$340 Million Powerball

Jose, I think you may be wrong about the odds. If you buy a ticket every
day, the odds are the same each day 1:308,000,000. If you buy 10 tickets
each day the odds for each ticket to win is still the same.

You are right inasmuch as the odds are the same every day (not counting
the different number of people that buy tickets for any given game).
However, the more tickets you buy, the more your =overall= chance of
winning at =least= one game. For tiny chances, the increase is roughly
linear (there's such a small chance of winning more than once it can be
ignored).

Jose
--
Money: what you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

From my perspective, the lottery is just a "stupid tax" that I am
not required to pay. However, many others do...

That's my perspective, too.

Yet, today, for some reason, Mary and I blew a $5 bill on FIVE (count 'em --
FIVE!) Powerball tickets!

That's five more than we've ever bought before! (We actually had to ask
the clerk how to play the lottery. The people in line were incredulous...)

I feel so, so, I don't know....*stupid*...

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Now I feel depressed and lonely. I thought that you and I were the only
hold-outs left. Now I don't know what to do. Maybe I can borrow a dollar
from a stranger to buy a ticket, then I can still say I've never spent any
of my own money on the lottery. *sigh*

Just think.... for the price of a lottery ticket you could:

FLY!!! at $100 per hour for just over 36 seconds!!
or
DRINK!!! 1 tap beer (unknown size) or more during Happy Hour!!
or
BUY a condom and if you're lucky use it at no additional charge! (STD's
free, treatments and divorces extra)

Anybody got $4 they can loan me?

Jim

Anybody got $4 they can loan me?

Tell you what. Go buy 4 tickets.

If I win, I'll reimburse you...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jim Burns" wrote

Now I feel depressed and lonely. I thought that you and I were the only
hold-outs left. Now I don't know what to do.

Nope. I haven't played the lotto, and will not be. Does that make you feel
better? g
--
Jim in NC

Jim Burns wrote:
Now I feel depressed and lonely. I thought that you and I were the only
hold-outs left. Now I don't know what to do. Maybe I can borrow a dollar
from a stranger to buy a ticket, then I can still say I've never spent any
of my own money on the lottery. *sigh*

Just think.... for the price of a lottery ticket you could:

I'm still with you here. I always refered to it as a tax on those who
aren't good at math. In Florida, they have been running ads about how
lame it is to only play if the jackpot is high. Apparently enough
people do that to affect their take noticably. Wow.

Now, Montblac, if you do win, do I still get in on the deal? I follow
this group almost daily, but I'm still a student pilot so I don't have
much to add generally.

John Stevens
Solo Student, 32.6 hours

"Jay Honeck" writes:

From my perspective, the lottery is just a "stupid tax" that I am
not required to pay. However, many others do...

That's my perspective, too.

Yet, today, for some reason, Mary and I blew a $5 bill on FIVE (count 'em --
FIVE!) Powerball tickets!

That's five more than we've ever bought before! (We actually had to ask
the clerk how to play the lottery. The people in line were incredulous...)

I feel so, so, I don't know....*stupid*...

:-)

I've called it "paying my stupidity tax" quite often myself.

Let me offer for your possible use my rationalizaton: While, in
strictly *financial* terms it's a bad bet, that's not what actually
matters. In some arbitrary measure of personal "utility", an
occasional dollar spent on a lottery ticket is a complete triviality,
it doesn't constrain any other portion of my life at all. However,
winning 340 million dollars would completely transform some segments
of my life (in ways I think would be for the better), a great increase
in utility. Hence buying a lotter ticket is risking "nothing" to
potentially (very low probability) gain a great deal -- clearly a
rational decision.

Hope that helps!
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

I feel so, so, I don't know....*stupid*...

Hence buying a lotter ticket is risking "nothing" to
potentially (very low probability) gain a great deal -- clearly a
rational decision.

Hope that helps!

I like the way you think, David. It probably hurts your head, but I
like it, nonetheless...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

David Dyer-Bennet wrote:

"Jay Honeck" writes:

From my perspective, the lottery is just a "stupid tax" that I am
not required to pay. However, many others do...

That's my perspective, too.

Yet, today, for some reason, Mary and I blew a $5 bill on FIVE (count 'em
-- FIVE!) Powerball tickets!

That's five more than we've ever bought before! (We actually had to ask
the clerk how to play the lottery. The people in line were
incredulous...)

I feel so, so, I don't know....*stupid*...

:-)

I've called it "paying my stupidity tax" quite often myself.


Here in Massachusetts, only a fraction of the lottery ticket proceeds goes
to the winning pot. More than 50% (I believe) goes to the education
department. Might be wrong on the percentage - I'll have to check.

So buying a lottery ticket helps the State Education department. And,
eventually, SOMEONE wins the pot.

Gregg

Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments,
Restoration of my 1919 Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat, and
Steambending FAQ with photos:
http://home.comcast.net/~saville/index.html

"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...
"Jay Honeck" writes:

From my perspective, the lottery is just a "stupid tax" that I am
not required to pay. However, many others do...

That's my perspective, too.

Yet, today, for some reason, Mary and I blew a $5 bill on FIVE (count
'em --
FIVE!) Powerball tickets!

That's five more than we've ever bought before! (We actually had to ask
the clerk how to play the lottery. The people in line were
incredulous...)

I feel so, so, I don't know....*stupid*...

:-)

I've called it "paying my stupidity tax" quite often myself.

Let me offer for your possible use my rationalizaton: While, in
strictly *financial* terms it's a bad bet, that's not what actually
matters. In some arbitrary measure of personal "utility", an
occasional dollar spent on a lottery ticket is a complete triviality,
it doesn't constrain any other portion of my life at all. However,
winning 340 million dollars would completely transform some segments
of my life (in ways I think would be for the better), a great increase
in utility. Hence buying a lotter ticket is risking "nothing" to
potentially (very low probability) gain a great deal -- clearly a
rational decision.

Except that you wont win $340m by the time the deductions are made.