[2banana]

I don't play 5 times a day - And I look at it as I won $5 a day!

[Perdogg]

I am math wiz and I will buy a ticket just for the fun of it.

I know Bayes's Theorem.

[Bigh4u2]

"To a mathematician, the lottery is a game where those who don't play have essentially the same odds of winning as those who do -- none."

But obviously someone DOES win.

So his math is a little off.

[1Old Pro]

the lottery is a game where those who don't play have essentially the same odds of winning as those who do -- none.

Yep. If only people would tke a dollar a day and invest it beginning at age 20. By age 60 they'd automatically have a 100% chance of a very large payoff.

[BerniesFriend]

Jeez..what a frumpy nerd..sounds like he needs to get more than lucky with lotteries..

[fuquadukie]

It may be stupid and irrational, but... let's see... $145M for the cash option (~60% after tax, or ~$85-$90M)... I will buy a few $$ worth of tickets again today. I only play when the jackpots get ~$50M. For the naysayers out there... jeez-o-man.. I've spent a lot more on a lot worse. This is the only gambling I do.

And, if I win... I can throw away those letters from Nigeria.

And, also... if I win... I'm outa here. No offense meant.

[tiki]

That is why I buy 1 ticket twice a week. I want to give myself a chance but I don't want to waste too much money chasing a fairly unattainable dream.

[TXBSAFH]

I pay $2 a week in the TX lotto. That said I know my chances of winning are very, very slim. But it is worth it to dream.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I have often wondered why so many lottery winners go broke even after winning tens of millions of dollars at times.

The simple math is thus: By saving a mere $3 million and placing it in a realatively mediocre savings account with a major bank, say 4%, you gain in interest $10,000 a month. Even taking out 45% in taxes you end up with $5,500 a month, or $66,000 a year.

Every year.
After Taxes.

Then it hit me, if you lack the math skills that would prevent you from buying lottery tickets every week, you will not magically get the skills if you happen to actually win.

(I do love irony though, and it would have been unbelievably funny if the ticket the professor tore up had actually contained the winning numbers =))

[eastsider]

To a mathematician, the lottery is a game where those who don't play have essentially the same odds of winning as those who do -- none.

You've gotta be in it to win it.

[untenured]

Paulos recalled a line from Voltaire: "Lotteries are a tax on stupidity."

It's also a tax on the willing, unlike most of them.

[Sofa King]

"The overweening conceit which the greater part of men have of their own abilities is an ancient evil remarked by the philosophers and moralists of all ages. Their absurd presumption in their own good fortune... That the chance of gain is naturally overvalued, we may learn from the universal success of lotteries."

[ClearCase_guy]

I drop a $1 now and then. Nothing more.

This article is full of good quotes from people who argue (correctly, I believe) that the lottery is just recreation, no one thinks its an investment, people really like the thought that they could win, and it's a lot of fun.

About the only stupid quotes I saw (paraphrasing: "you have no chance of winning") come from the mathematician who seems to feel he is so much smarter than everyone else. Bet he voted for Kerry.

[pageonetoo]

I remember back in 1994 or 5, there was a large jackpot. A bunch of us went together and bought 100 tickets. I made the trip to DC to buy them (lived in VA at the time), and popped down $2 for myself.

I gave up all the tickets when I got back, and another friend logged the numbers. For the next two days, we all dreamed about money.

In the end, I was the only one who won anything. My $2 parlied into $50. I was extremely happy to win anything.

I don't need to win the lottery. Life has already granted me enough to live well. But, I still buy tickets when it gets this big. It isn't just the money, it's the entertainment.

When you plop down $30-40 bucks for a movie and popcorn, $2 sorta pales in comparison. Especially when you consider that the movie lasts about 2 hours +/-, whereas you can dream about jets, fast cars, amd private islands for just 2 bucks, for two days!

I always consider the money going into the trash, when I buy them. But, as the saying goes, "you can't win, without a ticket!"

Record $340 Million Ticket Claimed in Oregon!

The winners of the $340 million record breaking Powerball jackpot claimed their prize at Oregon Lottery headquarters on Tuesday, November 8. The ticket was purchased jointly by Steve and Carolyn West, and Carolyn's parents, Bob and Frances Cheney in the small town of Jacksonville (population 1,955) located in southwest Oregon. When Carolyn West's parents asked her if she wanted to share in buying a Powerball ticket, her husband told her not to waste her money. Fortunately, she didn't listen to him, and it turned out to be a decision worth millions. The winners had the choice of splitting a cash lump sum worth $164,410,058 before taxes, or a 29-year, 30-payment annuity...

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I think there are psychological/economic studies which purport to show that what you gain by buying a lotto ticket is the psychological boost between the time you acquire the ticket and the time that the drawing is held - you believe that you might just win. In essence you're buying the fantasy - much as someone who goes to a strip club or buys a hooker is in some sense buying another type of fantasy.

I also think people have a hard time conceptualizing big numbers. I think if you went to a baseball stadium where, say there are 45,000 fans seated there and they announced that they were going to call out a seat number and give the lucky winner a prize, if you sat there in Yankee stadium (or wherever) and looked at all the folks around you you would intuitively know that your chance of being called is quite small. But if you buy a lotto ticket that has a much smaller chance of hitting the jackpot, you psychologically might feel better about your chances because you can't visualize the fact that your competing against, say, 100 Yankee Stadiums, all lined up end to end.

[Toby06]

I spend a buck or two per drawing and consider it cheap entertainment. I can afford the 2 bucks.

I know I'll never win, but it sure is nice to dream about buying that beach house and spending the rest of my days fishing the world over!

[Tijeras_Slim]

My boss the physicist used the math arguement on me when he found out I buy tickets occasionally.

I informed him that 145,000,000 to one against was infinitely better odds than my getting rich working for him.

[Think free or die]

For people who spend the rent money, the lottery or any kind of gambling is bad news indeed. For most of us, it's relatively harmless entertainment. I probably spend on the order of $10 annually on lottery tickets when the spirit moves me. For a day or two I can dream a little about that place on the lake or cruising the islands. It's also an interesting way to hear what the kids dream about (owning a laser tag joint). Some folks buy overpriced lattes at Starbucks, others buy Powerball tickets. It's nice to have the freedom to choose.

[proxy_user]

On the other hand, this is a very clever way for the government to get back the money expended on welfare.

[mikeus_maximus]

While that true, and part of the reason I don't play in addtion to the moral objection, I have been "close" to lottery winners before.

A few years ago, when i was in private law practice, I represented a family who had just won $60M in the FL lottery.

In the last couple weeks, another jackpot winner bought their ticket at a small rural FL store where I used to take my kids to buy candy. The store had sold relatively few tickets, but one was worth, again, about $60M.