of $700 million? It's a several thousand percent return either way if you win. Plus the high jackpots that get a lot of publicity end up with more players, which means a higher possibility that it ends up splitting winners anyway.

I'll agree with you here, though.
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I don't believe in it, it's bullshit. Far be it for me to understand exactly how money circulates in our country but if we have enough money to save as a jackpot to just give away randomly we should use it for something that's actually productive instead.
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I'm not disputing that the money is essentially a waste. The thing is it's maybe $10-$20 a year for most people. Pointing out that it's a waste or a "stupidity tax" or whatever is something that joyless, pedantic nerds do. Yeah they're technically "correct", but they're missing the point.

Very rarely, if ever. Last time I did was when Powerball broke the $1 billion level.

I've played a couple of scratch-off tickets every now and then - most I ever won was $15.
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Nope

Except for Blackjack. Are casino games "lottery" (and on top of that, not the kind of "gaming" I care about)?

I've played just a couple times when it's gotten to record jackpots.
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Only rarely, and not the lotto proper - just scratchies.
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Blorfenburger posted...

I tried to play the lottery once but I talked to my friend and I didnt know that isnt allowed. So they asked to see his id but he's an asshole that doesn't like having anything in his pockets so I was told to throw my paper thing away and I couldn't try again

Yeah there is no rule about this. It was just a store clerk being an asshole just because they could.

Chewster posted...

Some really dumb logic in this topic.

"It's just throwing money away!" The tickets are like $2... I think most people can afford $2 once in a while. It's not something you're meant to play every drawing. Most people probably throw away more money on a weekly basis on coffee, fast food, cigarettes, alcohol, etc.; I bet they could fit $2 every few months into their budget.

"It's only worth it if it's a high jackpot!" Uh, what difference does it make if you only win $100 million instead of $700 million? It's a several thousand percent return either way if you win. Plus the high jackpots that get a lot of publicity end up with more players, which means a higher possibility that it ends up splitting winners anyway.

I would love to see any place selling $2 alcohol and cigarettes.
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