Mega Millions reaches $1bn

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Dustin, Jul 27, 2022.

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  1. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Or a cash prize of over $600 million.
    https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2022/07/27/mega-millions-drawing-july-27-2022-winning-numbers-jackpot/10160775002/

    I play the lotto occasionally. Usually on the more challenging days of my life. That way if I win, it'll make that frustration worth it.

    Many lotto winners have tragedy after their win, and not just from their own decision-making. I'm not sure what I would do if I won. Pack up and move far away? Of course I have dreams of paying off debt, supporting worthy charities and getting a PhD without worrying about the sticker price, but I think it would be hard with everyone knowing you have money.

    What would you spend lotto winnings on?
     
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  2. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    Degrees. So many degrees. :emoji_innocent:

    More realistically, I'd buy a couple of houses. Then I'd make a couple of trusts for house maintenance & upkeep. Keep a few million for early retirement. Then probably use most of the rest for charitable purposes.
     
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  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Oh, it would be SO hard (for them), but everybody would see I had money... a few Italian suits - Caruso, Kiton, Rubinacci, Isaia, Boglioli · so many tailors, so little time. And an original Cartier Tank watch - vintage 1917. I could tell blowhards "my watch is worth more than your CAR!" A house, of course - not ostentatious, but well-situated. Maybe within 50 miles of here, maybe Vancouver - but definitely in Canada. I'd build a state-of the art computer system with ALL the best fashion design software. Heck, I'll probably do that anyway - at some point. But it would take less time with a lottery boost.

    Most important (to me) it would be VERY warming to give a LOT of money to a couple of charities I support in a smaller way, now. Maybe I could get a whole state-of-the-art Clinic built. And/or make more funding available for promising research. That would be VERY rewarding.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2022
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  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I'd pay off my student loans! ;)
     
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  5. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Normally, the expected value (EV) of a $1 lottery ticket is around 65 cents. It has to be in order to make money from the process. But at some point with progressive jackpots, the EV could actually go over $1 meaning the odds of it returning more than $1 are in your favor. This is, of course, offset by the increases in purchases because of the rising jackpot. That might keep the EV below a buck.

    The odds of winning a simple 6/49 lottery, where you have to get all 6 numbers (of 49 possible) right to win $3M are about 13.5M:1. Somebody will win the 3 mill, a lot of other smaller prizes will be awarded, and the remaining proceeds will be retained by the sponsoring government and the company running the game. (If no one wins, the jackpot rolls over.) Modern, progressive jackpots spread across multiple states are the same phenomenon, just much bigger (in terms of payouts) and much smaller (in terms of your odds of winning).

    A metaphor for your odds of winning: place a paper cup on the sidewalk in front of the Empire State Building. Go up to the observation deck. Be blindfolded and spun around, then throw a quarter. If it lands in the cup on the sidewalk below, you win. (And I can't know this, but I suspect your odds are even better with the quarter toss than they are with the Mega-Power-Magic-8-Ball thing you're playing at the 7/11.)

    On another note, the payouts are so small they would violate the law in Nevada, which limits the vig (the "vigorish," or house edge) to 25%. Wow. A bigger ripoff than the law would allow in Vegas. And I thought Keno was bad!
     
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  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    There's good reason for the old saying that a lottery is a tax on being bad at math.
     
  7. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    There's some truth to that. It's certainly not my retirement plan, unlike 30%+ of Americans. I consider the ~$20 a year I spend worth the entertainment of daydreaming about potential winnings.

    Reminds me of Richard Lustig, whose claim to fame is winning various scratch ticket games 7 times. He wrote a book which boils down to "play a lot" which is really the only way to increase your odds (and also to play less common numbers, which he thinks increases your odds somehow but obviously does nothing.)
     
  8. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Many years ago, an Italian politician (forget his name) was called upon to defend his country's State Lottery. He said it functioned as a tax on imbeciles. I think he hit it spot on -- and I still buy tickets here in Canada. HDCYG (How dumb can you get?)
     
  9. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    They originally called it "The Dumber You Are the More You Pay Tax," but that didn't do well, so they changed it to "Lottery." (Not that there's anything wrong with playing it, of course.)
     
  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    American lottery history has its dark side. George Washington was a lottery manager for Col. Bernard Moore's "Slave Lottery" in 1769, which advertised slaves and land as prizes in the Virginia Gazette.
     
  11. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    No, thanks. I just want to win five bucks so I can....buy more lottery tickets!
     
  12. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    Actually, it's not!

    But the commission running the lottery really has to mess up.

    There have been several scratcher games where the barcode on the ticket could be decoded, so you could see before purchasing (when purchased at a store with those clear counters) whether the next ticket(s) would be winning ones. I think this is part of why ticket vending machines are everywhere these days: they can't completely avoid scratchers that can be decoded, so they prefer to hide them away to make it so that nobody can see what they're buying.

    For number-pull lottery systems (like Powerball), there have been a few games where the value of a ticket was automatically worth more than the ticket, once it got to big numbers. By purchasing tens or hundreds of thousands of tickets at a time, you were statistically guaranteed a payout.

    But, again, that only works if the lottery commission didn't math properly.
     
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  13. Mac Juli

    Mac Juli Well-Known Member

    Oh, it certainly does not increase the odds of winning. But if I win with less common numbers, I have to share the pot with less people, so, doing this is reasonable if the size of the pot is not fixed.
    Keep in mind that playing lottery is not only playing against the odds, but also against other players!
     
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  14. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I'd hate to be behind that guy at 7-11!
     
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  15. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    IIRC, the people who exploited the loophole split up the purchases between different locations and had methods to avoid arousing suspicion/ire. Like going to a bunch of locations over the course of a week or two.
     
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  16. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    It doesn't. Because the expected value of a ticket (or scratch card) is less than the cost, playing more just means you'll lose more...on average. Someone will win, of course. But it probably won't be you. Or anyone you know. And even if you did, he won't give you any.
     
  17. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Wow! The dedication! I guess they must have teams of 'smurfers,' - like the money-launderers back in the 80s had, for bank deposits all over town. Or can they maybe purchase online someplace, nowadays?
     
  18. AsianStew

    AsianStew Moderator Staff Member

    LOL, I remember back in the day, there was "scratch and win" for bags of potato chips... there was away to scratch and win a bag of chips each and every time. So technically, it's buy 1 bag, unlimited free bags each and every order after. That promo didn't last long...
     
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  19. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I'm waiting for Vegas to change Blackjack to 22. Then I'm gonna clean up!
     
  20. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I wouldn't pay off ANY of my debts. I'm fortunate in not having any - due in part to what I've learned of Islamic finance.
    الله يساعد الذين يساعدون أنفسهم "Allah yusaeid aladhin yusaeidun 'anfusahum."
    "Allah helps those who help themselves." Seen that before somewhere, I think. :)
     
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