Let's put it this way. SOMEONE is going to win this...maybe not tonight or Saturday, but in the coming days/weeks. It is literally impossible for me to win unless I buy a ticket. Therefore, I will give myself at least the opportunity to be that SOMEONE. Are the odds in my favor? No. But have my odds gone up if I buy a ticket. Hellz yeah!

You got me.

Played 4 dollars for two tickets. I occasionally buy a ticket every 2 to 3 weeks.

I also know that it is more likely that I'll actually become a Unicorn and **** skittles before I win. I haven't even won a free ticket in 3 years.

I do it for the dream. When your subconscious mind asks "what would you do with all the money?".

I have never bought a lotto ticket. One mold shop I worked at the boss would go drink lunch and buy a big pile of lotto tickets and walk through the shop and drop two or three at each surface plate that stood behind us. I NEVER won so much as $5 of any of those either!
The state lotto doesn't pay off enough. But at the Chinese grocery I go to there is an old boy that has to be in his nineties who sells numbers. He usually has a three inch stack of markers by noon. Crazy place. Nobody speaks English - including the numbers man - and the first time I went in there he was busy doing business and totally oblivious to me. When the guy in front of me was done and I stepped up he about had a heart attack because he obviously thought I was a cop. Funny as hell.

Take the annuity and die and see what kind of estate tax problems your heirs will have. Have to take your "annuity" to JG Wentworth for a cash payout (at another deep discount) so that you can payoff the feds (and possibly your state too). Screwed and screwed again!

Always take the cash.

its a decent bet when you have +EV. if you don't, well its not.

Hell i think im gonna blow 20 bucks or so some tix. I blow up a bit more then that weekly turning $ into sound. so *shrug*

Gotta be in it to win it!

You want to waste money? Buy a boat. You will wish you had bought lottery tickets instead.

I play it, as mentioned above, the same way I go to a casino.
It is a planned loss.

If I go to Disneyworld, I don't complain when I leave having spent money, and with nothing to show for the expense. It is the cost of entertaining me while I am there.

This is the way I look at casinos, and the way I look at the lotteries.
We play a pool at the office, when the jackpot gets high enough to give each person in the pool "Done Money" (meaning we are done, and off the squirrel wheel) if we win.

We haven't won. We don't win. We won't win.

But we have a couple of days fun thinking how the boss would look if (not when) we all told him we were gone.

It's worth a couple of bucks for that.

And, even though the odds are ****, they are better if you have a ticket than if you don't.
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For awhile on quick picks in my state if the player did not indicate that he wanted a lump-sum payout if he hit the super-lotto the state would limit him to the annuity over a 20 year period. How chicken**** was that? Even if you picked your own numbers you had to check a box to indicate whether you wanted the annuity or lump-sum. If you didn't check the box you got the annuity. Somebody must have sued because they discontinued that practice several years ago.

Oh, and if I was a suspicious fellow , I would say that there will be no winner until January.

For two reasons:
1) to milk the new $2 ticket price
2) to apply the 2013 tax rates so the Government gets more of the money back

Quote:

You want to waste money? Buy a boat hole in the water that you throw money into. You will wish you had bought lottery tickets instead.

FTFY


A buddy of mine once told me: "Want to know what it feels like to own a boat? Go take a $100-bill...and flush it."

Uh, a $100 bill?

It's not "Break out another THOUSAND", it's BREAK OUT ANOTHER TEN-THOUSAND.

My wife's the gambler in the family. I guess that's why she married me. :^) She usually buys a ticket every damn week. I ask her why she wastes her money like that. She asks me whether I would rather have her take up drinking or smoking? That normally shuts me up. But in all the years she's played her best score was 3 regular numbers and the mega number which paid about $40. I hate to even guess how much she's paid into it. But there's no doubt it would be good for a couple mortgage payments.

$2 for a few days of hope and dreams is worth it.

I've never bought a lottery ticket or gambled in my life.
Unless you consider screwing around with leveraged ETFs gambling.

I never by them individually. But if the fine folks I work with get a pool going, I will play. Very simple reason: If they were to win, I'd be the lone one who did not kicking myself in the ass for not doing so.

Otherwise I totally agree with you.

OK I'll admit. I put 10 bucks in a pool at the golf course. Last night we had 44 people playing. I only put up the money because I didn't want all my friends to win and leave me. If we don't win I'll beat someone out of the 10 on the golf course. hahahaha

Hey Noodleman,

I guess it's better than her taking the mailman as a hobby. I'm sure my wife will buy some a couple tixs herself.

Guilty.

If I win, dinner will be on me for all registered users here at a restaurant in NYC. However, you will all have to supply your own transporation.

I bought 1. $2. Worth it just for the fantasy.

I was trying to explain the odds to my son. Lightning strikes are a useless comparison. I told him it was as if 2 people in the entire United States were going to be picked at random. The odds of winning the power ball are actually worse than the odds of being one of those two people.

>$2 for a few days of hope and dreams is worth it.

This.

It's nice to think of what you'd do if you did hit it. Funny - as I've gotten older I've started to first think of who I'd help with it.
What I'd do for myself is way down the list. All I can really think of right now besides quitting my job is buying some more nail polish that I kind of want but can't justify LOL.

I had bought a couple of tickets for just us, but this AM someone started a pool at work. I do NOT want to be left here if everyone else quits, so I had to join that just for safety's sake!

And yes, I'm completely cognizant of having probably just dumped the money down the drain. But I have no debt and few vices (other than the nail polish), I can do this every once in awhile.

Lizardqueen,

I had the same thoughts. I would help a lot of people.

But admit it, wouldnt you buy yourself some new shooz?

I have never bought a lottery ticket, but I always say to my friends ... "If you buy a ticket, your odds are really REALLY low ... but if you don't buy a ticket, your odds are definitely ZERO!" After seeing this blog entry, maybe I'll go buy my first ticket. =P Just make sure your gamble money comes out of your budgeted entertainment bucket, and not as a lifestyle.

>But admit it, wouldnt you buy yourself some new shooz?

Probably not. I have PITA feet. But nail polish, well, that would be a different story....

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