Do you play the lottary?

[Algonquin]

Do you play the lottary?

My wife and I used to play Lotto 649 for years and never won much. Two draws for this lottary each week, and we both had a row of numbers that we'd purchase. When it went from a dollar per ticket to 2 bucks, we decided it was just to much to spend of our budget.

Lotto Max (formally Super 7) has quite large jackpots, and on New Years... one ticket won the pot and is being split by a group of 19 office workers here in Ontario.

Do you play, and how much would it take for you to win to walk away from your current job?

It's nice to think about, but the odds are against you.

[marnold]

"The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math."

[Algonquin]

"The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math."
Pretty much! 'taxation on the mathematically ignorant' ;)

[Robert]

Yeah, every time I buy new gear... meaning that if I win the "lottery", I won't get kicked out. If I lose, by buying something very expensive and unnecessary when we are broke, my chances of "winning the lottery" are slim. :) :D

[Algonquin]

The news last week had a reporter interviewing the winners of the Lotto Max jackpot in their office, and of course they had to make a point of talking to the lonely worker sitting quietly who had been asked if they wanted to join the pool... but had declined. :(

The 19 winners in the pool are splitting a 50 million prize... just imagine!

[kiteman]

I can tell you lottery does strange things to people. There's this guy who's in the pool at the office. Each player puts in $10 for 2 drawings per week, $5 per draw. He bought a new truck and one week he opted out of Lotto because he's pretty broke and needed the money because of the truck payments. That week they hit the Lotto but not him.

Needless to say he lost it so bad (mentally) that they institutionalized him. He was doing crazy stuff.

I have another friend who bought $20 on 4 playslips and the clerk accidentally ran one playslip twice in the machine. The playslip they missed had the winning numbers and he sued them. he lost because he did not check the tickets before leaving the store. He went to hell over it. He died later but I don't know if that's the reason.

Me, I play $3 per drawing. I have a playslip I use every time. One with my and sis's birthdates and two quick picks.

[sumitomo]

That's a no brainer,why would I play the lottery when I own a printing press!Sumi:D

[Katastrophe]

I play once or twice a year, when there's a really big jackpot, for entertainment. The odds of winning are pretty bad, so I don't make a habit of it.

If I were to win the lottery, I wouldn't stop working altogether, but I'd change what I was doing. Not that I'm unhappy in my job or anything, but it would be nice to have the freedom to work at what you love to do, instead of what you have to do to live.

[kiteman]

I know the odds are real high but still you can hit it.

Some people did. :)

[Eric]

Very interesting. I got sucked into doing the work pool once or twice, but eventually decided that I didn't care that much and wouldn't mind working for the rest of my life anyway.

I'm not really sure what I'd spend the money on, actually. I know you could invent things on which to spend the winnings, but there's not much pressing right now. My wife and I may have some unexpected money in our account soon, and last night we were discussing what we should do with it, since our savings are on track. The best we could come up with was maybe buying a netbook. That was weird, not knowing what to buy. We don't have kids or anything, so expenses are limited right now, but still...don't you always dream of having unlimited funds? It was an odd conversation and realization to have.

Relatedly, I don't really think I could do nothing for the rest of my life. If I never had to work, I might do something like software development for the open-source community, since I see that as something I can really get behind philosophically, but I think I'd go nuts if I didn't feel at least some sense of purpose in life. I suppose it's up for debate, but work generally provides that for me.

[tunghaichuan]

Pretty much! 'taxation on the mathematically ignorant' ;)


I've heard it as: "The lottery is a tax on people who don't understand statistics."

[Eric]

I've heard it as: "The lottery is a tax on people who don't understand statistics."
"A fool's tax" was the version I grew up with.

[Tone2TheBone]

I'd be afraid of what would happen if I actually won. I wouldn't mind winning the smaller lottos though like the ones they do everyday. Couple thousand would be safe and sane.

[R_of_G]

"A fool's tax" was the version I grew up with.

A bit kinder than the version I've always known which is "the Idiot Tax."

I see the appeal and know people who play it weekly, and I can think of many things I'd enjoy doing with the money, but I appreciate statistics too much to play.

[tjcurtin1]

That's a no brainer,why would I play the lottery when I own a printing press!Sumi:D

:rollover The only way to go, Sumi!

Well, I'll thank God for you all that you have never won and haven't had your lives wrecked! Now stash that money away every week and buy yourselves a new piece of gear in a few months and enjoy yourselves....

[Ch0jin]

I've heard it as: "The lottery is a tax on people who don't understand statistics."

You know what, at first that made me laugh, but thinking on it, I'm not so sure I agree. Sure your at a massive stat disadvantage, but people can and do regularly wake up with millions of extra $$ to play with.

Now if you want to talk about suckers and stat's, lets talk poker machines (slot machines) and the INSANE amount of cash people pour into those. Devices programmed specifically to ensure the house wins.

I think, like everything else, moderation is the key. Where I used to work, me and a couple of guys would hit the local pub for lunch pretty regular and we got to slapping a couple of bucks in the pokies whilst waiting for our meals. Now me, I'm no gambler, so I'd basically drop the $3 change I got from the meal into the pokies and see what happened. Out of lets say 30-40 lunches at this pub I won my lunch money back ($17) maybe 5-6 times, and once I won $50.

The thing is though, whilst I cheer and clap when I see a $20 win and cash out thinking "woot, a free lunch!", the other guys I was with would -routinely- be dropping $20's and $50's in there one after the other chasing a big win. Thats when its a problem imo.

Then again, like I said, I'm not much of a gambler so little wins give me heaps of fun. I was in Vegas last year and on my first night scored a $1K win (off $20) on the slots on my 2nd push. I was ecstatic (read:drunk) and me and my mate were screaming and cheering and going on like we'd taken down the casino. Then the Pit Boss lady comes over to see how much we won and actually laughed at us because we had wandered into the high stakes slots where a grand was more like a typical investment rather than a great payout.

She even laughed again when I kept saying "We got a jackpot" to the drinks waitress when in fact the real jackpot was in the millions.... Good fun though..

[tunghaichuan]

Now if you want to talk about suckers and stat's, lets talk poker machines (slot machines) and the INSANE amount of cash people pour into those. Devices programmed specifically to ensure the house wins.

I think, like everything else, moderation is the key. Where I used to work, me and a couple of guys would hit the local pub for lunch pretty regular and we got to slapping a couple of bucks in the pokies whilst waiting for our meals. Now me, I'm no gambler, so I'd basically drop the $3 change I got from the meal into the pokies and see what happened. Out of lets say 30-40 lunches at this pub I won my lunch money back ($17) maybe 5-6 times, and once I won $50.


It took me a while to get my head around the gambler's fallacy: to make it simple, no matter how many times heads comes up in a coin toss, there is always a 50/50 chance for either one. Some people think that the more times one or the other comes up, that their odds improve. Gambling exploits this tendency of human nature.

My brother-in-law and his family take a yearly vacation to Las Vegas, someplace I've never been and don't have a desire to ever go. To me, it's just like flushing money down a toilet.

It could be made up, but aren't the chances better for being on a terrorist-hijacked plane than winning the lottery?


http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/statistics.gif

[Eric]

My brother-in-law and his family take a yearly vacation to Las Vegas, someplace I've never been and don't have a desire to ever go. To me, it's just like flushing money down a toilet.
See, this is how I am with gambling: I'm a tightwad, the odds are against you, I don't get that huge adrenaline rush from winning, and I'm uptight when money is at stake. For me, gambling is a bad idea -- lots of downside with very little upside.

But I will allow that for some people who are wired differently, it could be a very entertaining experience. I'm not sure how, but I think there's always that possibility.

[tunghaichuan]

See, this is how I am with gambling: I'm a tightwad, the odds are against you, I don't get that huge adrenaline rush from winning, and I'm uptight when money is at stake. For me, gambling is a bad idea -- lots of downside with very little upside.


I'm the same way.



But I will allow that for some people who are wired differently, it could be a very entertaining experience. I'm not sure how, but I think there's always that possibility.

But not only are they wrong, they are wrong-headed. :D

Seriously though, I'm glad I don't have that monkey on my back: gambling addiction. I really feel for anyone that does.

[kiteman]

I'm the same way.



But not only are they wrong, they are wrong-headed. :D

Seriously though, I'm glad I don't have that monkey on my back: gambling addiction. I really feel for anyone that does.

Even for those who went pro? :poke

[tunghaichuan]

Even for those who went pro? :poke

It's like anything else, there are those who can handle it and function relatively normally. Then there are those who destroy their lives and lives of their families. I feel sorry for the poor sad sacks who are so compelled to gamble (or act on any other addiction) that it destroys them and/or their families, loved ones, etc.

[R_of_G]

http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/statistics.gif

"Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything. 14% of people know that." - Homer Simpson