RPSharman Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 I can't even win $5 Friday! But I'm still buying a ticket! I've been in the business for about 16 of the last 22 years. I always play dollar day, five dollar day, twenty dollar day, whatever it is that is brought around. I have NEVER won. Not even once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toy Robot Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 My brother had an economics professor at MIT that used to say "everyone has room in their investment portfolio for a lottery ticket". The risk is minimal when you consider what people spend in a week on coffee, food etc and the potential reward is great. Mind you, not 500 tickets, but one or two. ... This is an interesting point. It is also supported by the very influential Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. One of his points is essentially the same as yours, which is that any financial decision based on minimal risk and very substantial reward, however improbable, has the potential to be life altering in profoundly rewarding ways. I suggest reading that book, BTW (it's very tedious at times, but the takeaways are quite impressive). You may purchase a lottery ticket, and some may laugh, as I have pointed out previously the math makes purchasers look bad. However, the risk is so minimal, and the reward so potentially great, that in fact the arguments for not purchasing a ticket don't hold much weight, unless the dollar you spend is literally so important to you that you can't eat unless you spend it on food. Plus, it's a lot of fun to think about what I'd do with the money. I bought 5 tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toy Robot Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Mega Millions Jackpot now stands at $640,000,000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benr Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Wow. Crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 As Nevada, the gambling capital of the world does not participate, locals here (LAS) are sending out emisarries (PA's) to stand in line and buy tickets, some for individuals, some for "groups"... Last night someone went to Primm, and got in a huge line, snaking out across the desert, at the Lotto Store, located just feet into CA, (some are going to AZ). of course not being in LAS, the store closed in the evening leaving over 100 POed folks SOL. Today's messenger started much earlier, and at 10 AM there were already well over 150 in line... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toy Robot Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Here in NYC you can buy a lotto ticket every 25 feet in a bodega, so we don't have that issue, but even then almost everyone in the stores is buying lotto tickets yesterday and today. I bet these little shops just love this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmahaAudio Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Mega Millions Jackpot now stands at $640,000,000 That's only $300 million after taxes. However, I could cope with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 $462m current "cash option" estimate. $346.5m after 25% federal taxes. A few states, including California, do NOT tax lottery prizes. I am so winning this thing! Everyone here gets a shirt that reads... "Robert Sharman won $640m, and all I got was this stupid T-Shirt!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 After I win, you suckers get nothing. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Lowe Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 If I win, I'm going to get a custom made Playback rig that will sound so freaking amazing, productions will stop to Ooo and Ahhh... Oh, and I'll sign up for automatic bill payments.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmahaAudio Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 ... after 25% federal taxes. 25% federal income tax? Who do you think you are, Mitt Romney? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 " the winners were sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. " Aw, CRAP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikefilosa Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 the store closed in the evening leaving over 100 POed folks SOL. They were SOL before they even left the house ! MF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikefilosa Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Love it or hate it, the two things you can be certain of in the US are death and taxes. It's no wonder so many businesses here in NYC are cash based... How about all the BS lately about eliminating CASH I have seen lots of "mentions" of such a future.... going all to trackable, HACKABLE e-payments and banking.... What a foolish endeavor to buy into..... watch out for this one fellas. MF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 "Around 7:15 p.m. Friday night, a person came to a 7-Eleven store in Baltimore, Maryland, and paid $1 for a "quick pick" of one line of numbers -- which ended up exactly matching those pulled less than four hours later." " While only three tickets hit the big jackpot, at least 42 tickets matched five of six numbers -- 29 in California, ... according to lottery officials. California Lottery Commission spokesman Alex Traverso said the payout on those tickets will be about $125,000 to $130,000. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toy Robot Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 How about all the BS lately about eliminating CASH I have seen lots of "mentions" of such a future.... going all to trackable, HACKABLE e-payments and banking.... What a foolish endeavor to buy into..... watch out for this one fellas. MF Yeah, that's just insane to me. I can't conceptualize everything being 100% electronic. Especially not with headlines like this in the papers: Global Payments suffers massive security breach... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 " State lotteries only pay out an average of 60% of their gross revenues, a payout vastly inferior to those of slot machines and table games, which offer payouts in many cases above 90%. " " Many have argued that while lotteries are indeed taxes, they are not so bad, because people pay them voluntarily. But people only buy government lottery tickets voluntarily because private lotteries are not allowed to operate... People only buy state-run lottery tickets because tickets with better odds are choked out of the market. " http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/30/opinion/drenkard-lottery-tax-jackpot/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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