Changes to lotto 6/49 in Sept.

[ZenOps]

http://www.wclc.com/lottery_news/Lot...ancements.html

"enhancements"

[roopi]

Could barely notice the 'all for $3.00 a play'. Nice price increase.

[ExtraSlow]

Lottery is a tax on people with poor impulse control and poor math skills.

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
Lottery is a tax on people with poor impulse control and poor math skills.

Tell them to pick 1,2,3,4,5,6.

They'll look at you like you're an idiot.

[Nitro5]

I blow a lot more my disposable income on stupid shit. I don't mind dropping a few bucks a week for a chance for a lot more. Probably will never win, but its not like he money I spent means going without food or shelter.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by Nitro5
I blow a lot more my disposable income on stupid shit. I don't mind dropping a few bucks a week for a chance for a lot more. Probably will never win, but its not like he money I spent means going without food or shelter.

most people don't understand that you have slim chances since they can't do 49P6

[CD007]

My brother won a million $$$ about 5 years ago.
He was sure happy that he bought that ticket.

[masoncgy]

You can't win if you don't play... so even if the odds suck, there's always the chance.

I don't buy it on my own, I chip into a pool with a few others at work. Cost is minimal and return could be amazing... so why not?

[ExtraSlow]

Interesting responses in this thread. I'm not against lotteries, but I find the reasoning for playing regularly to be fascinating. Psychology is neat.

I think you have better odds of striking it rich taking a couple grand and playing penny stocks, but because this is only two or three or five bucks at a time, it somehow feels cheaper, even though you'll spend a few grand in only a few years.

[Go4Long]

Originally posted by jwslam

For all they know, the 6 qp from last week that got them nothing were the exact winning numbers this week but they've already got different qp #'s

The odds of any combination occuring from week to week are independent (1: 13,983,816), playing the same set of numbers every week doesn't increase your odds of winning as it's always drawn from the same pool of 49 numbers. The odds of the same set of numbers occuring the next week is also exactly the same.

It's like roulette, your odds of any number coming up are 1:38 ever spin of the wheel. The second spin isn't any more or less likely to come up the same. Even if you watch 38 spins and one number hasn't come up, your next spin has the exact same odds of bringing up that number. And to put the lottery in perspective, take $5 and put it on a number on the roulette wheel, have it hit, then take all of the winnings and put it on another number...do that 6 times in a row and you've got yourself a lottery win (assuming that the lottery you play has 38 numbers, so in this case your likelihood of doing this in roulette is actually slightly better than the lottery)

From a sheerly theoretical perspective the odds of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 coming up are exactly the same as any other combination.

That being said...I buy tickets because of the fantasy.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[AsianAfroSamurai]

Since we are in the discussion on Lottery tickets, what's the opinion on the hospital/charity lotto's?

I am thinking along the lines of Caritas Foundation Lottery or the new Hospital Home Lottery.

Most have at least a 1 Million+ dollar home and 50/50 split.

I feel better "losing" my money to a good cause (bonus - I know exactly where the money is going).

The odds of winning (something if not the big prize) are obviously tremendously higher.

I understand it takes a bit more thought to put down $100+ for the tickets but I figure I'd rather increase my odds of winning a million dollar home which I can sell free and clear than put my money on the 10 Million+ lotto (with the odds being higher that I will get struck by lightning than winning the ticket).

[rage2]

Originally posted by Go4Long
From a sheerly theoretical perspective the odds of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 coming up are exactly the same as any other combination.

I'll bet a lot of idiots play those numbers for fun or as a joke, which means even if the odds are the same for those numbers coming up, the jackpot will be split more ways than one, leaving you with less winnings if you hit those numbers.

[ZenOps]

Meh, its just a fun way to give a few dollars to charity.

I was going to quit when they raised it to $2, and will probably quit when it hits $3... Maybe. People spend more in a day on smokes that I do for months on lottery, or a night on alcohol for a years worth of lottery.

But realistically I'd just do a Kyle Bass if I actually won.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by AsianAfroSamurai
Since we are in the discussion on Lottery tickets, what's the opinion on the hospital/charity lotto's?

I am thinking along the lines of Caritas Foundation Lottery or the new Hospital Home Lottery.

What's neat about those charity lotteries is that you can actually calculate an expected value from them, as they limit the number of tickets sold, and you know in advance how many prizes there are, and how much each prize is worth.

It's nearly impossible to do the same calculation for any of the "regular" lotteries, since it's hard to predict how many tickets will be sold, or what the final prizes will be, or what your chances of splitting are.

In the end, the expected value for any of them is negative, but some are much worse than others.

That's one of the reasons I like the pre-buy ticket packs for the stampede lotteries. Once you count the free admissions you get, it's actually a pretty decent expected value. If you bought the discounted rodeo tickets with your pre-buy code also, it comes close to a break-even proposition, which is miles ahead of most lotteries.

Any statisticians out there feel like doing a few of these? They are a bit of a pain. My memory says that 6/49 was something like a 0.25 "value" for each dollar invested.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[J-D]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


I hate lottery tickets and never buy them... but if they are running an office pool then I always make sure to sign up, the thought of all my coworkers winning (and quitting) and me being left out is too much to take.

I've heard this so many times before.

[adidas]

When you play the lottery, where does the actual money go? Does it all get contributed to the jackpot?

[Tik-Tok]

[revelations]

I remember a story from the States a few years ago where someone figured out how to win some kind of lotto, with a 90% chance of success.

The catch was that you had to spend something crazy (like 5000$) on tickets to potentially win 100,000$.