Do you play the lottery/scratchers? Or have you seen people that...

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: SphinxnihpS
SELF-IMPOSED TAX. Hell no. I think only an idiot would waste money like that, but I thank them for sending my kids to school.

There are times when it is statistically favorable to buy them.


2) When a win for life style scratch off has had alot of its tickets sold and no winners.

This data is available online.

the bottom line is that it is GENERALLY a tax on those that don't understand math.

How do you know alot of tix has been sold already for scratch for life?
I thought the website just lists how many of the top prize has been claimed?

Here in VA when you click on one of the scratchers it will show how many prizes are for each $ amount and how many hav ebeen claimed. So even though the odds staty the same at the page for the top price yopu can kinda build the odds by looking at number of prizes claimed to non-claimed and how long it has been selling.

Click GO beside one of the scratchers to see.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: SphinxnihpS
SELF-IMPOSED TAX. Hell no. I think only an idiot would waste money like that, but I thank them for sending my kids to school.

There are times when it is statistically favorable to buy them.


2) When a win for life style scratch off has had alot of its tickets sold and no winners.

This data is available online.

the bottom line is that it is GENERALLY a tax on those that don't understand math.

How do you know alot of tix has been sold already for scratch for life?
I thought the website just lists how many of the top prize has been claimed?

Here in VA when you click on one of the scratchers it will show how many prizes are for each $ amount and how many hav ebeen claimed. So even though the odds staty the same at the page for the top price yopu can kinda build the odds by looking at number of prizes claimed to non-claimed and how long it has been selling.

Click GO beside one of the scratchers to see.

i must be blind. i dont see how long it's been selling

edit:
nevermind. i see it. it's not in the prize box, but the 'how to play' box if you scroll down.

 

[Leros]

When one of my friends turned 18, he decided to buy a few lottery tickets just for the fun of it. He spent $15 and won about $70. I swear, its a trick to lure people in.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: geno
I knew someone who thought you would always come out ahead if you bought an entire roll of scratch tickets. Hey, genius, why the hell wouldn't everyone just pony up for a roll of tickets and just call it a day? Most people don't know just how stacked the odds are.

The odds are printed on the ticket. I normally buy 6-8 of the 5 dollar ones that have 1 in 3 odds. That way you almost always get a few winners. It's for fun and most times I come out ahead of what I spent.

 

[StageLeft]

It generally seems stupid blue collar workers who play these. I've seen guys put down a few hours pay in a grocery store and I feel sorry and angry at the same time.

I do play the lotto at work, about $2-3/month. I do it because on the miniscule chance that the pool happens to hit big, work will be so short on office workers then that it would be hard to work there anymore anyway, so the normal odds don't apply

One person found a winning ticket for ~$56,000 that someone had thrown away not knowing they had won. Of course the person who found the ticket proceeded to buy thousands of dollars in ticket every week for many months til the money ran out.

LOL. People are just stupid, they throw money at various addictions that destroy their lives, be it smoking or lotto.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: Naustica
My brother-in-law owns a newsstand downtown, and he sells about $60,000-90,000 lottery tickets a month. He tells me all kinds of crazy lottery stories. He has regulars that buy like $500-1000 scratch-offs a week and will stand in his store and scratch off each ticket like a madman. He doesn't know how they can keep buying but they do. He has a garbage can in the store where couple of people will come in everyday and go through to double check for winners. People routinely find about $5-10 a day in missed tickets. One person found a winning ticket for ~$56,000 that someone had thrown away not knowing they had won. Of course the person who found the ticket proceeded to buy thousands of dollars in ticket every week for many months til the money ran out. People are seriously addicted to this stuff.

I've seen this. It's usually a few people that have won a semi-large prize and use that money to come back. A woman used to regular the convenience store next to where I worked. She would buy an entire roll of tickets and take them home to scratch. She usually won enough in each roll to buy another roll each time she went back to the store.

 

[kinev]

Anyone else find it interesting that pretty much everyone who's responded that they do "play" are either breaking even or ahead? Is it the magic of self-delusion or the fact that the only people willing to admit it are people who are ahead to begin with?

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: kinev
Anyone else find it interesting that pretty much everyone who's responded that they do "play" are either breaking even or ahead? Is it the magic of self-delusion or the fact that the only people willing to admit it are people who are ahead to begin with?

Yea I am sure the people that lose a pile will not say so. But odds are the majority lose, right. Only reason I am up is one scratcher got me $25 and 1 ticket got me $100. So at the rate I play I should be still up at end of the year even if I don;t win again.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: geno
I knew someone who thought you would always come out ahead if you bought an entire roll of scratch tickets. Hey, genius, why the hell wouldn't everyone just pony up for a roll of tickets and just call it a day? Most people don't know just how stacked the odds are.

The odds are printed on the ticket. I normally buy 6-8 of the 5 dollar ones that have 1 in 3 odds. That way you almost always get a few winners. It's for fun and most times I come out ahead of what I spent.

in va, only like 3 scratchers in the $5 range are 1:3.x odds. all others are 1:4.x

edit:
wow, for the $10 cards, there's a game that's been going on for 1 1/2 yrs, and only 1/3 of top prize has been claimed

http://www.valottery.com/scrat...ID=1011&loc=6&subloc=1

whats wrong with this picture?

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

I only see poor people playing scratch tickets.

 

[meltdown75]

when i remember, i throw in $2 per week into the office lottery pool for 1 share of the winnings

 

[imported_Lothar]

The lottery is nothing but a tax on the stupid.

 

[misle]

A few years ago, I was at a gas station and a little old black lady came walking in. She was tiny, didn't look like she was in the best of health or had much money. She proceeds to get two 24oz cans of beer, a pack of smokes and then she counts the money she has left and spends it all on scratcher tickets. I should mention that this is around 9 am on a Saturday.

I buy PowerBall tickets every great once in a while. Usually when it's over 100 million and I happen to be in a gas station.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: geno
I knew someone who thought you would always come out ahead if you bought an entire roll of scratch tickets. Hey, genius, why the hell wouldn't everyone just pony up for a roll of tickets and just call it a day? Most people don't know just how stacked the odds are.

The odds are printed on the ticket. I normally buy 6-8 of the 5 dollar ones that have 1 in 3 odds. That way you almost always get a few winners. It's for fun and most times I come out ahead of what I spent.

going to nyc during memorial day weekend. there are lots of rest stops along the way and they probably sell lottery stuff.

what are some of the better scratchers currently out there in the east coast? (va/dc/md/pa/de/nj/ny)?

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
I only see poor people playing scratch tickets.

gamblers play stratchers. Typically poor people can't afford scratchers, because they're - poor. When I worked a liquor store we had some hard core stratcher addicts. One would drop about $500 a week, doubtful a poor person could afford that (he drove a benz) and a couple who would spend much more than that. I dunno what kind of poor people you know though.
the couple ended up getting all but 1 number on the Lotto, they got like 40k, so so close to being millionaires.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: geno
I knew someone who thought you would always come out ahead if you bought an entire roll of scratch tickets. Hey, genius, why the hell wouldn't everyone just pony up for a roll of tickets and just call it a day? Most people don't know just how stacked the odds are.

The odds are printed on the ticket. I normally buy 6-8 of the 5 dollar ones that have 1 in 3 odds. That way you almost always get a few winners. It's for fun and most times I come out ahead of what I spent.

going to nyc during memorial day weekend. there are lots of rest stops along the way and they probably sell lottery stuff.

what are some of the better scratchers currently out there in the east coast? (va/dc/md/pa/de/nj/ny)?

Check the lottery websites. NJ tells you how many prizes are left in each of their scratchers.

 

[judasmachine]

My old boss used to say, "The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math." I am inclined to believe him, and it's been roughly ten years since I bought one.

 

[JJChicken]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: SphinxnihpS
SELF-IMPOSED TAX. Hell no. I think only an idiot would waste money like that, but I thank them for sending my kids to school.

There are times when it is statistically favorable to buy them.

1) When the "lotto" jackpot gets REALLY big in relation to the odds of winning Rare, I know.
2) When a win for life style scratch off has had alot of its tickets sold and no winners.

This data is available online.

the bottom line is that it is GENERALLY a tax on those that don't understand math.

This.

 

[mrrman]

I see the seniors blowing all their $$$$ at lotto kiosks all the time

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: geno
I knew someone who thought you would always come out ahead if you bought an entire roll of scratch tickets. Hey, genius, why the hell wouldn't everyone just pony up for a roll of tickets and just call it a day? Most people don't know just how stacked the odds are.

Sad.

 

[JEDI]

(Memorial day bump)

going to nyc during memorial day weekend. there are lots of rest stops along the way and they probably sell lottery stuff.

what are some of the better scratchers currently out there in the east coast? (va/dc/md/pa/de/nj/ny)?

 

[DivideBYZero]

The lottery is a tax on the poor and the stupid.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
The lottery is a tax on the poor and the stupid.

Tell that to my co worker who won 10k on Monday.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
The lottery is a tax on the poor and the stupid.

Tell that to my co worker who won 10k on Monday.

How long has he been playing, along with total gross outlay all those years?

 

[darkxshade]

I scratch my ass a lot... it's free and to date I'm up $42.