<p>The REAL lottery, not the college admissions lottery. Sometimes I buy a ticket. Once a construction worker in line ahead me explained he only plays when it’s $30MM or higher, because otherwise, it’s not worth it. </p>
<p>I won two bucks in a scratch off game once, so I know the system works :)</p>
<p>Anyone ever win anything?</p>
<p>When you play, do you dream of what you would do with the money if you won?</p>
<p>10 years ago, I used to think – if I win big, I’ll quit my job, stay home, have another child, and get a dog.</p>
<p>Now I think: OMG I can actually pay for college.</p>
<p>I don’t - I’m pretty good with math and know the odds of winning anything significant (minuscule). </p>
<p>Given that, it wouldn’t bother me to bet $1 every now and then on it but I don’t go anywhere that tickets are sold and it’s not worth going to any effort for, including doing it online, IMO. I played it a few times when it first started but haven’t in the past few decades or so.</p>
<p>My sister was hungry, she went driving past the local food places. She was tired of them all, she thought of the track. “Hey, they have food at the track”. She ate lunch and then bet four dollars, exacta box. She won $84! She only went there for lunch!</p>
<p>And she split it with me…now that’s a sister!</p>
<p>Lottery, no. The odds are much better at the track.</p>
<p>My mom is a long term lottery player. One of her main concerns when I take her out during the week is that she “plays her numbers.” She has won 4 figures a couple of times (a scratch off and a numbers game.) She often “wins” $5, $10, $25 and even $50 but given that she plays $10-$20/week, it’s probably a wash or less. But she has fun with it and proceeds from our state lottery go directly to college scholarships. You should see her when she goes to Vegas ;)</p>
<p>I only play if it’s over a certain amount. Powerball’s jackpot is currently at $253 Million, so I played a ticket when my mom got hers. At worst, it’s a donation to a college fund for a local kid.</p>
<p>I buy tickets when the jackpots are big…but not in multiples , always just one
I also play a state lottery that has frequent winners , but when the jackpot goes higher than $300,000
I don’t have my own numbers though</p>
<p>I will play a $1 or $2 quick pick ticket when the jackpot gets big. I have won prizes from $2 up to $100 (once) on a number of occasions… but am clearly in the red over the years. It’s a fun risk for me to take, with minimal investment. Toe, the thrill of potentially hitting it big is worth the buck or two a week I may throw at it. :)</p>
<p>some times winning is a bad thing in gambling. Las Vegas casinos want people to win，because when they win that will bring out the Gambling Bug out of a person and keep them gambling.
The odds are always against the gambler so in the long run you lose as long as you keep at it.</p>
<p>I buy lottery tickets and give them as Christmas stockings. I do personally have positive accounts of people winning lottery. My sister’s friend was on her last dollar when she purchased a ticket and won $500K by winning 5 numbers. Big money because it was a few years back. Another person that used to work in my household also was part of the lottery pool and won less $5million for a group of people, I think less than 20.</p>
<p>It is entirely sensible to play the lottery. The calculations of odds treat the lottery as a bloodless investment when it’s actually more a form of entertainment: you buy a ticket to dream. For a dollar or two, you can imagine yourself in a different life. Isn’t that why we go to the movies? Or read books? </p>
<p>So yes, I’ll buy tickets on occasion. I’ve won a few dollars here and there, but nothing much.</p>
<p>I never like hearing stories about people suffering financially…except when a big lotto winner blows their new found millions of dollars in a couple of years! I think a great reality TV show series would be one about how different lotto winners blow all their lotto dough on gold plated cotton candy machines for their newly bought deluxe 8-wide mobile homes and end up flat broke in two years wondering what happened. I guess I’m kinda warped, but I know I would laugh like crazy watching the episodes of the lotto millionaires ending up broke in nothing flat.</p>
<p>As far as the logic behind playing, I think it makes some sense. Ticket purchases do have a negative “expected value”, but they also give you exposure to something good happening. Its like the obverse of insurance. You just don’t want to spend too much of your wherewithal on the exposure.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In MA, a scandal broke out because a game was set up to pay off with better odds rather than roll forward for a very long time. They did this because people lost interest when the game didn’t pay. People with money figured this out and bought huge amounts of tickets when the odds change. The scandal was that this happened. But the state made something like $40M extra because the game attracted “investors”. That works out to about $17M for education. So they should do this to draw in more sophisticated investors willing to take that chance. Makes the lottery less of a “tax on the poor.”</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve long argued the best way to get people to vote - which used to be considered a good, even necessary thing in American democracy - would be to give each voter an entry in a lottery. For local elections, the amount wouldn’t need to be much. Imagine winning a few million dollars because you voted. Wouldn’t you vote?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>HI doesn’t have legal gambling or lotteries. Have never entered a lottery. My dad’s secretary entered a raffle once & won an iPad. I bought $100 in tickets to a friend’s event because she is always such a nice person & entered her name. She won a medium size prize and was very surprised.</p>
<p>The money I save on lottery tickets is available for things with better odds. I won 10K in a local charity raffle and 2K in gold coins in a local beer (and I don’t drink!) promotion. I won the only Superbowl pool I was ever in. Always enter those church raffles or anything local.</p>