Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

Generali

lostinrates wrote: »

You think I'm a spitter?

A swallow does not a summer make.

Happy new year LIR.

GDB2222

Does anyone know the value of all UK lottery tickets sold for a typical draw? The prize fund for this coming Saturday will be around £55m, and I wondered how that compares with the value of tickets sold?

Generali

GDB2222 wrote: »

Does anyone know the value of all UK lottery tickets sold for a typical draw? The prize fund for this coming Saturday will be around £55m, and I wondered how that compares with the value of tickets sold?

AIUI value of tickets sold > total value of prizes at all times for the lottery in the UK. As a result, unless you gain some pleasure (utility in economic terms) from entering you will always lose on average.

I sometimes enter the lotto because I gain utility from being a maybe millionaire for a few days. The reality is that you are more likely to die before the draw than win.

Doozergirl

My SAD is kicking in. I'm staying up later, despite this week being back to work. I'll then want to go back to bed and miss the days. I won't be able to, though.

I have a special blue lamp. I used it last winter and the year before and have no opinion of it. Sunny holidays definitely work better. I've sacrificed this winter's holiday for a personal development course. I hope it's worth it!

The sunrise lamps are helpful. I should probably set it!

Doozergirl

Generali wrote: »

AIUI value of tickets sold > total value of prizes at all times for the lottery in the UK. As a result, unless you gain some pleasure (utility in economic terms) from entering you will always lose on average.

I sometimes enter the lotto because I gain utility from being a maybe millionaire for a few days. The reality is that you are more likely to die before the draw than win.

Those daydreams surrounding what we'd do if we won the lottery. They are quite fun in themselves.

I don't buy tickets. The husband does. At least some of it goes to charity.

GDB2222

Generali wrote: »

AIUI value of tickets sold > total value of prizes at all times for the lottery in the UK. As a result, unless you gain some pleasure (utility in economic terms) from entering you will always lose on average.

I sometimes enter the lotto because I gain utility from being a maybe millionaire for a few days. The reality is that you are more likely to die before the draw than win.

So, do you buy your ticket several days before the draw, so as to maximise your utility, even though it increases your chance of dying before the draw?

zagubov

Back late tonight. Reading back. Well done, CK!
I've a lava lamp as well. And I've been to the Escher exhibition in Dulwich which shows my age a bit.
Can't gamble. OK I could do a penny falls in an arcade because I could kid myself I've a chance, but I know I'm kidding myself and In know no other form of gambling seems sensible as it just shows a poor grasp of maths.

Just remember the rule about how to orient yourself in strange town. You look for the betting shops as they'll have satellite dishes pointing south. The first satellite TV channels were the ones shown in betting shops; They had the money to pay for rockets that would put communication satellites into outer space before TV stations could because they just had so much cash, from gamblers

Generali

GDB2222 wrote: »

So, do you buy your ticket several days before the draw, so as to maximise your utility, even though it increases your chance of dying before the draw?

IIRC, if you're a man there is no age at which you can buy a ticket such that your chances of winning the jackpot are greater than you dying first. I think younger women can just sneak in.

The best result is thus to spend all the money you plan on the latest dated lottery ticket you can buy so as to maximize your dreams and delaying the day when your £? crystallizes into £1 squillion or more likely £0.

zagubov

Generali wrote: »

IIRC, if you're a man there is no age at which you can buy a ticket such that your chances of winning the jackpot are greater than you dying first. I think younger women can just sneak in.

The best result is thus to spend all the money you plan on the latest dated lottery ticket you can buy so as to maximize your dreams and delaying the day when your £? crystallizes into £1 squillion or more likely £0.

Lat time I saw the odds it was something like a woman cold buy a ticket up to two hours before the draw and a man about an hour. Which would explain a lot of the (initially unexpected) queuing I used to see in newsagents shops when the whole lottery started.

Oh and obvs, the satellite dish rule doesn't work quite so well in Aus, I'd imagine.

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

Back late tonight. Reading back. Well done, CK!
I've a lava lamp as well. And I've been to the Escher exhibition in Dulwich which shows my age a bit.
Can't gamble. OK I could do a penny falls in an arcade because I could kid myself I've a chance, but I know I'm kidding myself and In know no other form of gambling seems sensible as it just shows a poor grasp of maths.

Just remember the rule about how to orient yourself in strange town. You look for the betting shops as they'll have satellite dishes pointing south. The first satellite TV channels were the ones shown in betting shops; They had the money to pay for rockets that would put communication satellites into outer space before TV stations could because they just had so much cash, from gamblers

There are examples of bets which are systematically priced incorrectly.

The way to think about sports betting is that sports are a weighted random number generator: if the odds you can get are better than the odds of something happening you're on to a winner.

Cricket is a happy hunting ground for those oddities: the data of old matches are widely available for free and people bet patriotically. That's a bit of a magic combination quite honestly.

Betting against Frank Bruno used to be lucrative as you got great odds for the Championship bouts. I've nothing against the bloke, I just like taking the bookies to the cleaners.

I suspect that betting against Scotland or Wales or England would pay off similarly for soccer betting. I'd take almost any price that Wales won't win any given World Cup for example. Nothing against Wales you understand it's just that their team isn't very good.