Powerball jackpot is $400 million ...however

[AquaDame]

I see it as a cheap pleasure. Some people get up early to see a sunrise since it makes them feel good, some buy a cup of coffee so they can daydream as they look out the window. If $2 makes you a little happier due to the daydreams I see that as a good thing - we could all benefit from more serotonin. I can't remember the last time I bought a lottery ticket but my husband comes home with them a couple times a year. We laugh, and talk about it, and know we probably won't win, but who cares?

 

[Jeff_G]

Ill re-post another fun lotto visualization on the statistics

Stanford University mathematician Keith Devlin offered this: "Imagine a standard NFL football field. Somewhere in the field, a student has placed a single, small, common variety of ant that she has marked with a spot of yellow paint. You walk onto the field blindfolded, and push a pin into the ground. If your pin pierces the marked ant, you win. Otherwise you lose. Want to give it a go for $2?"

 

[eliza61]

Ill re-post another fun lotto visualization on the statistics

Stanford University mathematician Keith Devlin offered this: "Imagine a standard NFL football field. Somewhere in the field, a student has placed a single, small, common variety of ant that she has marked with a spot of yellow paint. You walk onto the field blindfolded, and push a pin into the ground. If your pin pierces the marked ant, you win. Otherwise you lose. Want to give it a go for $2?"

Lol. You know Jeff if me and my friends wee sitting in the stadium, yep we would the that 2:buck bet. Why ? Because it would be fun to watch a blindfolded student stumbling around on the field.
It's cheap fun and we laugh. I know I'm not going to win, I crack up with my friends and i thank The big guy upstairs that I don't have to stress about blowing 2 bucks on silliness.
and we can talk about what name Stanford is going to call the stadium if I win and donate a buttload of money to the school.

Lol princess Leia arena or Heimdell stadium. He's the really hot guy in Thor.

You are looking at it from a purely statistical view, what you seem to keep missing is when people say they have FUN. For a few easy minutes they enjoy dreaming and chatting about the possibility. No one is quitting their jobs or going broke or not paying the electric. They are indulging in a simple pleasure.

 

[angierae]

I can spend $1.50 on a bottle of diet pepsi from the vending machine at work, or I can chip in $2 to the lottery pool with my coworkers for a chance at winning.
Neither one is going to break the bank, neither one is going to be a massive change in my life.
I don't see them as any different from each other.

 

[Colleen27]

couldn't you make that argument with just about everything?

I spend 8,000 bucks a year on vacation. let's see if I took that and put it in a mutual fund how much would I have.
I purchased a LV bag for my 55 birthday $4200 bucks, now I don't do that every year so maybe that's different.
I know a guy who is a technology freak. loves the gadgets and gidgets, the thingamabobs and doohickies. easy spends 2 to 3K a year probably more yet no one calls him a "sucker"

The truth is everybody thinks their "vice" is acceptable.

my dad loved Vegas, loved baccarat and poker, drop 10k on a vegas vacation and you're enjoying yourself, spend 100 bucks on a lottery and your a sucker.

interesting.

I think there tends to be a perceptual bias against "poor" vices like lottery, while "middle class" vices like vacations or designer bags are regarded as more acceptable. IMO, much of it has to do with the relatively fleeting pleasure a lotto ticket yields as compared to the usable life of a gadget/purse or the lasting memories made of travel experiences. But on that count, I'd put a lotto habit as no better and no worse than a preference for coffee from Starbucks or Tim Hortons rather than home brewed - a small, fleeting pleasure purchased with a relatively small sum of money that is (for most players) insignificant in the big picture.

I know it is fashionable, especially since the recession, to tally up a lifetime's worth of any small pleasure and use the total plus compound interest to solidly condemn it as frivolous, but I just don't buy that austerity is best/only the way to go in life.

 

[Tikitoi]

I played. Will do the same for Saturday. Maybe I'll get a reason to call into work...

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think most of the broke lottery winners I've seen on TV or read about didn't win all that much money. A lot of them won $1-2 million, then quit their jobs & started living like royalty. Unless you're near retirement anyway AND decent with money, most folks would need to keep their jobs with winnings of that sort.

Now, there's a handful that won BIG and still went broke. But, it takes a special kind of stupid & a real dedication to idiocy to do that.

 

[Tikitoi]

It's at about $700 million now...?

 

[agavegirl1]

Hehe...DH just came home with the sixteen numbers he and his closest coworkers chose for Saturday'. They are calling themselves the (Company name) Dream Team. I'm afraid poor (Company Name) will have a little trouble come Monday if they actually win. I enjoy hearing the stories of what everyone would spend their money on. Apparently Super Bowl tickets purchased from the concierge at a Vegas resort by the entire group is part of it (as long as one of wives gets a bedroom set out of the deal). It's just cheap fun for us.

 

[luvdisney00]

We do a pool at work, usually $4 a person. I always look at it like this: What if they WON and I didn't participate?? I throw my hat in the ring every time. Since I get a share of over 100 tickets, I figure my odds are better and I'd be thrilled to win anything at all. We've never won anything big, but a few dollars here and there. Other than that I occasionally buy a scratch off, but not usually PB.

 

[Accident]

Sorry I forgot to send the memo that I will be winning the $700 million jackpot in the next drawing. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Por favor manténganse alejado de las puertas.

 

[Dakota731]

What is your quality of life if all you do is purchase necessities?

I did when I was young and broke and just starting out. Now that we are middle aged and have money saved for retirement and kids put through college I tend to splurge more often. My point is for people who buy the Starbucks or lottery every day when they have nothing saved for retirement or their kids' college accounts. I've seen first hand in my family where people are late paying their mortgage and borrow money from family, yet play the lottery faithfully (and not just $2) every week. Their reasoning is that a few dollars doesn't make a difference in the scheme of things but the Yahoo article shows that it does. To think that someone could have a car, a house and $600,000 in a retirement fund if they gave up their Starbucks or lottery tickets was eye opening to me. I'd like to see more financial education in schools, so kids can realize they don't have to live paycheck to paycheck but sometimes sacrifice is required. And if you want to call going without a lottery ticket a big sacrifice, than I think you really have very small problems in the scheme of wealth in this world.

 

[eliza61]

I did when I was young and broke and just starting out. Now that we are middle aged and have money saved for retirement and kids put through college I tend to splurge more often. My point is for people who buy the Starbucks or lottery every day when they have nothing saved for retirement or their kids' college accounts. I've seen first hand in my family where people are late paying their mortgage and borrow money from family, yet play the lottery faithfully (and not just $2) every week. Their reasoning is that a few dollars doesn't make a difference in the scheme of things but the Yahoo article shows that it does. To think that someone could have a car, a house and $600,000 in a retirement fund if they gave up their Starbucks or lottery tickets was eye opening to me. I'd like to see more financial education in schools, so kids can realize they don't have to live paycheck to paycheck but sometimes sacrifice is required. And if you want to call going without a lottery ticket a big sacrifice, than I think you really have very small problems in the scheme of wealth in this world.

I would too, one thing that tends to get me a bit annoyed is as Colleen said, we on the budget board or maybe it's the dis in general sort of come off as "our" vices are some how more worthy.

I think though we (as in american culture) have seen a big shift away from savings. I'm in my late 50's and when I was younger the emphasis was more on other things.
Our entire way of thing has shifted. first our entire economy is based on consumerism. Really thing about it, what would happen if everyone started keeping their cars for 10 years? what would happen if people started going to Disney once ever five years as opposed to annually,

I think my sons are halfway decent with money but I have to be totally honest, Heckyl and Jeckyl have no concept of NOT going on vacation somewhere at least once a year!! no one in their circles doesn't go on vacation.

I just hate the implication that somehow all of us who are in job pools or pick up a few tickets are some how "stupid" "suckers" as a few posters so eloquently implied. We're really not. We're just normal hardworking joes and janes having a bit of fun during the day.

off my soap box.

 

[MillauFr]

My bias against the lottery is that it is the worst gamble by far. The government skims 50% of the prize pool right off the top. Why can't they keep it to a more reasonable 5%. At least when you go to a Casino the odds are not stacked so heavily against you. The prize pool should be closer to $1.5billion now.

 

[nikkistevej]

I got tickets with my depatment atwork(because would be pissed if they all won, and I was the only one working come Monday-well a few didn't go in- but it isn't gonna be me) lol
And got a few more for my family- it only takes 1 to win- shoot I'd take a few numbers, Good luck everyone!!

 

[Daisy62]

Well I just bought 10 tickets with the
Power play on them. Will I win? Doubt it! But it's fun to dream a bit til they call out those numbers tomorrow. I never understood the Debbie downers spewing how horrible it is and how worse off we will be after we lose. Sorry but $30 won't break me. Lol. If you don't like the lottery then don't play it. Such a simple concept!

 

[Tikitoi]

Well I just bought 10 tickets with the
Power play on them. Will I win? Doubt it! But it's fun to dream a bit til they call out those numbers tomorrow. I never understood the Debbie downers spewing how horrible it is and how worse off we will be after we lose. Sorry but $30 won't break me. Lol. If you don't like the lottery then don't play it. Such a simple concept!

I'll be getting my 10 tomorrow...

 

[AlohaNow]

I think most of the broke lottery winners I've seen on TV or read about didn't win all that much money. A lot of them won $1-2 million, then quit their jobs & started living like royalty. Unless you're near retirement anyway AND decent with money, most folks would need to keep their jobs with winnings of that sort.

Bingo! DH and I had this exact conversation this morning while discussing and dreaming about what we'd do with the winnings. It's all just kind of fun and exciting to be a little part of it. And I'm always happy for the winner, even though it has yet to be me! And as soon as it stops snowing I'm going out with a couple of $1 bills to get my numbers for tomorrow.

 

[disneychrista]

Nope. That's how the jackpot keeps growing each week, with no one winning.

I realized that after I posted. Thought about editing but never did.

 

[bdcp]

I bought $20 worth a few days ago and "won" $8 so I rolled that into 4 tickets. So, I'm in for a whopping $20 which I can easily afford, so no big deal. I play maybe twice per year. It's just fun to think about the possibilities when the jackpot is that big.

There are people who play for years who really can't afford it. DH's aunt has been playing the NY lotto for over 30 years, even when she was on welfare, saying she was going to "win the big one". I think the most she has ever won is $200. That was hardly the smartest thing to do. DH and I are in a totally different situation. We have fully funded 401's and savings. The lottery is something we do on a very occasional basis. We have discretionary cash that we use for whatever we want.