I had one number right. I have a really good feeling about this one so I'll be buying another and another and another

They left poor folks (which means most of us now) with lottery tickets as their only retirement plan.

Loto Games

jackpot is now $550 mil.

I just KNOW I wouldda gotten the winner...I just KNOW it!!!



That said, since no one won, if I am near a store that sells the tickets today, I will buy one.

Note, I said "one." Not ten, not a hundred, not five hundred. Just... one.

It's worth the price of imagining what I could do with all that money I'll never get!

with all three services.

I never buy tickets unless it gets this big.

It's so much fun to dream.

I love to dream about all the things I could do with that kind of money.

Just fun to fantasize.

in one lump sum after taxes within the next few weeks.

Oddly enough, buying tickets for the lottery does not substantially increase your chance of winning.

if you spend $2, $5 or $10 for the fun of thinking about all those $100s of millions, knowing you have little chance, have a good time.
If you are spending $100 or more a week thinking you have a real shot, you are wasting money that could be used for better things.
Just be aware that the odds are the same as finding one person in the US hiding in one house or apartment anywhere in the country. You have no information and just must guess a single street address. Those are your odds.

had one number right. I might buy another before Tuesday, unless I see someone on the street who could possibly get something useful out of my delusional thinkings. 1 in 256 million (shakes head at the futility)

That said....

I buy a ticket when it is over 500 million.

$200 or $300 million just isn't worth a buck?

Hell, I'd be tickled shitless to win $100 in the lottery, but I usually don't buy a ticket unless the jackpot crosses the $100M threshold. It's a phenomenon worthy of psychological analysis, for sure.

It would be interesting to see analysis of how people create a threshold for when to buy lottery tickets.

In my case, I'm glad that my threshold is so high, considering that millions of people spend good money on scratch-off tickets with lower payouts but much better odds of winning something - sometimes spending grocery money in endless rounds of buy-scratch-payout-buy...endless, that is, until their gambling money is completely gone.

(I don't remember-it had to do with the-whatever thing they do to double or triple the smaller amounts.) Anyway, they live in a smaller town and that money should have lasted for a bit. Instead, they spent it on vacations, on buying two brand new pick-ups and on a down payment on a house that was way out of their price range. They had vehicles that were only a year old before, owned a time share in Branson and almost had their house paid off. (They owed less than $20,000 on the house.)

A couple of years later and they are declaring bankruptcy. Just plain silly.

Like the people you know, this guy and his wife live in a small town. He owned a car-repair business and was OK financially before winning $1M. First thing he bought? A Rolls Royce (used, but still...). They made a few more flamboyant displays and less than two years later, they were divorced and his business was in the crapper.

I like to believe I'd be smarter if I came into a windfall like that, but I also recognize the potential for foolishness to rule the day.

I have no grand dreams.

If I made enough to buy a small, old house that could use a few repairs (the market is still flooded around here-there are some adorable two bedrooms that are older for well under 60), if I could pay off a couple of bills, if I could take my kid on one nice vacation (maybe D.C., maybe even Disneyworld), if I could get enough to put back for my kid to attend the local state university for four years-I'd be happy. I don't need anything fancy. The house and the school are the most important, since with the outright purchase of the house I'd have more money to pay down bills faster and the college education is essential. The bill paying will eventually happen but no stress would be nice and the vacation would be a lovely memory.

They were just so dumb about the money.

You know what my main problem is with winning lottery money? Everyone knows about it. If you could win and it could be kept quiet? I think some winners would be in better shape. Personally, I know far too many people who would never leave me alone over 100 grand.

you would have to say good bye to a few friends. A lot of people would expect a big pile of cash.

I realized that, after all these years, there were too many people I had nothing in common with and that were actually bringing me down. I dramatically cut my list and am actually happier than I've been in years.

A decade ago, someone of my acquaintance won the California Super-lotto - around $20 mill, I think. He was a franchise manager, and his wife was a bank teller/customer accounts assistant.

First thing, he and his wife waited a week before claiming the winnings, which they took as a lump sum, netting only around $3.5 million (after taxes). They contacted a lawyer, an accountant, and a real-estate agent and set up trusts, powers of attorney, made arrangements to put their house up for sale a month later, and re-wrote their wills. They submitted their claim ticket, waited a month, then went on a two month vacation while their goods were put into storage, their house sold, their accountant paid all outstanding bills and closed accounts for them, and their attorney contacted those they decided they were going to help with a lump sum gift, and those who they thought might want to put a claim on some of the money. The kids were never told about the winnings after they went on vacation so the family wouldn't get crushed with people looking for a hand-out...
They got new bank accounts and credit cards, they got some land and put up a house, started a business, and put the rest of the money in a couple different trusts. After they were settled, they contacted only the people they wanted to continue to have ties with. And they let their attorney handle anyone else - including family members. (The sister who I was better acquainted with was more than a bit miffed that she was only on a Christmas card and birthday present list - not the favored family member list - but she was more into truthiness than reality, and was always having problems when things wouldn't go the way she scripted them to go in her mind, and was always "needing help"...)

I'm thinking that by now, they have already gotten the back rest of their $20 mil through their investments, and have set up their family for a comfortable multi-generational fund. I'd like to think that I would take a similar route, but use a bit more of it for scholarships or community micro-loans to help people out.

But I know even more people that would take a lump-sum payment like that and spend it at a rate of $750K - $500K a year without investing it (or putting it into a business and work at something they love) - and be totally broke 5 years later.

Haele

I'd live a bit better but more simple than most with a large windfall of that type. A large amount would have not only my bills but immediate family completely paid. My child, niece and nephew would have a college fund ready, guaranteeing a state university education paid at 100 percent. There would be a one time payment made to a small group of family members and one or two friends, a scholarship, some donations to charities and the local historical society. I would still have a smallish house with maybe a smallish bit of lake property and take a nice vacation that summer. The rest would be invested.

I believe.
I've heard the same about some people who inherit a windfall.

Instead of making things a bit more comfortable they blew it in a huge way.

Are those without a ticket.

Why in the world would you think different?

Health insurance companies pay out at least 80% and we have no issues describing that as a scam. They're an investment in which the average rate of return is -43%

http://www.howstuffworks.com/lottery1.htm

lotteries are gambling... and everyone knows it. MOST know that is gambling with horrifically bad odds. but, lotteries also fund some gov't activities like supporting college education. hardly a scam...

sP

Personally I'm in favor of progressive taxation myself. Having said that, I buy the occasional ticket myself - it buys an opportunity to dream about the millions I'll never have.

purchasing a ticket is wholly a choice... not knowing (and understanding) the odds is also a choice. i turn a blind eye to the odds and occasionally buy a ticket for the same purpose as you. i just can't call it a scam...

sP

gave everyone in his department lottery tickets for Christmas. I thought it was only a "gift" if you won. Otherwise, it's just a piece of paper. I still think that. It's a crummy "gift." The chances of winning are astronomical so why waste the money?

Maybe if it was given in addition to something tangible but, by itself? Waste.

can you get for a buck or two that won't make people feel like it's a big FU.
"Here everyone a candy bar and a pack of gum."

I conversed with about it at the time saw the problem with it. Good to finally have someone agree with me ten years later. Heh.

"You too will get tax cuts if you ever get rich enough."

"Hey this might seem cheap, but I may be giving you a million bucks."

"It's not a gift. it's the possibility of a gift."

and all that stuff.

Hey, for a coupla days, one can just fantasize about what he/she will do with all that money! I'd give most of it to charity and keep the other 95%!

Gives me even MORE reason to buy a ticket!

I only play it if it gets into gasping territory, but hell yes. I want to be part of the 1%. I want to be different and I swear I'd do good, but if that money got dropped on my doorstep I'd take it. For a buck it's fine fantasy territory.

in lotteries, etc.

Many people think the poor are stupid or crazy for doing so. I do not.

For a poor person confronting a lifetime of ever-worsening conditions, a slim chance at escape is better than none. Those tickets provide exactly that--a slim chance.

And, perhaps more important, the ticket buys an escape into fantasy. "What would I do if I won 500 million? How would people suddenly change in the way they treat me? What would I be able to do for my family? To whom would I give away some of the money?" Etc.

At a buck or 2, it's a lot cheaper than a movie ticket.

No, I don't think the poor are stupid or crazy for buying a lottery ticket. Not a bit.

They would share their plans for the money. The "win" to me is in thinking about what one would do with all that money. Daydreams like that are worth a couple of bucks.

I spent over 50 times the cost of the lotto ticket to allow my family to invest themselves in a band of swarthy dwarfs and sneaky thieving hobbit and their one-in-millions chance to capture back a kingdom (and the mountains of gold that reside within the kingdoms walls) from an all-powerful dragon bent on preventing that.

No payoff at the end for me except a small nugget of time away from the harsh realities of a cold Wisconsin life.

Who the hell am I to judge?

Its much better to invest ten, twenty, or thirty thousand messages on an Internet Bulletin Board.

I'm very good at math. Very, very good.

As I said earlier, the only people with a zero chance of winning are those with no ticket.

analogous to spending money of a lottery ticket.
This seems a complete non-sequitor.

my problem is hte idiots who support wingnut policies because they will be wealthy because the tv mostly focuses on wealthy people. so they think they will be there one day also.

I'm not going to be the freakin' tool you read about who passed when all his co-workers hit the jackpot and retire! Other than that, I wished we'd never let the lottery and casino gaming get started again.

That would be a good thing, right? Kick in a few bucks to help the admins keep this thing on the rails?

What do I win?

and a dollar short, dude.

I'll take my shot. Should I get struck by lightening 4 times or win the lotto, I'll try to keep in mind that you don't approve.

want to suck up to the one that wins (I'm pretty sure we're related, somehow)...

Betting an amount of money you can afford to lose, for the fun of engaging in gambling, strikes me as a perfectly reasonable pastime if you enjoy it.

Gambling seriously and mathematically, over a long period of time, with the goal of making a living from it, taking only those risks one calculates to be worthwhile and keeping ones emotions firmly in check, strikes me as a perfectly reasonable (although unproductive and somewhat hair-raising) way to earn a living if you're good enough at it.

As far as I can see gambling only ever becomes a problem if you *mix* taking bets because you need the money with taking bets because you enjoy the buzz, and even then it often doesn't.

entertainment budget, and I have a lot of fun planning out how I'd spend those millions - because I'd give most of it away.

Seriously - I need a house, not too big, and a car, not too fancy, and some new underwear and shoes, and some money to pay off old bills. Oh, and some money to do deferred maintenance ot the clinic.

But I can think of a lot of people in my life who need help, adn then there's the whole rest of the world.

I know it's silly but for God's sake it's a freaking shitload of money. LOL

I really hope I'm wearing my sparkly shoes.

as Ed McMahon said, "You can't win if you don't enter!"
So I will drop a couple bucks and when I don't win, I have no nagging regrets that it could've been me. Because it wasn't.

when flipping a fair coin.

Or rolling 11 sixes in a row with a fair dice.

(Thank you iPhone calculator for having a "ln" button).

which is more likely?

1-2-3-4-5-6

or

12-45-23-67-10-8


I love odds...

sP

Purchased today!

Bad, sissyk, bad!

Lol!