L.A. Times:
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338. But someone has to win, right? We decided to put that idea to the test.
This game starts with $100 to play against multiple lottery drawings. Pick your numbers and watch the money disappear.
I spent $10,000 and “won” $814. That being said, I will still very occasionally buy a lottery ticket, even knowing the odds are stacked against me if only because it’s fun to dream, even if only for a little while, about that kind of money and what I’d do with it.
Flawed premise, nobody has to win.
Not clicked through and read the link but 1) of course you shouldn’t put a material amount of your money on a lottery bet and compromise your ability to buy food, pay rent, etc and 2) It’s FUN to put down a few bucks on the extreme off-chance of winning a silly amount like this.
I’ll toss $10 into the poll this week. I don’t expect to win a thing… but on the off chance I was the sole winner? $900m all at once. Match 5 numbers? $1m. Match less than 5 (the VERY likely outcome)? Lose $10 which I can easily afford to do.
“it’s fun to dream”
Indeed, I think that’s why most people buy lottery tickets.
I rarely buy them (as well) but did buy one for this lottery. When my wife and I talked about what we might do if we won, most of the conversation was about how to stay under the radar (probably impossible).
We won $4 a couple of draws ago, which paid for our next draws where we didn’t win a thing. We’llbe playing for this Wednesday’s draw, too. What’s a few bucks in the off chance you win more? I’d be happy with $100. I’d faint if we won $1 million. And if we won the big prize? Well, suddenly I’ll have a lot more friends, right? 😉
Dreaming is exactly why we play lotteries.
http://nautil.us/issue/4/the-unlikely/why-we-keep-playing-the-lottery
Not everyone.
How else can you turn $2 into millions? Granted, the odds of that happening are near zero; but they are not zero. $2 is almost nothing to me, so I don’t mind throwing it away for a chance, however small, at winning.
“Dreaming” is a nice and rosey euphemism for gambling, which is another fundmental malaise of almost every society past and present: the dream of a huge “input” for little or no “output.” In case you hadn’t noticed, this violates the basic principles of the entire universe, that’s all. No big deal.
Nothing against dreaming. I’m all for that. But I dream about projects and what I’m going to create next: things I’m going to DO.
“I just won $20!” “And how much did you spend before you won?” “About $18,000, BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT! I won $20!” “That’s exactly the point, you wasted $17,980.”
You must be fun at parties.
My iPhone 6S Plus is about 30% faster at losing my money than my “Late 2013” MacBook Pro with 2.3 GHz i7.
But somebody will. Eventually.
interesting world view. but flawed… some people are very capable of gambling for kicks to no detriment. or drink. or do drugs.
what do sports fans get out of spending hundreds or thousands on pro team games? absolutely nothing — except kicks. same thing.
pick your interests, ill pick mine.
People who can waste $17,980 on lottery tickets can’t afford parties.
The flaws are yours, which you’ll, of course, happily ignore.