Author Topic: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets  (Read 36144 times)

Grateful Stache

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #100 on: March 16, 2015, 08:51:10 PM »
You can't win if you don't play.

I actually believe that to be one of the greatest brainwash phrases ever perpetuated on a society.  Right up there in the platitude list with "there's no 'I' in team", "you are what you eat",  "you only live once (YOLO)", and "everything happens for a reason".

To each their own.

(also on your list, I'm assuming)

Cheers,

 

GuitarStv

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #101 on: March 19, 2015, 09:34:33 AM »
"You are what you eat" isn't a platitude.  It's conservation of energy and mass, etc.  Simple physics.

It's also the reason I only eat good looking people.

Kaspian

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #102 on: March 19, 2015, 11:14:47 AM »
"You are what you eat" isn't a platitude.  It's conservation of energy and mass, etc.  Simple physics.

It's also the reason I only eat good looking people.

^^ Nice!!!  As for it being "simple physics", I have never seen anyone eat celery and then turn into celery.  Also, as for "conservation of mass", I've never seen anyone get fat from eating beach sand.

a1smith

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #103 on: March 19, 2015, 08:12:18 PM »
"You are what you eat" isn't a platitude.  It's conservation of energy and mass, etc.  Simple physics.

It's also the reason I only eat good looking people.

^^ Nice!!!  As for it being "simple physics", I have never seen anyone eat celery and then turn into celery.  Also, as for "conservation of mass", I've never seen anyone get fat from eating beach sand.

Turning into celery would be a pretty neat trick!  :-D  I was thinking more of the constituents of celery - water, vitamin K, molybdenum, folate, potassium, dietary fiber, manganese, etc.

The Fake Cheap

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #104 on: March 19, 2015, 08:24:07 PM »
I don't do a lot of gambling and very, very rarely buy a lotto ticket on my own.  However what I did do was join the lotto pool at work, but I did it in a bit of a different way.  What I did is I went in half with another person.  So our group pays $2/week per member, so I have a side agreement with so and so and I give her $1/week.  We split any prizes 50/50.  This is also just an agreement (we have a signed agreement and emails) between me and my co worker, so there is no extra work involved for the organizer of the pool.  So if my pool wins, and the share is 500K each, my share would be 250K.  My thoughts were at $2/week is over $100/year is a lot to pay for a slim chance at winning anything, but I can stomach the $52 a year. 

GuitarStv

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #105 on: March 20, 2015, 06:20:37 AM »
"You are what you eat" isn't a platitude.  It's conservation of energy and mass, etc.  Simple physics.

It's also the reason I only eat good looking people.

^^ Nice!!!  As for it being "simple physics", I have never seen anyone eat celery and then turn into celery.  Also, as for "conservation of mass", I've never seen anyone get fat from eating beach sand.

Turning into celery would be a pretty neat trick!  :-D  I was thinking more of the constituents of celery - water, vitamin K, molybdenum, folate, potassium, dietary fiber, manganese, etc.

 . . . and this logic shows why eating other people constitutes the best possible diet anyone could ever hope to have.  It is a fact that people contain 100% of the chemicals that make up people.

Kaspian

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #106 on: March 20, 2015, 12:40:21 PM »
"You are what you eat" isn't a platitude.  It's conservation of energy and mass, etc.  Simple physics.

It's also the reason I only eat good looking people.

^^ Nice!!!  As for it being "simple physics", I have never seen anyone eat celery and then turn into celery.  Also, as for "conservation of mass", I've never seen anyone get fat from eating beach sand.

Turning into celery would be a pretty neat trick!  :-D  I was thinking more of the constituents of celery - water, vitamin K, molybdenum, folate, potassium, dietary fiber, manganese, etc.

 . . . and this logic shows why eating other people constitutes the best possible diet anyone could ever hope to have.  It is a fact that people contain 100% of the chemicals that make up people.

Can we henceforth call it "cannibalism" in the thread?  This whole "eating" good looking people terminology is freaking me out a little bit.  ;-)

dunhamjr

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #107 on: March 20, 2015, 12:41:23 PM »
nope.

and i dont bet on sports. or really gamble either.

math-ya

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #108 on: March 21, 2015, 06:03:55 PM »
I've heard the lottery described as a tax for the stupid. When I get tempted to buy a ticket, I just go enter a bunch of online giveaways for free instead.  I have a real chance at winning those

Workinghard

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #109 on: March 23, 2015, 11:40:02 AM »
Well, I just bought five tickets. Actually my husband did. I have a patient whose husband recently died. Today was his birthday. He liked to gamble, so I bought some lottery tickets and gave them to her in his memory.  Yes, I know it was a waste of money but I don't regret it.

a1smith

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #110 on: March 23, 2015, 09:30:28 PM »
Well, I just bought five tickets. Actually my husband did. I have a patient whose husband recently died. Today was his birthday. He liked to gamble, so I bought some lottery tickets and gave them to her in his memory.  Yes, I know it was a waste of money but I don't regret it.

You'll regret it if one of them is the winning ticket!!!! :-D  Just kidding, that was a very nice thing to do.  :-)

Workinghard

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #111 on: March 24, 2015, 02:13:58 AM »
Well, I just bought five tickets. Actually my husband did. I have a patient whose husband recently died. Today was his birthday. He liked to gamble, so I bought some lottery tickets and gave them to her in his memory.  Yes, I know it was a waste of money but I don't regret it.

You'll regret it if one of them is the winning ticket!!!! :-D  Just kidding, that was a very nice thing to do.  :-)

Haha. If she wins something, it's hers! We still have the ability to work and save. I did make her cry though, so I'm not sure how nice it was :P

a1smith

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #112 on: April 02, 2015, 10:12:01 AM »
British couple win a million in lottery for 2nd time

"Lottery operator Camelot said Wednesday the couple beat odds of 283-billion-to-1."

Kaspian

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #113 on: April 02, 2015, 01:45:30 PM »
British couple win a million in lottery for 2nd time

"Lottery operator Camelot said Wednesday the couple beat odds of 283-billion-to-1."

Here's the thing with lotteries:  The odds somebody will win is 100%.  As are the odds that somebody will get eaten by a shark, somebody will die in a plane crash, somebody will find a huge chunk of gold ore, or somebody will get killed by a tiger.

The odds of the earth being destroyed by an asteroid are also 100%.

"Your odds of dying in an asteroid impact are about one in 700,000....  That’s about the same chance you have of dying in a flood or a fireworks accident over your lifetime. " 
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/mysteries_of_the_universe/2014/02/anniversary_of_chelyabinsk_asteroid_impact_we_need_to_test_a_deflector_mission.html

So, more likely I get smashed by some interstellar debris than win.  Better buy a ticket, better buy a helmet too.



Dicey

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #114 on: April 02, 2015, 02:18:34 PM »
"I'm not poor and I already have a retirement plan. "
Which is why I buy one once in a blue moon. As in less than once a year. I'm FIRE, so occasionally I go with the "'What the hell?' is always the right answer" theory. Since I buy gas and groceries at Costco and rarely set foot in a regular grocery or convenience store, I just never think about buying them. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

teadirt

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #115 on: April 02, 2015, 03:06:08 PM »
One of my math professors in college did his research in probability and analysis. He told the class that (at least in our state) IF you're going to gamble, the best odds you have with gambling is a keno machine.

The worst? Lotto tickets :)

fossilhog

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #116 on: April 02, 2015, 06:31:18 PM »
Go to jail, do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Greed is the enemy in our brains. MMM is all about combating that with reason and logic, the real money makers.

Doulos

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #117 on: April 02, 2015, 06:55:54 PM »
Dont buy into the lottery.  The lottery is even called a poor tax.  It is a way for the government to tax the poor out of what little money they do not have.
http://www.businessinsider.com/lottery-is-a-tax-on-the-poor-2012-4
http://www.npr.org/2014/07/16/332015825/lotteries-take-in-billions-often-attract-the-poor

If you like excitement of betting...
Vacation in Vegas.
Consider the costs all expenses for entertainment; not gambling.

Nothing wrong with saving up for a vacation and enjoying yourself.  Even if that involves you blowing hundreds on slots, blackjack, poker, etc.

You cannot go into this kind of thing thinking you could/will win, nor that winning big would even be good for you.
Most people that win big get crushed under the weight of reality and gambling addictions.
Please dont do that kind of thing to yourself.

You got to go into that kind of thing looking at every bet as a small investment in stocks you know have a -2% return.

a1smith

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #118 on: April 02, 2015, 08:23:53 PM »
The lottery is hazardous to your health!!!

Texas man kills girlfriend, self after fight over $500 lottery scratch-off: cops

Chicago man who won $1 million lottery was killed by cyanide poisoning: medical examiner

Missing 86-year-old lottery winner found stabbed to death

And then there were 300 people who won $1M or more in the lottery in 2013 and didn't claim it!!!  They better not find out; they might have a heart attack!

The 300 missing lottery millionaires
« Last Edit: April 02, 2015, 08:30:41 PM by a1smith »

a1smith

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #119 on: April 02, 2015, 08:28:31 PM »
British couple win a million in lottery for 2nd time

"Lottery operator Camelot said Wednesday the couple beat odds of 283-billion-to-1."

Here's the thing with lotteries:  The odds somebody will win is 100%.  As are the odds that somebody will get eaten by a shark, somebody will die in a plane crash, somebody will find a huge chunk of gold ore, or somebody will get killed by a tiger.

The odds of the earth being destroyed by an asteroid are also 100%.

"Your odds of dying in an asteroid impact are about one in 700,000....  That’s about the same chance you have of dying in a flood or a fireworks accident over your lifetime. " 
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/mysteries_of_the_universe/2014/02/anniversary_of_chelyabinsk_asteroid_impact_we_need_to_test_a_deflector_mission.html

So, more likely I get smashed by some interstellar debris than win.  Better buy a ticket, better buy a helmet too.

This article had a different estimate for getting killed by an asteroid:

Odds of dying from an asteroid strike: 1 in 74,817,414

I wonder why the two estimates differ by two orders of magnitude.  I think it is hilarious that this estimate has 8 significant figures!!  I think they need to go back and reread that chapter in their college textbook.

Cathy

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Re: Do You Buy Lottery Tickets
« Reply #120 on: April 03, 2015, 03:54:44 PM »
The "lotto as a tax on the poor" thing is kind of funny, because there's a Canadian case on that exact topic.

In 1969, lotteries were categorically illegal in Canada, pursuant to the federal Criminal Code.

In Montreal v. Quebec, [1970] SCR 332, 1969 CanLII 121, the Supreme Court of Canada considered the legality of a "voluntary tax" that existed in Montreal. The "voluntary tax" allowed residents of Montreal to opt in to paying an additional tax of $2 per month to the City of Montreal and exchange, they would be entered into a draw to win a grand prize of up to $100,000 in silver, but the prize would only be awarded if the prospective winner could answer several civics questions. The City of Montreal argued that the voluntary tax was a valid exercise of the city's taxation powers, and was not in fact a criminal lottery. However, the Supreme Court was not impressed with the scheme and ruled that it was a criminal lottery.