Do you play the lottery?

[beb30]

I've done it once and all I spent was $1 on a line for $57 million and frankly I dont consider it that big of a loss especially with the crap I probably would of wasted my money on anyway - that extra candy bar or pop that I dont need anyway. Besides a $57 million return on $1 even if the chances are close to 0 is still a heck of a return.

[westofyou]

Lottery tickets... the thing some folks buy while they also buy their smokes.

Lighting up they inhale and say, I'll never get cancer... exhaling they scratch the tickets saying.. today is the day I win.

[flyer85]

Have heard it described as a tax on people who don't understand probability and statisitics.

[texasdave]

Steve Forbert once wrote a song titled 'You can not win if you do not play". I always liked that song. I only play a handful of times a year but if I ever do win I'm hiring ole Steve to entertain me when I do.

[pedro]

I voted no because I haven't bought a lottery ticket in years but I do think about it from time to time when the pot gets really large.

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by GAC

And since studies have shown you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning then winning the lotto, I'm not taking any chances.

Good thing, because we all know that is exactly what would happen to you after winning the lottery.

That or falling out of a tree.

Or blowing your eyebrows off again.

[Red in Chicago]

for about a year, a group of my coworkers chipped in a buck a week to play the lottery...we never really won much of anything...then it just got to be a pain the butt for the person collecting the money each week...the bad thing about work pools, is that if you don't chip in and it hits, you're screwed as gik already mentioned...luckily, we finally all decided to give up...now i only play when the pot gets to be a good size...this week, i'll definately be playing
creek, i'll have four more diamond seats next to you

[gonelong]

Originally Posted by zombie-a-go-go

My father calls the lottery, and I quote, "a tax on stupidity."

No offense intended. I don't play, myself. That's beer money.

I am good for about 4 or 5 tickets a year, generally as part of a group at work. Has to be in the 100s of Millions before I'll bother. If I am going to win I want FU money.

GL

[15fan]

There'd be some philanthropy and some things I'd do for the family.

Then there would be an absolutely out-of-control binge of morally reprehensible and completely self-indulgent debauchery.

It would be epic.

[WMR]

I'd be "making it rain," that's for sure.

[15fan]

once the pot tops $70 million, i'll throw in $1 for each subsequent drawing until someone hits.

(I also have a vested interested in the continued solvency of the HOPE scholarship program here in Georgia.)

[Joseph]

If I had stupid money like that I'd buy a suite at GABP as well as a pair of Diamond seat season tickets as well as some season tickets on the dugout corner by the Reds dugout.

Yes thats a lot of tickets, but still I'd love it and could share with friends.

I'd buy the top of the Ascendancy [I think thats the name] over in Newport as well as a few hundred acres in the 'hills' somewhere a couple hours from the 'nati.

One year, I'd see all 162 games in person, just because.

Naturally I'd help a lot of other people as well.

[oneupper]

If you are poor, playing the lottery makes sense. That $1 you spend will not change your life. The payoff will.

If you are a multi-millionaire, it's a waste. A jackpot will not change your life.

On "average" you lose about 70% of each dollar you put into the lotto, so it seems that playing is not a rational decision. But it can be...based upon the above (which some really smart people modeled mathematically and called "utility theory").

My wife play a buck or two when we go grocery shopping. I don't discourage her.

Myself, I play the financial markets. Better odds, but not necesarily more rational.

[GIK]

Interesting lotto winner and his story:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/20/maga...ion=2007022807

[Falls City Beer]

Originally Posted by oneupper

If you are poor, playing the lottery makes sense. That $1 you spend will not change your life. The payoff will.

If you are a multi-millionaire, it's a waste. A jackpot will not change your life.

On "average" you lose about 70% of each dollar you put into the lotto, so it seems that playing is not a rational decision. But it can be...based upon the above (which some really smart people modeled mathematically and called "utility theory").

My wife play a buck or two when we go grocery shopping. I don't discourage her.

Myself, I play the financial markets. Better odds, but not necesarily more rational.

While I agree it's probably not terribly harmful to buy lotto tickets (within reason), there is something about the principle of squandering money that you KNOW you'll never see again. That's enough for me to stay away.