Who is playing the lottery? (buy, cheap, game, Boston)

[Fibis235]

Who plays the lottery? Where do you buy tickets? What is your biggest win?

[jim9251]

I did once, when it was half a billion dollars, didn't win. I took my ticket back for a refund and was thrown out of the gas station-KFC-Taco Bell-sushi café- truck stop.

[TFW46]

Twenty years ago I bought a lottery ticket on a whim -- first time ever -- and matched 5 numbers... all but the powerball number. Today matching 5 numbers would be worth $1,000,000 but, in those days it was worth only $2,500. I've played the lottery only occasionally since then and have won $100 three times. When I've run through the $2,500 and the $300 win amounts, I'll stop playing permanently.

[hellob]

My dad and his wife spend about $20 a day between pick 3, 4, jackpots and scratch offs. It's literally their plan A.
No matter how much I try to explain how stupid it is... It's so bad that if I ask him what day it is, he doesn't answer Monday, Tuesday, etc. it's Mega or Powerball. I'm not even exaggerating.
They win enough to make them think the big one is coming. They hit pick 3,4, take 5 a couple times a month.

[don6170]

Originally Posted by hellob

No matter how much I try to explain how stupid it is... .

It is stupid from the viewpoint of how bad the odds are stacked against any specific individual winning. However, there will eventually be a winner, and you have an equal chance to win as any other ticket holder.

I do play occasionally, but only with money I can afford to throw away. I usually get my money's worth in entertainment.

[hellob]

Originally Posted by don6170

It is stupid from the viewpoint of how bad the odds are stacked against any specific individual winning. However, there will eventually be a winner, and you have an equal chance to win as any other ticket holder.

I do play occasionally, but only with money I can afford to throw away. I usually get my money's worth in entertainment.

I agree but $20/day is excessive bc he has tons of debt that it could pay. The wife probably spends $15 of the $20. I told my dad it'd be cheaper to not buy the pick 3, 4 tickets and the times she does hit, just pay her OOP. She gives him the numbers to play so she would never know he didn't buy them and afaik, she never wins the straight so it's like $80 for pick 3, idr pick 4 but she only hits that every few months. She hits the pick 3 more.

[BostonMike7]

I think I've made more money by not playing the lottery, than I have by playing it

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I think I've made more money by not playing the lottery, than I have by playing it

Someone gets it.

[Crashj007]

Here's the thing on the odds that misleads people so badly: The possible combinations on say, pick three are 1000. But that's the total combinations the balls can come up with on a given drawing. Meanwhile your Dad/Mom/self has picked a bet, random or favorite does not matter, it is one of 1000 combinations they could pick. So their chance of having the same pick as the game is 1000 x 1000 or 1,000,000 to one.

So on a given night the chance of him winning is 1,000,000:1, not 1,000:1

The number of possible tickets on Powerball is about 292,000,000. The balls pick one of those combinations each time. The player selects a number from the same universe, at random or a favorite, does not matter, one of 292,000,000 possibilities. The chance of the two selections being the same and the chance of you as a specific individual being the winner is the product of these two numbers:
85,264,000,000,000,000:1 There are approximately
******100,000,000,000 stars in the Milky way galaxy.
"Math is hard"

[kygman]

I'll buy a couple dollars of Mega Millions maybe twice a month. Knew a man who spent $20-$25/day on pick 3 and pick 4. Even subscribed to a book that gave all the winning numbers the month before. But had to hitchhike 15 miles to work because he didn't have the money to get his car worked on.