Do you play the lottery?

As the title states, does anybody here play the lottery?

I get tickets for the Lotto every Wednesday and Saturday, and I've also recently started playing the Health Lottery for the same days. I've chosen my own numbers for both, so I'm pretty much locked in for life now because GOD FORBID I MISSED A DAY AND MY NUMBERS CAME UP D:

I occasionally play Euromillions, but I just do a lucky dip for that and only buy a ticket if there's a rollover... £80 million this Friday. Imagine that just nestling its way nicely in to your bank account.

P.S I won £25 tonight. God knows how much I've spent on tickets to get it...probably £80 million :lol:

I don't, but my dad has played the lottery for as long as I can remember. With the money he spent on lotto tickets he probably could have put it away in a fund or something to help pay some bills. I can't talk since I'm not much better handling my own money.

Played it once on my 18th Birthday. Waste of a dollar I could of used on a Mountain Dew: Livewire.

I play like once a month. I did end up winning a hundred one time off a scratch-off, but a dollar or two a month isn't anything, so I'm not risking anything really, so in the event that I really do win big I never really wasted much in the process.

Played once because my boss said something about how we should all buy lottery tickets that day or something, so we all did. Not really one to play a game involving such poor chances of winning.

I don't know anything about UK lotteries, but major US lotteries are every bit of a scam as selling snake oil cures for cancer -- with about as much of a chance of success. Sure, there's a 1 in a billion chance of a freak reaction, but there's a 99.999999999999999% chance that it's a total loss.

No, I don't play the lottery.

Well, your chances are higher when playing scratch-offs.

http://uklottosim.appspot.com/

All the fun of playing without losing any money. Have fun.

If one of my debt clients tells me they play the lottery, I let this bad boy run on the screen during the interview and as we talk it goes into thousands of years and we still haven't won. Do I do it to help save them much needed money, or because I enjoy seeing the "Mind. Blown." expressions on their faces when they realise the lottery is actually a con? Now that is the question...

I play maybe 3 times a year when I feel some numbers strike me or when Im feeling so down that losing $5 cant bring me down worse.

I think I played once or twice when I turned 16 for the fun of it. A lot of the money goes to good causes. I think if you're going to gamble you may as well play a card game or bet on a horse, or something that doesn't just rely on pure luck.

No, I spend my games on things that are more likely to make me happy, such as games.

If I really had to gamble, I agree with Manus. I really dislike games based purely on luck.

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

Well, your chances are higher when playing scratch-offs.

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I never have any luck on scratch cards. I don't get them as often as I do lottery tickets, just every now and again. Might pick another up when I go to town tomorrow. I'll post here with my results!

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Originally Posted by Mirage

No, I spend my games on things that are more likely to make me happy, such as games.

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I'm guessing you meant to say "money"? xD

...perhaps.

Nah. My dad says it's stupid to not buy one scratch off (or numbers ticket) a week, but any more than that and you're wasting money. Esp if you buy the $25 scratch offs.

I don't play myself, but only because I could never be arsed going to a shop and doing something like this regularly.

The talk about how unlikely you are to win is a little misguided though. I know the odds are atrocious, but so does pretty much everyone - that's why successful lottery playing isn't called "A prudent investment with a sound return on your money", it's called "Beating the odds". The whole point is that "if". However remote and unlikely, because hey - every week or two SOMEONE wins. Could be me. And if it is, everything changes.

I try to play when the lottery gets to be about $150 million. Will I win? I doubt it but there is a chance and that chance allows me to day dream about what I might do with the money if I do happen to win. 3 days of wonderful day dreams for just a buck? Sounds like a good deal to me :D

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Originally Posted by noxious.sunshine

Nah. My dad says it's stupid to not buy one scratch off (or numbers ticket) a week, but any more than that and you're wasting money. Esp if you buy the $25 scratch offs.

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Yeah, I think it's kind of dumb to buy the $20 scratch-offs. There's always the off chance that you win nothing off that card and you just threw away $25. I hear people who are struggling on welfare buying those. I think their priorities are messed up. ON scratch-offs I usually just win my money back, but every once in a while I'll win more than what I paid for the ticket, like my $100 example.

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Originally Posted by Mister Adequate

The talk about how unlikely you are to win is a little misguided though. I know the odds are atrocious, but so does pretty much everyone - that's why successful lottery playing isn't called "A prudent investment with a sound return on your money", it's called "Beating the odds". The whole point is that "if". However remote and unlikely, because hey - every week or two SOMEONE wins. Could be me. And if it is, everything changes.

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I'm not sure how you define "misguided," but I would consider the flights of fancy that induce millions of people to waste money on 1 in a billion scams to be more misguided than, well, not doing that. The game is designed (rigged?) to make as many people waste as much money as possible. I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of people who play the lottery do not appreciate how truly remote the odds are.

It's also possible that someone will throw a wad of bills out of a car at you (and probably equally likely as winning the lottery), and at least standing by the road is free.

Sure the odds might not be in my favour, but you've got to be in it to win it!

I just had to get that line in there somewhere :D

Never played the lottery or gambled. My parents are in to that, and I know my dad has won a few times. The most he has ever one was about $3,000 so I think that has kept him playing and wasting money over the years.

Just bought a £5 scratch card...nothing.

Better luck next time.

And the time after that.

And the time after that.

And the...*fades away*

Used to put 10.00 a week at work .. never won anything.. now i work from home not gonna' bother

Started buying tickets for the Euromillions this week after finding out there's a £100million jackpot on offer. I'm definitely going to win.

give me ten bucks and i'll kick you square in the balls. if that isn't a reality check for losing the state / provincial lottery, go nuts and throw your money away.

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Originally Posted by Perducci

Started buying tickets for the Euromillions this week after finding out there's a £100million jackpot on offer. I'm definitely going to win.

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I had a ticket for last nights draw, and I didn't get anything. And seeing is it's a rollover I'm guessing you didn't win big either!

I think I might start playing pick 3 since the chances of winning those are a lot greater with there only being three digits.

On part with lighting money on fire. No, I don't play the lotto.

people i work with will sometimes buy dollar scratchoffs for the whole group. 5-7 bucks for group fun, we know we won't win big

My team at work has a syndicate for the Euro Millions, which as part of the team I throw a couple of quid a week in for as part of the team. I'm well aware of how low the odds are of us actually winning anything more than say, a tenner (which between 10 of us on the team, is not really a return but it goes in to a pot for a team treat such as coffees or the like), but I figure less than £4 a week is not going to kill me. In London, that's cheaper than a pint of Guinness and most lagers. Aside from the syndicate which I do more as a "part of the team" thing I don't play the lottery.

I don't gamble much at all really, it's not my bag. I think with one exception, I've never even played a pub reels gambling machine. Although on that one exception I put a quid in which was 5 spins of the reels at the time and won the jackpot of £25 on my 3rd which meant I certainly was lucky as hell and I cashed out straight after. On the rarest of all occasions when someone has somehow managed to drag me not only in to a casino, but also through some miracle managed to make me gamble (which is 2 occasions, 1 for a stag-do and the other for a birthday) I've played blackjack, on those instances through luck, skill or chance I've come out either breaking even or slightly ahead (on the stag I managed to come out about 50 quid up on what I entered with).

The worst feeling in the world however, is when I'm sitting there chatting with the guys in the office about something like an upcoming sports game and they're talking about the odds on the bets and I'm like "Ah well **insert prediction of outcome** is sure to happen" and there's great odds I'm literally left gutted when the results come in and my mates are all like "Man, so should have put a punt on that, you'd be up by like £60 going in to the weekend on that" Though when one of the consultants took my prediction and it paid off he certainly brought me a few drinks (he'd gone in on a fiver and come out with about 90 - 100 quid).

I do not play the lottery

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Originally Posted by fat_moogle

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Originally Posted by Perducci

Started buying tickets for the Euromillions this week after finding out there's a £100million jackpot on offer. I'm definitely going to win.

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I had a ticket for last nights draw, and I didn't get anything. And seeing is it's a rollover I'm guessing you didn't win big either!

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Not yet... but soon.

I found this interesting piece on how a man discovered the formulas for scratch-off tickets.

http://www.wired.com/2011/01/ff_lottery/all/

I wonder if there are similar ones around right now.

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Originally Posted by Shorty

Not really one to play a game involving such poor chances of winning.

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Never played Ninja Gaiden then?

I'm forever going on about wanting to win the lottery... But I rarely play. About a year ago I'd really had enough of my life and set up a direct debit to play the lottery twice a week!! I soon realised it was just not worth it because my chances were so slim, I was just wasting money.

One can only dream...

>>> Sometimes, I have never won trout..:luca:

No, not really. I'll but a ticket if the jackpot is really high or once in awhile I might buy a dollar scratch of ticket but combined probably 1 or 2 a year.

My mom used to give us each like 10 or 15 scratch offs in our stockings at christmas. I think I won $50 once or twice. My mom once got my step dad 25 tickets one night and my brother asked her to grab him one and gave her $1. When she got home he took one from the end and won $100 and my step dad won $8 in the other 25 tickets ><

I want to take a penguin hand gliding! :D

Didn't watch much more because that guy was doing my head in, and I don't want to accept that I've got little to no chance of winning lol.