Who plays lotto (Lottery...any form)

[El Presidente]

I pick up a lotto ticket ($10.90) every Staurday morning. Over the past 5 years I have won less than a $100.

Has any member ever won something substantial? I am re-evaluating my long term investment strategies

[Buch0]

Haha interesting thread indeed.. I am intrigued to see some of the windfalls, if any. I have no real process in the purchase of lottery tickets, if I am walking past a newsagent and feel lucky I will grab a $20 autopick.

[samb]

Sometimes Ill pick up a scratch-off or three. Never won anything worth a damn though.

[Habanos2000]

I figured out a long time ago that I'd get to $1 million a lot quicker by NOT playing!

[MrGlass]

I won $100 on a $5 Scratch-It once. And that's pretty much the highlight.

I have a lotto ticket on my desk here from back in September that I keep on forgetting to check. Obviously I don't have high expectations for it, but if it ends up being worth something ridiculous than I can guarantee I'll be paying you a visit!

[MIKA27]

I used to pick up a quick pick every Saturday but never won anything substantial. The most I've won was $360.00 which whilst was great, pretty much brings me on par with the amount I've spent over the years.

My folks ages ago when Super 66 was playing (Not sure if it still does) won $6,666.00, a funny amount but back 20 years ago, that was pretty neat.

[bunburyist]

rarely play, and I've never won much more than a tenner I think. Remember a Canadian friend once referring to lotteries as 'idiot tax'. Quite funny really, seeing as your chances are so insanely slim he did have a point.

It gives a lot of people a dream though - worth it for $ a week or whatever it is.

I'd keep working for a while if I won big, tie up a few loose ends then try and cross Siberia on a GS 1200 with nowt but a tent, some unicos and a peanut butter sandwich

[rcsims]

I'm in the same boat as you, Rob. Spend about $10 per week. Always on quick picks. Only won about $150 - $200 over 7 or 8 years! Figure that the schools get a little piece of the action, here.

[Guest rob]

I've been playing Wed and Sat night lotto for over 18 years.

The money it costs me is insignificant relative to the mental anguish I would forever endure if I quit playing and my numbers came in. A small investment for sanity.

[strayvector]

You do realize that lottery was created as a tax for those who failed high school math, right?

[Guest rob]

You do realize that lottery was created as a tax for those who failed high school math, right?

Absolutely.

Math is the core of my belief system. I use it to win every argument or debate I ever get involved in. (I'm an Engineer by profession)... but having said that - I recognise the brain is a fallable object and don't wish to endure mine to a life of torment if I were to quit and see my numbers come in.

[Ellery]

I get into these scratch off kicks, the most recent being this past weekend. Bought 3 of them at once (now mind you, this is the first time I've bought any lotto in a couple of yrs.) I won 2$ on a 2$ scratch off ticket and thought that was pretty substantial

[Ken Gargett]

rarely play, and I've never won much more than a tenner I think. Remember a Canadian friend once referring to lotteries as 'idiot tax'. Quite funny really, seeing as your chances are so insanely slim he did have a point.

It gives a lot of people a dream though - worth it for $ a week or whatever it is.

I'd keep working for a while if I won big, tie up a few loose ends then try and cross Siberia on a GS 1200 with nowt but a tent, some unicos and a peanut butter sandwich

correct. they are a tax on the dim witted. not that i don't occasionally grab one.

shortly after i left uni, a bloke i knew in brizzy, architect and nice guy, won around $950,000 on the local lotto. they appraoched him and asked if he wouldn't mind, they'd like to round it up to the cool mill. apparently far better for their marketing to have people winning a mill than nearly a mill.

i would have been tempted not to let them use me so shamelessly.

[tugboat]

Does the stock market count?

If so won 6k on a day trade but lost 5k of it 3 days later.

[Fuzz]

Most I ever won was a couple of hundred bucks.

Been playing in a syndicate for the last couple of months ($10 a week) and so far I've won about $100.

Just remember, "You gotta be in it, for other people to win it!"

[bunburyist]

correct. they are a tax on the dim witted. not that i don't occasionally grab one.

shortly after i left uni, a bloke i knew in brizzy, architect and nice guy, won around $950,000 on the local lotto. they appraoched him and asked if he wouldn't mind, they'd like to round it up to the cool mill. apparently far better for their marketing to have people winning a mill than nearly a mill.

i would have been tempted not to let them use me so shamelessly.

He must have thought they were joking....

$1m is a lot, but I'm not sure it's enough to retire on...how tragic is that! Enough to buy a big house, nice car and kid's education. Would allow you to have a great job as well - seasonal ski instructor, open a pub, wine and cigar critic etc etc

[ucla695]

I play every week with my coworkers (I wouldn't want to be the only one left in the extremely unlikely chance they won) and we have yet to hit anything decent.

[Onsto]

Never do personally, although there was a maths teacher at my school who refused to get in on the teachers syndicate because the odds were so terrible. They won the jackpot and took around £50k each - except for him. I remember some of the others being publicly smug about that.

[Ken Gargett]

He must have thought they were joking....

$1m is a lot, but I'm not sure it's enough to retire on...how tragic is that! Enough to buy a big house, nice car and kid's education. Would allow you to have a great job as well - seasonal ski instructor, open a pub, wine and cigar critic etc etc

20 to 25 years ago, it was a lot more. he used it mostly for property and business.

[bunburyist]

20 to 25 years ago, it was a lot more. he used it mostly for property and business.

Imagine the freedom that would give you. All of the richest people I know have paid off their property and own freehold. If you don't have to pay rent / mortgage, you actually need to earn only a modest amount to live a good life I reckon - most of the things we (or at least I) like doing are pretty cheap. The outdoors, sports and cigars.

[jdizzle113]

From a purely statistical perspective, buying a lottery ticket doesn't increase your chances of winning much more than if you had not bought one. So you're not much better of with a ticket than without one..

[laficion]

I've never had any luck in any lottery ticket or scratch off.

THE ONLY LUCK I have is that after scratching, I don't owe the lottery any money.

[jdizzle113]

Does the stock market count?

If so won 6k on a day trade but lost 5k of it 3 days later.

Don't think so, most traders would probably consider that a short term $5k loan from the market

[anacostiakat]

I used to play all the time. I won over a grand a couple of times. But when I sat down and figured it out I just won back mostly what I put in.

So I quit playing.

[zuma]

From a purely statistical perspective, buying a lottery ticket doesn't increase your chances of winning much more than if you had not bought one. So you're not much better of with a ticket than without one..

Actually, in a purely statistical sense, buying a ticket does increase your chances... if you buy the minimum one entry set of numbers, your chances increase from zero probability to an infinitesimally small probability (an enormously large percentual shift in probability space). To some - like myself - it may even be seen as an extremely speculative derivatives position (such as land in Dubai)

To maximise the potential reward on my investment, I don't buy a ticket for any draw of less than 60 million (notice how the chances are the same but the potential reward could be at least 1400% more than in a typical weekend 4 million draw)... since we don't get many of those here in OZ, I don't spend more than 10 bucks a year in lotto... and I don't lose more than 10 bucks a year in such schemes.

I have lost more money in the stock market - which I had invested using proper study, valuations and forward looking estimates seeking possibly a modest 20% increase per annum (there are no valuation methods that will allow you to read the stupidity of company directors' minds... anyone remembers Sons of Gwalia?).