Do you do the lottery...?

tanith

Haven't done the lottery for a couple of years apart from the odd roll over... but I sometimes buy them for my kids and grandkids and tuck it in with their birthday or chrissie pressie... only £1 though

Kevicho

The lottery in some sections of society is known as the "idiots tax"

Badger_Lady

Idiophreak wrote: »

I don't really work out the probability of winning in the same way other people seem to. The odds of "someone" winning the lottery is really of no interest to me. The odds of *me* winning the lottery, on the other hand, is of great interest to me.

Um... the odds of "someone" winning the lottery are around 100% - someone wins nearly every week!

Your personal odds are only dependent on the number of tickets you buy - each ticket has equal chances.

I agree, if you've got the money to spare, then it can be fun and you shouldn't let statistics get in the way! However, I look at this from a purely MSE angle - the story above just illustrates how much better off the vast majority of us would be by saving up those £2 a week as a little nest egg, rather than throwing it at the lottery.

matthewking26

Try the Whatsthecost.com lottery emulator.

http://www.whatsthecost.com/lottery.aspx

All the fun of the lottery without spending on it. Pick 5 sets of numbers or lucky dip then it will play them for a years worth of draws. You'll spend £260 a year and bring in an average of around £80.

The odds on lottery draws are so mindboggling, nobody can really get their head round them.

Imagine you went for a job interview and you were up against 5 other equally good candidates, you might get the job. Imagine you were up against 50 candidates. Imagine it was 500 candidates, or 5,000, or 50,000 or 500,000. Would you be sat there thinking, "Well it could be me". Then think if you'd had to pay to attend the interview as well.
The odds of winning millions on the lottery are 14,000,000 to one. Would you even turn up for a job interview if you had to pay and there were 14,000,000 other candidates?

The odds of you dying in a car crash are around 3000 to one, but you used the lottery mindset of "It could be me, you've got to be in it to win it" then you'd never get in a car again. You'll have to be in 4666 car crashes to win the lottery is another way of looking at it.

Look at:
http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm

Odds of drowning in your bath 11,000 to one, does that "It could be me" stop you having baths?
Being killed by a lightning strike, 79,000 to one, does that stop you going outside?
Or look at it this way, you'll be hit by lightning 177 times for every time you win the lottery.

The psychology of gambling is simple, we focus on the wins and ignore the losses. If you spend £20 on a fruit machine and win £5 you walk away thinking about the £5 you made, not the £15 you lost.

If the government wants money for good causes, surely that should come through taxation, not the dreams of getting rich.
And a fair bit of the lottery money won't be going to any good causes for a while now, not until the Olympics are paid for.
GLA council tax precept£625 million London Development Agency£250 million New Olympic Lottery Games£750 million Resources from established Lottery sports distributors for elite sport and associated sports investment£340 million Changes to the Good Cause shares (when the current agreement ends in 2009)£410 million (up to) Total£2.375 billion

Badger_Lady

matthewking26 wrote: »

Try the Whatsthecost.com lottery emulator.

http://www.whatsthecost.com/lottery.aspx

All the fun of the lottery without spending on it. Pick 5 sets of numbers or lucky dip then it will play them for a years worth of draws. You'll spend £260 a year and bring in an average of around £80.

Best I could do after a few tries was this:

Well, after a year, you've spent £260, and won £40. That looks like a return of 6.50% However, you've got to remember that unlike savings accounts, you no long have your initial stake. That takes the equivilant savings percentage down to around -84.62%.

Couldn't even spell "equivalent"

rayday2

This is all dreadfully boring, I have an ISA for sensible savings whats the harm if we eat well, have a roof over our heads in having a bit of fun.

MSE is about to me money not ruling our life being savvy with it making it go further not paying more than you have too, but I wouldn't want the MSE title if it meant I had to think £2 tucked away in a savings every week was more "fun" than the lottery!

Everything in moderation even money saving!

HairyHandofDartmoor

rayday2 wrote: »

This is all dreadfully boring, I have an ISA for sensible savings whats the harm if we eat well, have a roof over our heads in having a bit of fun.

MSE is about to me money not ruling our life being savvy with it making it go further not paying more than you have too, but I wouldn't want the MSE title if it meant I had to think £2 tucked away in a savings every week was more "fun" than the lottery!

Everything in moderation even money saving!

Oh God I must be a really boring person :eek: I actually think £2 in savings is more fun than the lottery :rotfl: Sorry!

prudencekitten

My husband buys the occasional ticket. Me, I'd rather spend it on a bar of chocolate!

Jacks_xxx

:wave: I don't bother with the lottery cos it's blimmin' dull and boring as well as being a waste of dosh, but I do have a flutter on things like The Oscars every year. (I do Best Picture, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actor & Actress and maybe one more that takes my fancy.)

I do an accumulator and slap down £20. I don't really understand how it works, but if I get one winner wrong then I've lost my £20 but if I get them all right - which I do about half the time - I win loads! I dunno - my buddy puts the actual bets on for me cos I'm cluless about the actual betting!

I'm not really interested in the gambling per se - I can only bet on something I give a monkeys about or have a feeling about.

I was sure Amy Winehouse was a shoo-in for the Mercury's this year until she went spectacularly off the rails and killed off her support. I'd bet really early to get half decent odds and so lost on that one. (I didn't mind the Klaxons winning though - they're lovely boys. )

I also try to bet on the winner of BB and Celeb BB on day one. (I did well out of Chantelle! :rotfl: )

Love Jacks xxx

betti911

I don't do the lottery. I wouldn't like to see how much work time it would cost you using the demotivator tool :eek: