Damn Lottery

[bjarvis]

Bad news: we didn't win the $179 million Powerball lottery jackpot last night.

Good news: No one else did either, and the pot is now $203 million.

I have some uses for dollar figures like that... :-)

Comments

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

That's only half true.

Consideration #1:
Odds of winning if you never buy a ticket: zero
Odds of winning if you buy a single $1 ticket: non-zero.
Yes, the odds of winning are inifinitismally small, but there's a huge statistical difference between zero and non-zero.

Consideration #2:
Cost of a lottery ticket for cheap entertainment: $1
Cost of a move ticket for cheap entertainment: $9 (ignoring the $$$ for drinks & popcorn)
$1 < $9, therefore lottery ticket is cheaper entertainment.

Lotteries are a tax on stupidity iff the purchaser actually actually expects to win or the purchaser has used funds which were required for essentials instead of discretionary spending. For most of the rest of us, it's just a cheap passing amusement.

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

Consideration #1:
Odds of winning if you never buy a ticket: zero
Odds of winning if you buy a single $1 ticket: non-zero.
Yes, the odds of winning are inifinitismally small, but there's a huge statistical difference between zero and non-zero.

Consideration #1A
Odds of losing if you never buy a ticket: zero
Odds of losing if you buy a single $1 ticket: better than even.

I don't know the rates for whatever outfit runs your lotteries are, but the Ontario Lottery Corporation pays out 41c for every dollar intake. Meaning that for every $100 investors customers put in, they will get back $41, and lose $59. Sounds like a mug's game to me.

There's a large difference between losing zero and losing over $30 a year, assuming one $1 ticket a week. There's a huge statistical difference between losing nothing and losing 59% of your investment.

Lotteries are a tax on stupidity ...

I didn't say that. I'm just pointing out that they're a tax on those who can't do statistics.