Why does anyone play the lottery?

@Mikeawesome1986 That is exactly right. Even if that money is only enough to buy dinner for two, it is STILL more than the stupid lottery pays out to the vast majority of people who play it.

@CestManan not sure what your prices are, but here it's £2 for a line. It's twice a week too, so if you put on 2 lines, twice a week that's £8 a week. 1 month of that, that's £32, which you can get a bit for that.

@Mikeawesome1986 About the same numbers except for in dollars.
Right now one dollar is worth about .73 GPB

@CestManan Yes. And a quick break down of the stats goes like this. Any lottery payout will equal the total of all revenue raised, minus the organisers cut, plus taxes. So on pure chance, you are likely to get back maybe 70% of what you spend on tickets. So lets accept for a minute that you arent going to win the lottery and instead put your ticket money into a jar on your desk every week for a couple of years. Then count it. NOW you will feel like a winner..😷

@whowasthatmaskedman I read this somewhere. In the US when someone wins a big jackpot, by the time the govt is done taking all their taxes, the winner gets only like 29% of the original winnings. Like they take 60% off the top then the pay outs are taxed again.

I do not play it anyways so not like it concerns me.

The 70% figure is likely lower here in the USA. It doesn't sound bad but it also gives people false hope.

Another problem at least here is they make gambling so tempting to those who are hooked but then there is a stigma attached.

That, like other stigmatized lifestyles, seem to follow that suit. Kind of like how they bombard people with prescription drug ads or what not then when people get hooked, the addict is suddenly to blame.

@CestMananHere the govt takes cut from the lottery Company pre distribution. So winnings are tax free. But Yes. I had heard of federal and State tax gouging there. Even more reason to keep your money in your pocket.😷

@Crazywaterspring The same can be said of smokers and drinkers. Its called discretionary taxation.😷

@Crazywaterspring Funny you should mention that. Day trading options is precisely that.😷

@whowasthatmaskedman I'm guilty of that.

@Crazywaterspring OK. Then if you trade (buy or sell) an option, and you make money on the deal, the other party loses on that same deal. That is the classic definition of a bet, is it not. 😷