NJres

I can't decide what I would actually do with that money... I don't mean how I would spend it or who I would give it to. I mean.... what institution(s) would I trust with $200 million?? (You know, my lump sum check after taxes) None of the banks are safe enough.. FDIC only covers $250k... MF Global proved the brokers are not safe and the government won't protect you from thieves. It is too complicated! What a headache!! I don't want to win after all.

SockherMom

I heard this morning on the local news that you have better a better odds that you will be hit by lightening and killed, than winning the lottery. That did not stop me from buying $10 worth....

GladGradDad

Nah - it's only up to around $640M right now. I think I'll wait for the next cycle when there'll be some real money in the jackpot - just like all those who don't play at $250M but are playing now.

Same here - I just do the dollar shot thing if I'm there on business travel or driving through and stopped for a break. I also realize the odds of winning a slot or leaving Vegas with dollars ahead.

garland

So poker son told me today that the odds of winning this particular lottery are less than the odds of being struck by lightning a bunch of times....(I forget the number he said).

He still has a ticket, though.

coureur

>>Man...some of the posters are real kill joys....<<

Probably what many youngsters think when their parents nag them about their ridiculously-unrealistic "magical thinking."

Buying a lottery ticket is the adult version of magical thinking.

DrGoogle

I gave up standing in line to buy my lottery tickets at a store that sold $55 million a few years back. The line is so long it's unbelievable. My friend later went there to pick up 2 tickets for me and she said the store owner has sold a few tickets that winning $1 million here and there. Hopefully this will be my good luck tickets.

dstark

A friend is standing in line at a liquor store right now.

People are buying tickets like they are free.
50 here. 100 there. 200 over there.

I wonder if this is going to take away from sales of other products.

dstark

Coureur.....you never eat at an expensive restaurant? Stay at a nice place? Buy an expensive bottle of wine? Waste of money?

I am a professional gambler...it's ok to indulge once in awhile...
For some people..playing the game is enjoyable..the winning is secondary.....almost.

I think I have bought lottery tickets once in the last 10 years.

You sound like my financial math major, actuary, lover of probability, daughter.
She didn't want to buy any tickets. I called her up and said we are
partners on some tickets.

She laughed.

And magical thinking can be ok. I started to read the posts in that thread...and just stopped.

garland

Coureur--it's magical thinking if you think that buying the ticket is going to make you win. Yes, there are people who think like that. But it's not magical thinking to buy it, having some actual idea that you probably aren't going to win, but enjoying the what-if fantasy. I've never actually bought a lottery ticket, but i don't see a disconnect from the reality-based world in the latter sort of thinking.

coureur

>>Coureur.....you never eat at an expensive restaurant? Stay at a nice place?<<

Of course I do. I'm typing this very post from a nice hotel in Paris, France. I had an excellent dinner tonight. But what does an expensive hotel or meal have to do with gambling against obscenely-long odds? When I ordered my dinner tonight the odds that I'd get what I asked for were a lot better than 1 in 176,000,000. In fact, barring my not understanding the French menu properly (a possibility), the odds probably approached certainty. And in any case, I didn't have to pay for the meal until after it had been served and I had eaten it.

When you order some expensive thing, the odds of you "winning" what you wanted are very good indeed. If you ordered and paid for your food first, but the odds of actually getting served anything to eat by the restaurant were 1 in millions, then we'd be talking about similar situations. And I wouldn't put a dollar down in a restaurant like that either.

dstark

I am playing because I want to play. I think there are a lot of us that just want to play.....a game.

You are spending more money on an expensive meal because that is what you want.

I have eaten at some expnsive restaurants..probably will in the future..
And the experience doesn't do much for me.

What can I say. I like bland food.

Have fun...

lololu

H, the philosopher, says given the odds, it is illogical to believe you will win the lottery. Therefore it is illogical to buy a lottery ticket. Buying a lottery ticket is a sign of being an irrational thinker. HOWEVER, once you win the lottery, it is perfectly logical to think that buying a ticket led to your winning. Therefore, you are a rational thinker.

SO , since I do not want him to think I am an irrational thinker (a mortal sin in a Philosopher's eyes), I don't tell him if I buy a lottery ticket. I am debating if I will tell him if I win the $640,000,000. I wouldn't want him to think that I had fallen into the trap of being an irrational thinker for even a few hours. So, I guess I get to spend it all myself!

dstark

Lol..............

coureur

>>I am playing because I want to play. I think there are a lot of us that just want to play.....a game.<<

I hardly call anything where the odds are so absurdly rigged to favor one side over the other a "game." That's like calling the "contest" between the executioner and a prisoner a "fight."

cptofthehouse

Just bought myself $20 in numbers. I guess I'm going over to the dark side.