Looking back at the original topic... Ah, $200 million lottery win. Even with that colossal US tax, that's some $100 million in the bank. In my savings account, the interest alone would be close to five million a year - that's enough to live a full and exorbitantly comfortable life, while still giving a couple of million annually to charitable interests. There's be plenty left over for gallivanting, globe-trotting, adventuring, going back to uni to earn a few more degrees... nigh endless possibilities.I think I'd still like to work part-time, though, just so I'm doing something productive and useful rather than self-indulgent idleness.AK sums it up:
Spend it? Psh!
I'll live off the millions of interest. Then my decendants can live off the millions of interest as well.
Money makes money, literally.
:edit: as for the other topic - 'strategic gambling' and all that...
In the past, there've beeen companies that purposefully assessed the odds then bought tickets featuring every possible combination of lottery numbers. They were able to earn a comfortable profit, even though buying that many tickets required a lot of initial expenditure. You have to be rich to start off in a game like that, but it can pay for itself pretty well. Still, it's not something that can work as a solo effort because of the sheer number of tickets that need to be purchased. Those companies tend to get outlawed pretty fast, anyway, and are prohibited in a lot of US states and various countries.
As for games of chance? If you keep playing, you'll eventually lose. That happens when the odds are against you. You can, however, quit when you're ahead and walk away with winnings, rather than continuing to risk them on ever-larger bets. "Gamblers' ruin" is a sound principle. Card games are a little different - it's possible to get an edge by counting cards and re-evaluating probabilities, but that takes a pretty awesome amount of observational and mathematical skill.
