Playing The Lottery

I don't like to play lottery because I don't have a large budget that allows me to cope with potential lose, but when price is so big, certainly I feel tempted to play.

I used to play regularly in the past, and made some money out of buying tickets and betting pools, but as time went by, I turned into kind of practical people who thinks of that fact; there are few chances to make it, and if it is about luck, I prefer to think of having the luck to find the winner ticket lost by someone down the street.

The news have reported more than once stories of people who found a winning lottery ticket that changed their lives; I'm focusing on having such a thing happening to me

 

I've only ever bought one ticket and that was last year. Mostly because I keep forgetting. I don't think it has much to do with wasting money. I spend more on other things I don't need. If I had a group of friends or family that all wanted to pitch in and divide the earnings then I would definitely participate. Most of my family members are Jehova's Witnesses and don't participate in any kind of gambling.

 

The blurb of the local lotto here is that you help charity when you buy a ticket. But that is true because PCSO, the agency handling the lotto, has been helping poor people with their medical needs. I buy a lotto ticket once in a while in the hope of hitting the jackpot. But I only bet when the jackpot is more than 50 million. And I don't consider lotto gambling if the betting is not on a regular basis.

 

On seeing this on a news flash a few nights ago - I have to admit that even though I rarely if ever buy lottery tickets - this is one instance that yes I would be tempted to take a chance and buy a ticket - if I lived in the US - in fact if I'm correct in thinking that a ticket costs $2 then I'd probably buy more than one and know for sure that my husband probably would.

However - although the possibility of winning is pretty remote to say the least - if the extremely unlikely did happen and I did win - I know for sure that the first thing I would be doing - would be to drop everything and rapidly get away to some obscure and very remote place where no one knew me - not only to avoid all the publicity that seems to surround lottery winners - but more importantly - so that I wouldn't have to experience everyone making demands for money - whilst pretending to be my friend.

 

Well it's not really a waste of money as long as you are spending money that you can afford to spend. It just becomes somewhat of a con, when you pay for your lotto tickets first before the needs of your family. As for myself, I don't bet on lottery tickets because I just hate spending money on something that wouldn't give me a clear return for my investment. Add to that the fact that getting hit by a meteorite is more likely than winning the lottery.

 

Spend money you would have wasted on something else. That way even if you don't win, the loss won't sting that much. $1 billion is quite a lot of money and I suppose it [the prize money] will go even higher on Wednesday and more people will play hoping they'll be that lucky billionaire.

 

I don't think that it's that much of a waste of money the if betting is done rarely. If the jackpot is quite big then I also would buy a ticket with the hope that I just might win.

 

I do play the lottery, even though I know it's almost certain that I will never win. The reason that I play is that although I like to save money, I also like to live with the hope of a better future, and winning the lottery would certainly provide me with this chance. So while I am buying tickets, I know that the chance of a win is there, no matter how slim that might be. And sometimes I win a smaller prize instead of the jackpot, which covers the cost of some of my tickets at least.

 

Oh I saw the powerball when it stood at $1.3 billion and I was green with envy that I couldn't buy a ticket LOL When it's that high, like sidney says, even if you don't usually play, it's worth a shot! I read I think yesterday that 3 people had won it....what a way to start the new year, lucky them!!

 

Wooh! The lottery has been won by three people now! Congrats to them whoever they are!

Anyway, with the question, I don't think lotteries are necessarily a waste of time. Though I don't participate in it, I know many people do and I'm fine with that. There just has to be a balance between spending money to lottery or spending too much money on it because it still is gambling. If I do win though, I will save half of that enormous amount of money. Some will be invested and some will be donated to help the unfortunate.

 

I tend to buy one ticket to each game when I get paid, which is once per month. If I win any money with those tickets, I will usually plow it back into more tickets, since it's usually just a few dollars. On the drawing before the last one, I matched the Powerball, which meant I won $4, which I subsequently used to purchase 2 more Powerball tickets. On the last drawing (the $1.5 billion or more drawing the other night), I also matched the Powerball, so I won another $4. Since the Powerball amount is lower now, I will probably use that $4 to buy one ticket to each game again, the way I usually do at the beginning of the month. There are a lot more games that I don't play, but my usual are the big three, Powerball ($2), MegaMillions ($1) and Texas Lotto ($1). I feel $4 is little enough to spend per month that I don't feel guilty, and if I somehow come into a bit during the month i will occasionally buy a ticket, especially if I'm feeling lucky. The most I've won on the lottery is $100, although I did win $1,000 on a church lottery-type drawing years ago. A former co-worker's mother won a Weekly Grand game, and after taxes, receives about $750/week, so I do know that it's possible to win.

 

I normally do not play the lottery at all and know that you have a better chance of being hit by lightening, or being elected as US President than you do at winning. I do have to admit that I did purchase 4 tickets for the 1 billion PowerBall this week, just for fun though. It was only an $8 donation to the games since I did not win. I will probably not play again unless the jackpot is huge again.

 

When the lottery first came out I was impressed that the money was to help the school get more of the supplies they need and help to reduce taxes in the area. I have not seen any real benefits or improvements in the schools, so I wonder where has the money been spent.

 

I have been seeing this all over the media
I saw a meme on Facebook about how we can afford to give 1 billion dollars in a lotto yet we still have debt! I had to laugh at that one. Besides, they do take a chunk of money aka " taxes" so when you win so does the state. I'm afraid of being on TV of I was to ever play the lotto and win. The last thing I need is people coming from all corners all of a sudden ask for cash. Even though these might be tested same people who never bothered to do anything for me before hitting it big. Although I would take that money and give some to my mom and help her get rid of dent and buy her a house. She always wanted to own one.

 

I think it's difficult to tell anyone that it's not a good idea to play the lottery because there is a chance for anyone and being the one that missed that chance or even just being the one that prevented someone from getting that chance probably won't be a good feeling to have if it turns out that the person could have won. That said, in general I think playing the lottery is a bit far fetched in terms of wanting to win the jackpot as the chances are existent but very slim. I personally don't think playing with regularity is very sensible but maybe once in a while it is acceptable as a hobby.

 

Speaking of playing the lottery, this may not apply to those who play intermittently, only when the jackpot is huge, but is more for those who play on a regular basis. I've had this happen before, and it happened again yesterday. I was going for a nature walk, and when I do that, I don't take anything with me besides my camera and what I'm wearing. I brought my $4 Powerball winning ticket with me and stopped at the corner store on the way to the trails. I asked for my usual one Megamillions, one Powerball, and one Texas Lotto ticket, no extras, and that should total $4. The store owner was the cashier, and she was on the phone (on speaker) blabbing to someone in another language, and messed up my order. Since I didn't have any additional money on me, I couldn't buy the extra ticket she didn't include. If I'd had an extra dollar on me, I'd have purchased the extra ticket, just because I'm superstitious about things like that. She added the Megaplier on the Mega Millions, which brought that ticket up to $2. I wasn't about to complain and have her re-run the ticket, because as I said I'm superstitious. What would y'all have done?

 

I think I would have indicated there was a problem with the order and acted frantic until she got off the phone...lol. I am a bit of a drama queen in that way. I mean seriously what a way to run a store! I would expect that behavior from a employee but not the owner. They are usually trying to please the customer.

 

I would have interrupted the owner/cashier and made her aware of her mistake. She was not giving her full attention to you as a customer. Hopefully there would have been others around to witness this. It's the principal of the matter. Me? I don't like leaving an establishment if I feel I've been 'shortened' in some way without saying something about it, in this case the owner for sure.

 

A one time purchase that won't make or break you is worth it if that's something you really want to take a shot at. I didn't play. I think it's a disgusting amount of money to hand over to one (or a few?) people. So many suffering around the world, this just makes me sad. I hope whoever won will be helping some of those poeple.