Might you buy one lottery ticket?

[Boojatta]

Poll question: Might you buy one lottery ticket?

[hedgehog]

1. WHy do sales of lottery tickets always increase when the prize amounts go up?

:shrug:

[annabanana]

3. The "what if" game is more fun

when you get to "what if" on a grander scale...

[Lithos]

10. Agreed

There is a difference between knowing it's a fantasy and knowing you are going to win. The former is pure entertainment and really no different in some respect than the same sort of fantasizing which occurs with Air Guitar and Rock Band, the latter is a tossup between self-denial and innumeracy.

L-

[Muttocracy]

6. it's the weighted average thing -

that tiny tiny chance of winning multiplied by the larger prize makes it seem more worthwhile to spend that $1.

I voted entertainment though - have only bought 2 tickets in my life.

[Johonny]

20. well shouldn't they

If you have 1 in 40 million chance of winning wouldn't you wait until the pay off was at least 40 million to place a 1 dollar bet on it.

[annabanana]

2. I buy to play the "what if" game.

AS long as I know it's only a game, it's harmless.

[orleans]

4. because "i'm special"

which has to do with why the lottery works so well--the "i'm special" effect is a psychological response people have (where they believe they can win when the odds are so horribly stacked against them, or when they believe nothing bad will happen to them)

....i remember reading/learning about this in college (about a three hundred years ago)

[Speck Tater]

5. Once or twice a year I succumb to stupidity and buy one. NT

[sandnsea]

7. Best ROI Available

And it's great entertainment value in between. Provided you only spend what you can truly afford.

[Posteritatis]

15. I live in a really lousy neighborhood

Ghetto's about the best way to describe it - requisite wannabe street gang, Walmart's considered upscale, etc.

It stuns me how often I'll see people in the nearby corner store buying twenty or thirty dollars' worth of lottery tickets with a pile of spare change.

[Somawas]

8. Better odds of getting struck by lightning.

[cloudbase]

9. How to narrow really long odds:

You'll either win, or you won't. 50-50 the easy way!

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Only one?

I always buy three at a time.

That triples my chances of losing my money.

But hey, SOMEBODY wins. Does the other guy really have any better odds than I?

[TechBear_Seattle]

12. I like to play the "triple my chances" game too

I usually by quick-pick tickets $5 at a time, so I've quintupled my chances of winning!

Alas, though, I was a math major in college. Odds that are 5 out of 49,000,000 are not significantly different from 1 out of 49,000,000. Still, the "what if" game is fun, and I can afford a few bucks each week.

[CrispyQ]

13. Yes, because you can't win if you don't play.

The lottery is a tax on people who can't do math.

;)

[Indenturedebtor]

14. LOL so true

It does go to pay for a lot of things that people aren't willing to pay taxes for. Like education for the children, etc.

And hey "Ya nevah know" ;)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. I prefer pull tabs.

It's more fun if you win sometimes.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

17. Can't win if you don't play

A weekly $1 lottery ticket is part of my regular thing. A buck buys me a few moments of dreamtime--a hell of a lot better for me than a greasy burger from a dollar menu.

[FloridaJudy]

18. I buy a ticket once or twice a year

It's a total waste of money, I know.

[caraher]

19. You mean on purpose?

I just don't buy them, period. Lotteries are mostly a regressive form of taxation.

[Celebration]

21. profits go for a good cause

As I recall, occasionally enough builds up in the pot, when people don't win, that those super lotteries do have occasionally have good odds. That's when the syndicates start buying them up. Some syndicate was actually a winner one time. It was pretty dicey because they were only able to physically execute about half of the numbers, or something like that.

[Howzit]

22. The US has a greencard lottery in the name of cultural diversity

55,000 greencards are issued per year from millions of applicants worldwide. The probability of any individual "winning" is quite low as only one entry is allowed per person per year, but entering is free.

I entered this lottery in 1995, got lucky and emigrated to the US in 1996. Does this mean I have used up my luck when entering the California lottery, or does it mean I have a shot?

I buy lottery ticket occasionally because somebody has to win, but it doesn't replace my retirement plan.

[DireStrike]

23. If I bought any ticket, it would be one and only one.

The increase from zero to (very small) is much more significant than the increase from the purchase of the next ticket. I don't care what the math says. Something is missing in the description if the difference between zero tickets and one ticket is the same as the difference between one ticket and two tickets.

Very small is still very small though, so no I would not buy a lottery ticket.