Ok yous guys (lottery)

Your retirement funds would stretch a lot further if you would stop throwing it away on lottery tickets.

Funny how the "numbers racket" was illegal before the states seen the profits to be had, and made it legal by simply saying it was.

does anybody remember when it was illegal to charge high interest rates back in the 40' and 50's like the loan sharks were charging? ever look at the legal rates there charging today ? the real crooks are the ones wearing suits with expensive lawyers creating ways to raise interest rates.

I bought a single quick pick Mega Millions lottery ticket yesterday and as expected, I didn't hit on a single number. I expect that I will again buy another single quick pick for Friday's drawing of $1 Billion. Again, I don't expect much but I can't win if I don't play. Besides, the $2 cost is more than worth the fun and anticipation of hitting all numbers and fantasizing about what I will do with all the money. With a chance of 1/320,000,000 odds, I have a better chance of being hit by lightning indoors than winning the lottery but I buy a ticket now and then when the winning pot gets high. Seldom do I have as much fun from two bucks.

In Georgia the lottery profits go to the HOPE scholarship fund for financing college for students in state schools as long as they maintain a 3.00 grade point average.

Two of my grandchildren, both girls, will be graduating this year and next with no college debt thanks to the Georgia HOPE scholarship fund.

The founder of Raising Cane's bought enough tickets to improve the odds of 1 of them winning to bring his chances to somewhere in the neighborhood just north of 1 in 6,000-something and still didn't have a winner. This article notes the good intentions behind the effort, yet explains why it's not a good example for his employees to follow, and why the money spent on lottery tickets will provide a better return over time if invested.

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/raising-canes-ceo-wastes...

That's cool. Here in PA the money goes toward various senior citizen programs.

I worked with a guy who bought $75.00 worth of lottery tickets a week. He would not buy the big money tickets because he said that you were just throwing your money away. He would buy the $250-500.00 jackpot tickets. By experimenting over the years, he had figured out that if you bought $75.00 worth of tickets, you would come out ahead. $70.00 you would lose money; $80.00 you would lose money. Some weeks he would lose money, other weeks, he would win. At the end of the year he would almost always come out ahead. Not by much, but he would be ahead. Of course he didn’t do this to try to get rich. He just did it for the enjoyment of it. I believe that the most that he ever won over the course of the year was $250.00. Most of the time it was $20 or $30 bucks for the year, but he had fun doing it. (And, he could afford to do it.)

If I don't buy tickets and you win, you will split the winnings evenly with me won't you?

This morning I bought two single lottery quick picks on two separate tickets for $2 each. I had a haircut appointment today so I planned to give one of the tickets to Kim, my Vietnamese hair cutter. I laid the two tickets in front of Kim and gave her the option to pick one from the two tickets.

It was worth the $2 just to see the joy and excitement that my gift of the free lottery ticket gave her. With a winning chance of 1/300,000,000, I don't have high expectations that either of us will get lucky but the positive experience was worth the few bucks.

I ponied up $30 and bought ten tickets. With bated breath my wife and I checked our numbers against the winning numbers and ...we won $4. As of this morning at 5:30 a.m. eastern, there were still no reported winners anywhere. If it stays that way, the next drawing will be for ~$1.7 billion.

Phil

in the summer for a co. that printed out tshirts for the state lottery.

the slogan was you cant win if you don't play.

So they made their own bootlegs, you cant win, don't play, with the official logo. These were very popular to be sold at concerts, etc.

Funny how humans have an aversity to work. It's the degree today that's alarming. I actually think the new gen of "kids" 21-22 entering the workforce actually are hard workers. It's like they realize something those 15 years older don't.

It's interesting to disregard probability, thus creating a hope, or dream. I mean people won with Monte Hall too. I always wondered watching reruns how much billy goats ate, and how they got them home.

Who's the Illinois winner fess up!

Windows is a tax on those who don't know computer science and lotteries are a tax on those who don't know statistics.

Which one of you dirty birds bought that ticket and deprived me of my entitled retirement earnings?

I'm not from Illinois, so it isn't me. I have never won anything in the lottery. My friends say it because I don't buy a ticket, but isn't this supposed to be a country of equal opportunity? Some of us just get no breaks!

Since you didn't win, I guess you'll just have to keep working.

I've been retired 20 years now and I like to think it was due, in part, to the fact that I never bought lottery tickets.

I have many friends who play mostly for enjoyment though and I respect that. To each his own.

I will admit to thinking about what I would do with that much money. The only conclusion I can draw is that, for better or worse, my life would change drastically in ways I may not be able to control.

Since I don't play, I'm not familiar with all the rules. I was a bit confused by a TV interview with a lottery official this morning. He said the winner has 1 year to come forward with the winning ticket but must choose the lump sum or annuity within 60 days. How do you do that without coming forward? Any responsible person would need more time than that to line up the necessary lawyers, advisors and accountants to handle that large an estate.

My GUESS is they choose the way you're paid after the 60 days. Probably via annuity.

I heard most people choose the lump sum, doing the annuity way takes a long time to get (all) the money.

Considering I didn't get around to picking up a ticket (as usual), I have zero dollars in winnings that I'll be more than happy to split as many ways as necessary to anyone here who'd like a portion.

You cannot divide zero so splitting your winnings is an impossibility, or "undefined" and/or "indeterminate" in a math sense. But, thanks anyway.

Would be a nice win!!!

Philosophically, wouldn't you agree it's possible to share nothing?

Actually you wouldn't be dividing by zero, you'd be dividing by the number of people who want a piece of that zero pie.

Phil

Lol, the odds of winning are so astronomically small is why I don't play as it's an optional tax I don't have to pay.

I was younger I would disregard probability and go out of my way to be "included" in the office pools. Because what if I were that old guy in "Kick the Can?" These pools could have thousands of dollars of tix. And sometimes they'd win $20-$30 and "reinvest" the winnings, until they amounted to $0.

Ever play a blackjack video game? How come when one plays for hours upon end, eventually, the house wins? Then explain why humans want to play such games? Because humans are interesting creatures!

Truth be told.. I only break down and but lottery tickets when after the tax deduction I'd clearvmore than $100 million.

I'd be inclined to pay off a few houses, set up a few trusts, and give the rest awway.

I can't even imagine how anyone would in good concience imagine how someone could spend that much money on themselves.

Well, I guess I'll just have to continue to plug along like many others..

But my sincerest well wishes to that dirty bird that bought my ticket!

In the early 70's, I worked in a small engineering office with maybe 20 employees. One of the secretaries there ran a "paycheck number pool". I forget all the details but everyone kicked in a buck and a winner was drawn based on their paycheck number.

I played every week for the four years I worked there and won a few times. The extra $20 was a nice addition to the paycheck back then.

This was before state lotteries were in existence and technically illegal. Wouldn't you know, someone reported it to the police who came into the office and actually arrested the secretary! She was never formally charged and I think it was meant more as a warning.

My how times have changed!

I won $2. I didn't buy a ticket. Now, if I don't buy 1,000,000 tickets...

Years ago, we had a board for each sport final, but didn't advertise them to the public just ones that wanted to play. Usually, a dollar a square.

I am $18 short. We have never spent that much on a ticket before but not going anywhere it seemed ok!
Being only allowed to go to the doctors and spending all our time in the house, this is the only fun we have. We didn't look at the numbers until mid morning so we could keep the fun going as long as we could.
I donned a KN95 mask and went into our locale gas station when no other customers were there so it seemed safe. Miss going in places!

Every one enjoy the week!
Mary