the lottery

[stickdude]

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So the reason why they play lotto is simply: STUPIDITY.

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As in, they can't even figure out how the game works sometimes?

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....card_confusion

[Vinetou]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So the reason why they play lotto is simply: STUPIDITY.

[/ QUOTE ]

As in, they can't even figure out how the game works sometimes?

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....card_confusion

[/ QUOTE ]

This is hillarious. I was LOL. Fortunately, I don't know people who are that dum. Some people who don't get they are betting against the odds when they play lottery are actually very smart people so I didn't intend to insult anyone.

LOL ty for the link

[chesspain]

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People play the lottery because they don't realize that it isn't +EV. People don't even know what is EV. People don't have a clue about gambling, they are stupid in that area (I don't mean to sound rude or unsociable, but this is a fact).

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Actually, you sound very arrogant and immature.



[ QUOTE ]
So the reason why they play lotto is simply: STUPIDITY.


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Then I must be a moron because I'm a winning poker player with a Ph.D. who occasionally plays Powerball. Of course, I don't assume it's a +EV bet or a sound investment. However, I consider it something called, oh let's see, ENTERTAINMENT. Indeed, spending $2 for the chance to have a pleasant daydream about the very real (albeit very slim) chance of winning $80,000,000 is no more stupid than spending $3.25 on a Starbucks coffee, spending $25 on a restaurant meal that I could prepare at home for a quarter of the cost, or spending $45 on a concert ticket.

[Vinetou]

Of course I am immature because I don't bet against the odds. I didn't mean to insult anyone, sorry if you understood it that way. I just meant it is stupid to play lottery, not that you are stupid if you play lottery. Smart people do stupid things sometimes and it is nothing wrong with that.

[Henry17]

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Of course I am immature because I don't bet against the odds. I didn't mean to insult anyone, sorry if you understood it that way. I just meant it is stupid to play lottery, not that you are stupid if you play lottery. Smart people do stupid things sometimes and it is nothing wrong with that.

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It actually isn't stupid to bet the lottery. You are treating money as having linear utility value which it clearly doesn't.

Also it is possible to have +EV lotteries. The Canadian lottery has been +EV the last few weeks due to the size of the jackpot.

[golfnutt]

I kind of agree with this post in some sense. I wonder why I grind it out at poker and some table games in Vegas instead of going to the slots and trying for a life-altering win. Winning $500 to $1000 does nothing for my life and there is little chance of me winning that amount at craps or blackjack or anything without exposing myself to huge losses.

[noncents]

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Also it is possible to have +EV lotteries. The Canadian lottery has been +EV the last few weeks due to the size of the jackpot.

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This would be the lotto I would play. (No tax on lotto in Canada either so that helps a lot) I think most people got the point I was trying to put across - though some people seemed to fail to realize that having a couple of bucks a week for a lifetime is different than having 11K right now.

LOL at the link btw but I was always a math whiz and I know it is hard/confusing for some people.

I think Vinetou is off base about the reason being stupidity but a lot of what he said is close to how I used to feel on the topic.

It does occur to my more paranoid side that the reason the lotto is so successful is in part to what I questioned/said and what many of you agreed to being false and is some sort of group self deception phenomenon, but as I`m sure many church/other religious institution goers have thought in the past and continue to think today - well, it`s not going to kill me and who knows I might be better off for it. All being said I`m off to get my ticket before the terminal closes. GL all.

[kimchi]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So the reason why they play lotto is simply: STUPIDITY.

[/ QUOTE ]

As in, they can't even figure out how the game works sometimes?

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....card_confusion

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow!

I used to think that Lotto was a tax on the financially illiterate, but I understand the amusement cost argument. After all, why do people play casino games?

[bigbb33]

I understand the logic behind the OP's statement and was thinking it over myself.

Say there is a one in 10 million chance to win enough money to have you set for life.

If you had to live 10 million lives, would you rather live all 10 million as basically middle class or 9,999,999 as middle class, but losing $2-5 on the lottery once in your lifetime, and 1 lifetime in which you win millions?

The lottery can be +ev, because you don't decide ev based on pure monetary results but on the affect it has on your life.

Another way of thinking about that is to think about the effect of giving a homeless man $1000 and giving Bill Gates $1000. It's the same raw amount of money, but one has a much bigger effect than the other.

[ActionTodd]

there should be some sort of rakeback/cashback
for lotto playing peeps

I've never tracked how much I spend on lotto/scratch cards
over the years but I suspect it's a decent chunk of change [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]