Teh st00pid burns
A couple of months ago, I lost my favorite hat. It was a hat that I got when I joined the Glock Sport Shooting Foundation (I highly recommend GSSF, BTW). It’s a good, quality hat that looks pretty sharp. Anyway, I’d given up on finding it. And, last week, I was in the closet and actually said aloud Man, I wish I could find that hat. Suddenly, I saw underneath where my shirts hang, a black tip. Reached down, and there it was. I’d seen the tip of the brim. Wow that was lucky, I thought. Then joking to myself, I said aloud Man, I wish I’d win the lottery. So, feeling lucky, I stopped on the way in to the office and bought one of those scratch off lottery tickets because, well, why not? I didn’t win. I didn’t expect to. But it was in good fun. I don’t really believe that I wasted my wish on a hat. That’s because I understand math and probability. Playing the lottery is a losing proposition which is why it makes money mostly for the people who run lotteries.
So, I can’t feel real sympathetic to a guy who is whining because he never won the lottery despite spending $30,000 playing the lottery in a year. And, to make it even more cringe-worthy, he’s actually upset at the guy who did win, despite spending only $30.
Fair and equitable lotteries simply cannot exist.
January 11th, 2012 at 10:44 am
The Lottery is a tax on people who suck at math.
January 11th, 2012 at 10:50 am
At a prior job, when the Powerball payout would get over $100M, all the engineers and techs in one particular group would each pitch in a dollar and buy a bunch of tickets. The manager of the group was not invited to participate, nor even told about the practice.
The group manager was replaced within a year of the start of this practice.
Sometimes, playing the lottery means more than trying to hit it big.
January 11th, 2012 at 11:38 am
I like your style, going for the lottery ticket.
Yes, we all know the probability, having one thing go your way has absolutely nothing to do with the next thing.
But like it says in Doyle Brunsons book, probability is what it is, but you dont stop playing while on a hot streak.
January 11th, 2012 at 11:54 am
Hmmm… My first thought was: “I wonder if Holder will start an investigation. It’s an issue of ‘fairness’, it will play well with the MENSA members who gamble thousands on the lottery, and it will distract from F&F. What’s not to like?”
January 11th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
I used to work for the Ohio Lottery, fixing their machines. You won’t believe what some people think will get them the Top Prize.
January 11th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
My dad likes to say that your odds of winning the lottery are same if you buy a ticket or not.
January 11th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Why do I keep hearing Nelson Muntz’s ‘ha haaaaa?’
January 11th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
I spend a dollar or five on the Powerball maybe four times a year. If I win, I live a different life.
If I lose, my life doesn’t change at all. But I never want to get to the point where the laws of chance seriously bite me.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
When I was selling cars I had a deal with both the trade-in and the car I sold having the same last three numbers on the odometer.
I thought, “I should play those numbers”.
I didn’t, because I don’t play the lottery.
They won. I would have hit the Pick 3 for VA that week.
Oh well.
January 11th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Fair and equitable lotteries simply cannot exist
I disagree – they’re the only kind that does exist (if we assume, reasonably, that the people running it aren’t cheating).
Every ticket has the same probability of matching the winning numbers (ie, nearly zero) – that’s fair.
Every purchase (assuming different numbers within the same lottery, if you play more than one ticket per round) gives the same marginal chance of winning (nearly zero) – that’s equitable.
January 11th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
That’s funny. I was whining this week because I hadn’t been able to find my Glock hat since before Christmas. My wife found it stuffed in my recliner. And my personal motto: Gambling is for losers.
January 11th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Good job finding your hat. I hate losing things.
January 11th, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Some chick who had been in a two-month long coma and came out of it this year won $11mil. at the liquor store I used to buy smokes and lotto tickets at when I used to smoke. Since quitting I haven’t been back in there to buy anything.
January 11th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
It varies by the lottery odds, but back in the 90’s when CA lottery fist got up around $100 Million ( at around 54 million to 1 odds) an article came out that ran the numbers. The claim was that if you played the lotto at $50 a week you would win, on average, once every 9000 years.
January 12th, 2012 at 4:04 am
i like gambling. poker specifically. it takes a bit of skill to go with the luck and if you play right you’ll be up a few bucks 9 time out of 10.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:25 am
I usually buy $20 of scratch tickets on my birthday (July) and near Christmas for the sheer hell of it. I’ve lost count of the $1-2 “prizes” I’ve neglected to redeem. That said, I sure do like finding lost clothing, random purchases or cash stuffed in weird places/pockets. THAT’S a real win!