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not put the money instead into the stock market? I swear, the lottery must be a stupid tax. The odds of some small company succeeding is probably much higher than getting a lottery and watching the investment account grow is much more fun than logging on to the internet to see if the numbers drawn were yours.
My immediate family alone spends 100 dollars a month on powerball and various scratch-off things and always try to egg me on and buy my own tickets.
At least I can get at least some part of my money back if I "lose". Theirs is gone forever. And I am convinced my odds of winning is higher.
For clarifying a rep comment, I don't invest in penny stocks but rather small/medium sized companies that do interesting technological or scientific research. I read a lot of science and tech news, so that's how.
Because people don't understand probability. Also, you need a bigger chunk of money to buy stocks versus buying a couple of lotto tickets.
Third is the psychological effect of having closure with lotto tickets that you don't get from stocks. When you get a lotto ticket, you know exactly when you've won or lost. With a stock that goes up 20%, should you sell it? What it goes even higher? What if it tanks - have you lost? Well it might go higher after you sell. You never have this closure and for some people that's a very uncomfortable experience.
I have to admit, I never thought of putting the money I don't spend on lottery tickets into the stock market.
But then, I consider both to be nothing but gambling.
The last time I checked, a lottery ticket cost $1 and it was not possible to invest a solitary $1 in the stock market.
Putting any money into the stock market involves learning some knowledge and I find the average American very adverse to putting any effort in, especially if it involves mathematics in any way.
We have a 6/49 lottery up here, odds are 14 million to one that you'll win.
to put those kind of numbers in perspective imagine a big drum full of 14 million phone numbers, when the drum stops turning reach in and pull out your number..you could do the same routine every minute of your life and never pull out the right number.
Well some one has to win,,yeah and i got $5 says it aint gonna be you.
We have a 6/49 lottery up here, odds are 14 million to one that you'll win.
to put those kind of numbers in perspective imagine a big drum full of 14 million phone numbers, when the drum stops turning reach in and pull out your number..you could do the same routine every minute of your life and never pull out the right number.
Well some one has to win,,yeah and i got $5 says it aint gonna be you.
That analogy is false. The lottery is more like 14 million people guessing which number will be picked. Among the 14 million people, some can pick the same number, and often times, the winning number is not picked at all.
It was an analogy that tries to put 14 million to 1 odds in perspective, perhaps a poor one but thats what immediately came to mind to show the futility of throwing money into these kinds of lotteries. Feel free to give us a more correct analogy to give people a mental grasp of those types of enormous odds.
With my $2 investment in a powerball ticket I can dream of vacations in the Caribbean and work a plan to invest my millions. I know my chances of winning are slim..But someone will win.so why not?
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