I know there’s a shitload of people on this site and I’m just wondering if anyone has ever won a big prize of $25,000 or more?
[quote]E-man wrote:
I know there’s a shitload of people on this site and I’m just wondering if anyone has ever won a big prize of $25,000 or more?[/quote]
Not yet, still hoping 
in 6 days I might? If God, Buddha, Allah, etc…wants
A long time ago my father won the million dollar lottery. He said at the time the winners were put into a pool where there was a second drawing, and the winner of that drawing won the million.
I dont know anything about the lottery system of the past, but he has a picture of himself at that drawing that was taken by the lottery officials and published, and a certificate for winning. He was given like 25K for making it to the drawing. I don’t even recall what year it was, but I think it was the 70’s.
Remember that $365 million jackpot last spring? I bought my ticket at that gas station…less than an hour before the winner was sold. I was depressed for about a day.
The prof I had for this probability course I took last year pretty much convinced me not to ever play the lottery. Instead I’d take the 3-5$ a week I’d spend on a lottery and stash it away into the savings, lol.
[quote]TKL.ca wrote:
The prof I had for this probability course I took last year pretty much convinced me not to ever play the lottery. [/quote]
When it’s above a certain amount, I believe it’s mathematically correct to buy a ticket.
[quote]TKL.ca wrote:
The prof I had for this probability course I took last year pretty much convinced me not to ever play the lottery. Instead I’d take the 3-5$ a week I’d spend on a lottery and stash it away into the savings, lol. [/quote]
Yeah but as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
[quote]TKL.ca wrote:
The prof I had for this probability course I took last year pretty much convinced me not to ever play the lottery. Instead I’d take the 3-5$ a week I’d spend on a lottery and stash it away into the savings, lol. [/quote]
I heard that too. The Texas lottery has you pick six numbers from 1-54, so the odds of picking the correct six numbers are 1/54^6, or roughly 1 in 24 Billion.
So I thought the same way you did, until my brother mentioned “Yeah, it’s one in 24 Billion, but I’ll be damned if someone doesn’t win it every couple of weeks.”
[quote]tGunslinger wrote:
TKL.ca wrote:
The prof I had for this probability course I took last year pretty much convinced me not to ever play the lottery. Instead I’d take the 3-5$ a week I’d spend on a lottery and stash it away into the savings, lol.
I heard that too. The Texas lottery has you pick six numbers from 1-54, so the odds of picking the correct six numbers are 1/54^6, or roughly 1 in 24 Billion.
So I thought the same way you did, until my brother mentioned “Yeah, it’s one in 24 Billion, but I’ll be damned if someone doesn’t win it every couple of weeks.”[/quote]
I took his advice with a grain of salt since, like your brother mentioned, there is always that slight chance of winning. I admit that I buy a ticket once and awhile with the hopes I might win, haha.
A receptionist I worked with won $3million AUS about 10 years ago. I figured that I will never now, what are the cances of knowing somneone who won and winning yourself…very little. I’ve never purchased a ticket.
Wife’s grandfather hit a big one in 1988.
Lotteries are a form of stupid tax.
The state I live in started a lottery about 15 years ago. The political process for approving it was very illustrative of society in general. Our lottery makes everybody happy for all the right reasons. The rich people love our lottery because it helps to keep their school taxes lower (it gets a lot of people paying school taxes that they wouldn’t normally be paying).
The middle class people love it because it acts as a tax break for them when their kids go to college (we have a lottery funded college scholarship program if you keep your GPA high enough and attend a state school). And finally the poor people love it because they think it gives them the chance to be a millionaire.
Me I don’t play the lottery.
[quote]Khronos wrote:
Lotteries are a form of stupid tax.
The state I live in started a lottery about 15 years ago. The political process for approving it was very illustrative of society in general. Our lottery makes everybody happy for all the right reasons. The rich people love our lottery because it helps to keep their school taxes lower (it gets a lot of people paying school taxes that they wouldn’t normally be paying).
The middle class people love it because it acts as a tax break for them when their kids go to college (we have a lottery funded college scholarship program if you keep your GPA high enough and attend a state school). And finally the poor people love it because they think it gives them the chance to be a millionaire.
Me I don’t play the lottery. [/quote]
The lottery is basically a regressive tax, but its voluntary so I have no problem with it. The only way to change your odds is to buy one ticket. That gets your odds from 0 to 1 in 24 billion. Most people who win the lottery are broke within a couple of years.
My opinion of the lottery is that it is gambling for people who are bad at math, so I don’t play it.
Then again my fucking friend won 200K last month.
He showed me!
That fucker.
He did buy me a beer though.
I;m still waiting for my turn or for the plane to crash in my back yard!
my girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend won 8 million in the lottery. What are the chances that 2 guys she’s dated will win, from the same neighborhood?
My chances aren’t looking so great.
Of course the statistics say it’s mathematically more “sensible” not to buy a ticket. But that doesn’t change the fact that you have to be in it to win it.
The bottom line, pragmatically speaking, is that the $1, $10 or whatever amount you spend on playing the lottery every few weeks (if you even play it that often) won’t change your life one iota. Even after decades of earning interest, it’s still not enough to change your life in any material way whatsoever.
But if you actually win $300 million (or any substantial amount)?? JIMINY – FUCKING – CHRISTMAS, will that change your life!!!
Damn right I play it (when I remember to).
I’ve win $50 a cpl times a year in the Louisiana Lottery.
Nothing to get excited about; it’s probly just enough for me to break even for what I’ve put into it.
[quote]Damici wrote:
Of course the statistics say it’s mathematically more “sensible” not to buy a ticket. But that doesn’t change the fact that you have to be in it to win it.
[/quote]
People like you are why casinos make money.
I don’t think I would ever play in a game where I have a better chance dying on my way to buy the ticket.
[quote]jtrinsey wrote:
Damici wrote:
Of course the statistics say it’s mathematically more “sensible” not to buy a ticket. But that doesn’t change the fact that you have to be in it to win it.
People like you are why casinos make money.
I don’t think I would ever play in a game where I have a better chance dying on my way to buy the ticket.
[/quote]
Well, two things in life are absolute certainties:
- You’re going to die.
- If you never play the lottery, you will never win it.
I will buy a ticket or two if the pot gets big enough and I remember to buy one. It’s no big sweat one way or the other to me.
To all of those people who don’t play because of the odds, I ask you, what were the odds that all your ancestors came together in such a way, under such unique circumstances, that you were actually born? Just something to ponder.
DB
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
jtrinsey wrote:
Damici wrote:
Of course the statistics say it’s mathematically more “sensible” not to buy a ticket. But that doesn’t change the fact that you have to be in it to win it.
People like you are why casinos make money.
I don’t think I would ever play in a game where I have a better chance dying on my way to buy the ticket.
Well, two things in life are absolute certainties:
- You’re going to die.
- If you never play the lottery, you will never win it.
I will buy a ticket or two if the pot gets big enough and I remember to buy one. It’s no big sweat one way or the other to me.
To all of those people who don’t play because of the odds, I ask you, what were the odds that all your ancestors came together in such a way, under such unique circumstances, that you were actually born? Just something to ponder.
DB[/quote]
Well, seeing as I’m sitting here writing this, I’m going to have to venture a guess of 1/1 or 100% odds that my ancestors came together in just the way they did for me to be born.