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Wednesday, November 2. 2022

A $2 Powerball ticket is the most fun you can buy for that price.

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 10:16 | Comments (20) | Trackbacks (0)

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Years ago when the lottery came to Florida it was so exciting. I remember the first week. I spent an entire day at work with a coworker working in a lab and we both talked about what we would spend our million dollars on. At first it was generic items. Then we went into more detail. Then we got very specific. As the day went by we were more and more confident we were going to win and we could taste it. We were walking on air. I think the odds were only 64 million to one. It was a glorious day. I also remember one day coworker told me he had dreamed the numbers the night before. I asked him to tell me the numbers. He refused. The next day I told him my dream. In my dream I told him I had asked him for the numbers for the lottery and because he did not tell me he lost. He did not speak to me for weeks.

#1 Robert Moffett (Link) on 2022-11-02 10:51 (Reply)

I was excited when it first came out. Then I looked at the numbers on the back of the play slip. The odds of winning the big Powerball prize are 1 in more than 300 million.

So don't cross the street to buy your ticket. Your chance of being killed by a car are only 1 in 20 million.

#2 jdgalt1 on 2022-11-02 12:18 (Reply)

But a one in 300 million chance is infinitely better than none.

So for $2 you can infinitely improve your chances of being rich.

Seems silly not to buy one.

Seems silly to buy two.

#2.1 bilejones on 2022-11-03 14:21 (Reply)

This is my theory.

One ticket makes a MASSIVE difference in my chances.

The second ticket, not so much.

#2.1.1 William O. B'Livion on 2022-11-05 17:40 (Reply)

When I discuss lottery odds with my statistics classes, the introductory slide reads "CONGRATULATIONS, YOU MAY ALREADY BE A LOSER."

#3 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2022-11-02 12:20 (Reply)

It always strikes me as funny, when a persons response to the lottery is statistics. A) somebody will win B) it's only $2 C) who cares about statistics (in this case). Spare me any gambling addiction problems, yes they exist, punto.

#4 Jonathan Borden (Link) on 2022-11-02 12:26 (Reply)

The deceptive part about powerball is that picking the correct numbers seems so easy. People also can't comprehend how small their chances of winning really are.

Perhaps the long odds woudn't matter even if they were understood? Maybe buying the dream of what you might do with the money is worth the price of the ticket(s)?

BTW, some people think buying lottery tickets is part of a good retirement plan. Purchase a couple of tickets a week. year in and year out, and your ship is bound to come in.

#5 feeblemind on 2022-11-02 13:21 (Reply)

I buy a ticket whenever the pot gets ridiculously high, and yes I know my chances of winning are astronomically low. But it's a cheap fantasy, and it's fun to speculate on what I would do if lightning struck and I actually won. But I don't buy multiple chances thinking that will increase my chances of winning. It's the single $2 ticket for me when I remember to go get one.

#6 RebeccaH on 2022-11-02 13:23 (Reply)

A lottery is a tax on the poor and ignorant.

Don't we have truth in advertising laws? Isn't the $1.2 billion the cash value of the stretched out payment, with a dollar in 20 years probably worth 3 cents.

What - you mean I have to pay tax on the winnings?

instead of focusing on grossing $600 million, have you considered you'll be paying $300 million in taxes?

Feel better?

Why isn't the guy who talks fast - incomprehensible, actually - played at the end of every commercial?

Do we have bling justice in america, or are there 2 sets of rules?

asking for a friend.

#7 maddog on 2022-11-02 13:56 (Reply)

I consider lotteries to be stupidity taxes.

#7.1 Michael Kesti on 2022-11-02 19:11 (Reply)

QUOTE:

instead of focusing on grossing $600 million, have you considered you'll be paying $300 million in taxes?

Feel better?

You're going to give me 600 million "free", and expect me to get all sad because after taxes I'll have a little under 400 million (It's not 50% taxes).

Yeah, it's going to suck paying 220 or so million dollars in taxes. I think the 380 million I have left will buy me enough therapy to get past that and be happy again.

#7.2 William O. B'Livion on 2022-11-05 17:48 (Reply)

Found $100 in a wallet two years ago, but nothing like that under Sieg Howdy Brandon.
Lottery is gambling for poor people is an altruism.
There was a big lotto winner out in Vegas and the local teevee news anchorwoman asked him what were his plans and he said...I'm going to go see my dealer and then head over to the Chicken Ranch.

#8 Best I Can Do Is 75 Cents on 2022-11-02 14:16 (Reply)

I agree with the writer. $2 for a tiny thrill. No need to get all snooty about it.

#9 Talnik on 2022-11-02 18:52 (Reply)

As they say, you can't win unless you play. I buy ONE ticket. I've only won 2 dollars which is the price of the ticket. It's fun. You're chances of winning are about the same as getting struck by lightning when the sun is shining at high noon, but it is fun. $2 bucks for a ticket. That's a third of the price of a beer in a bar. Last week it as just over $1 billion. Did anyone win?

#10 Chip Clemmer on 2022-11-03 04:06 (Reply)

Adding to #10, my last comment. I have seen too many people blow their paychecks playing Keno in mostly working-class bars. The lottery people are counting on the fact that there is a large group of individuals that are into instant gratification. They will start at the bar and buy Keno after Keno, and once in a blue moon, someone will get something small. I won a second Keno ticket the last time. I've never seen anyone win over $100.

#11 Chip Clemmer on 2022-11-03 04:23 (Reply)

I do want to add something positive: Several years ago, a business owner in Kentucky won the $800 and something million-dollar lottery. When they interviewed him he was in tears. He said that now he wouldn't have to lay off any of his workers just in time for Christmas. His #1 prayer had been answered. Sometimes good things happen to good people. It would be nice to hear more of these types of stories, rather than so-and-so "got shot during a drug deal"...

#11.1 Chip Clemmer on 2022-11-03 06:02 (Reply)

I used to say all the negative things about the lottery listed here-- it's a tax on people who can't do math, etc. I thought it should be shut down as exploitative.

But then I met my father in law, who bought a lottery ticket once a week as part of his weekly routine-- bought it at the end of the work week on Friday evening, then watched the drawing on Saturday evening, sitting in his favorite chair after dinner. He knew the odds, and never showed the slightest disappointment when he didn't win. But for a few hours every week, he had a mental vacation-- he wasn't a blue-collar guy in a small and struggling town for a bit, he was a rich guy with a nice car and enough schlitz to just up and go to France for a vacation if he wanted to. That $1 (back then) ticket was cheap entertainment, cheaper than a movie ticket for the same sort of harmless escapism. Opened my eyes, I guess.

#12 Janet on 2022-11-03 07:23 (Reply)

I will admit that it is a tax on people who can't do math. I know the odds of winning with one ticket.
Can you tell me the odds of winning without a ticket? I'll wait.

#13 Hayden Goseek on 2022-11-03 10:38 (Reply)

Zero?

#13.1 William O. B'Livion on 2022-11-05 17:50 (Reply)

If the odds of winning are 1 in 300 million and the pot is greater than $600 million, then the expected value of a single ticket would be greater than the price of the ticket.

Mathematically, it would be stupid not to play.

#14 egd on 2022-11-04 07:25 (Reply)

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Wednesday, November 2. 2022

Powerball