Do You Play Lottery?

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
An interesting question, do you buy lottery tickets? I just left a quickie mart and waited in line patiently. I had a cup of coffee. The people in front were fiddling with tickets and apparently buying more. It took forever, I guess the clerk has to check them and pay out whatever, or quibble about what they won't pay. Then ring up even more. Something I have never done. Maybe I'm cheap but if I spend money I want something, not the CHANCE of something. Just the give the money to the Goodfellas in person ya know? Now I will donate to causes. Not money but volunteer time or needed items. I have a whole bag of dog and cat goodies for the shelter in my back seat. But lottery tickets seem like such a waste. Maybe you win...but is it more than you spend? I dunno the fascination.
 

I buy lottery tickets--never spending more than thirty dollars a month. To date, the largest amount I have won is one grand. I often win ten or twenty dollars--it is a fun pastime, and the only gambling I indulge in.
 
Concept Behind the Lotteries

First off, they are basically crooked, IMO, in that they fail to pay out a reasonable percentage of the amount taken in: they MAKE money for the operators. Now, if you or I start a little lottery business, we go to prison for that. Heck, the big-city "numbers" games which may or may not still exist, run by "mobsters", paid back a far better percentage.

Second, in all the states I've lived in, the seller of each ticket receives around ten cents commission just for selling a dollar ticket. Ninety cents left for "winners", right? Nope. "Administration Costs" eat about 50%, leaving 40% for payback.

Third, most state lotteries simply "run the game", not really handling the loot. In Arizona, for example, the amount available for payout after each sale period, once a week in the very beginning, is made available to be "bought" by highest bid. That "buy" is what the big-money interests, chiefly insurance companies, do with monies invested in them. Each pot is bought for substantially less than it contains, sometimes thirty or forty cents on the dollar! The buyers are "betting" there will be NO BIG WINNER of the full amount. If there is none, they have doubled their money. If a winner appears, it's their loss. So the state does very little in the process, essentially "throwing away" a substantial part of the monies collected by auctioning off each draw's income.

Nice, isn't it? imp
 

We play $5.00 every Wed. night and $5.00 every Sat. night........as we all know the odds are astronomical against hitting the big one but somebody always wins and if you don't play you darn sure ain't going to win.
 
I do only because I've been playing the same number since the Florida Lottery started and I'm pretty sure that the very second I DON'T buy a ticket, that number is going to come up. I only play one ticket, though, so it only comes out to $104 a year. I can squeeze that out of the budget.
 
We've been wondering, living here amongst 10 major casino/hotels, and with the retirees, both residents and snowbirds, just what part of the retirement income is wagered away. I suppose a couple driving a half-million dollar motorhome have income way above and beyond the meager crumbs allotted back to us from S/S! imp
 
I buy the lottery online in the UK from the National Lottery site. I buy two tickets a week for the Lotto draw and occasionally buy one for Euromillions. I never feel I'm throwing my money away because the money that doesn't go out in winnings goes to good causes that I can see for myself. The lottery here has grants that can be applied for like in the arts, music, sports, environment, heritage.....

In my immediate area my gym got a grant from Lottery Sports, the historic church down the road got a grant from Lottery Heritage, my favourite tv series and some of the films I love got a grant from the lottery, fiddle lessons in the summer for kids got a grant, etc....

http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/good-causes/who-were-helping

My winnings have all been small, but I'll keep playing. It's fun and I like to help good causes.
 
Yes, I play, but only if the pot is really big. Why? If you win a small pot, you may have to share it with several
other players who also have won it. YOUR share would prolly be less than the cost of your ticket.

Otherwise I don't gamble. The money I spend on lottery tickets I could lose in 5 seconds at any game in Vegas, Laughlin or Reno.
 
Yes, and I’ve won $1,000 several times, $100 several times, and small $1 - $20 amounts lots of times. I usually play the online games, rarely the scratch offs.

But I NEVER play with the idea of winning millions. Sure, it could happen – I know of someone (former co-worker) who won millions. But the smaller jackpots ($250k ,$100k, $10K, $5k, etc.) would be very nice. So it doesn’t matter to me how big the jackpot is.
 
I play the lotto, both the regular bi-weekly tickets and sometimes, scratch-offs. I especially enjoy playing the crossword puzzle games and bingo. Sometimes I win and sometimes I don't. I never play more than I can afford and my husband, who never plays, says "somebody is going to win it might be you". :) I don't understand, fureverywhere, why you seem to think people should use their lotto playing money for charity. I already give to charity and help people we know personally who need help. That would be like me telling someone who owns 10 pairs of shoes, instead of buying more they should give the $ to charity. If I enjoy buying the "slim chance" of winning a jackpot why shouldn't I do it? In Calif a lot of the $ spent on lotto goes to the schools but that's not why I buy the tickets. I buy for "Linda's pleasure." I don't feel guilty about it at all. As for the clerk spending time waiting on lotto customers, that's just how it is, no matter what the person is buying. I usually buy at the gas/liquor/mini-marts here and I always offer to let the people waiting to pay for gas go ahead of me. But a person buying coffee can drink the coffee as they wait in line. I just added the last sentence as a joke so don't get mad. :)
 
I don't play.

There was a guy on the radio some years ago that said "to win a big one you would have to pick the right ticket/number from a stack of tickets a mile and a half high".
To my way of thinking those odds suck.
 
Strange how some people are bothered by/look down their noses and make all kinds of assumptions about people who play the lottery. Are those same people also upset about people who go to casinos or play bingo? Really not their business and I don’t think anyone should feel guilty about playing the lottery.

I’m in a large city and when I used to work downtown I used to sometimes stop in a little store for gum, candy, and lottery tickets. One of the clerks told me that a lot of professionals came there to get lottery tickets on a regular basis. Of course, they usually don’t tell people back at the office.
 
Then I used to work at a quiki mart and there were people who probably didn't have enough for food, never mind that bottle of Mad Dog, spending $20 on the lottery. It depends...
 
Manatee said:
I don't play.

There was a guy on the radio some years ago that said "to win a big one you would have to pick the right ticket/number from a stack of tickets a mile and a half high".
To my way of thinking those odds suck.
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Do you know what the odds are if you don't play? Zero.
 
Sometimes when one is poor and life seems bleak and hopeless, a twenty dollar investment in a "dream" is cheap at the price, better by far than burying one's feelings in substance abuse, food disorders etc. if we are not in a position to help, at least we can choose compassion over judgement, and not become part of the problem.
 
I spend $4.00 a week playing Lucky for Life which pays off a thousand dollars a day for life. That's the only game I play. I do win the lottery frequently, but not in life-changing amounts. Still, it's nice to win even a small chunk occasionally. It's like a nice little treat.
 
fureverywhere said:
Then I used to work at a quiki mart and there were people who probably didn't have enough for food, never mind that "bottle of Mad Dog", spending $20 on the lottery. It depends...
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Mad Dog 20 / 20.......that made the memories come flooding back, probably the worst two day hangover I ever had in my life back in my late teens and I ain't gone near the stuff since. :)
 
I buy a ticket 3 or 4 times a month...usually when I'm gassing up the car/truck. The State lottery odds are over 4 million to one, and things like Powerball/Megamillion are 100's of millions to one. However, the odds are Infinity to one if you don't play. I just look at it as a volunteer "tax" as some of the money does go to worthy causes....at least in the State lottery.
 
Don M. said:
I buy a ticket 3 or 4 times a month...usually when I'm gassing up the car/truck. The State lottery odds are over 4 million to one, and things like Powerball/Megamillion are 100's of millions to one. However, the odds are Infinity to one if you don't play. I just look at it as a volunteer "tax" as some of the money does go to worthy causes....at least in the State lottery.
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But as I was saying upthread, the odds for winning smaller amounts are much better.
 
Wife buys tickets when we shop. Never count on winning but if we do, St. Judes and several animal welfare orgs win too.
 

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