Do you purchase lottery tickets

[Surfah]

Who is in?

I bought one this morning after filling up with gas.

[Indy Coug]

I could almost buy my company, which is currently up for sale.

[YOhio]

Who is in?

I bought one this morning after filling up with gas.

I'm going to buy one today at lunch.

[Surfah]

I'm going to buy one today at lunch.

I just heard a report that here in VA the record for single day sales is $9.2 million and they expect to break that today.

[Uncle Ted]

I talked to my wife about it this morning. We are going to buy one. If we do win then we plan on donating it all to education and CUF. Well maybe not all of it.

[Scott R Nelson]

I'm almost tempted to "invest" two bucks, with the rationalization that maybe it was "meant to be". However, I would have to drive hundreds of miles to get to where I could make that "investment" - in the rain - so forget that idea.

This page has a very good video explaining the odds and where you can and can't buy lottery tickets:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/powerball-j...8#.ULZW3ob5OEo

[Uncle Ted]

I'm almost tempted to "invest" two bucks, with the rationalization that maybe it was "meant to be". However, I would have to drive hundreds of miles to get to where I could make that "investment" - in the rain - so forget that idea.

This page has a very good video explaining the odds and where you can and can't buy lottery tickets:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/powerball-j...8#.ULZW3ob5OEo

Hmm... "one in 175 million" odds. There is a 7-eleven two blocks alway. The tough part for me is picking the number.

[BigPiney]

Hmm... "one in 175 million" odds. There is a 7-eleven two blocks alway. The tough part for me is picking the number.

on NPR this morning, they said you had a better chance of getting killed by having a vending machine fall on you.

[Clark Addison]

Interesting article on the guy who, at the time, won the largest jackpot in lottery history. This was a guy who was not young (55 at the time), already well off (Owned a business that employed 100 people) and seemed grounded (he gave over $20MM to charities).

I don't want to spoil the article, but it is astounding how many facets of his life just fell apart. I wonder what percent of $10MM+ lottery winners end up worse off than they started? I would be astounded of it were not at least 50%, and my guess would be 80% to 90%. But that is based purely on anecdotal evidence.

One thing that was funny to me, and an indication that my numbers may not be far off, was an attorney who represents lottery winners who compares them to sports stars, and says that lottery winners generally do much worse. We all know how many former athletes declare bankruptcy, die young, etc., so to do much worse says something.

EDIT: Oops, forgot the link: http://www.businessweek.com/printer/...-losing-ticket

[DrumNFeather]

Picking up on my Old Man's Christmas tradition of buying the family lottery tickets, I bought my wife and kids and myself some lottery scratchers for our stockings. Great tradition, last year we won $6.00

[Surfah]

Picking up on my Old Man's Christmas tradition of buying the family lottery tickets, I bought my wife and kids and myself some lottery scratchers for our stockings. Great tradition, last year we won $6.00

You need to pick up a VA raffle ticket. $20.

[Joe Public]

Interesting article on the guy who, at the time, won the largest jackpot in lottery history. This was a guy who was not young (55 at the time), already well off (Owned a business that employed 100 people) and seemed grounded (he gave over $20MM to charities).

I don't want to spoil the article, but it is astounding how many facets of his life just fell apart. I wonder what percent of $10MM+ lottery winners end up worse off than they started? I would be astounded of it were not at least 50%, and my guess would be 80% to 90%. But that is based purely on anecdotal evidence.

One thing that was funny to me, and an indication that my numbers may not be far off, was an attorney who represents lottery winners who compares them to sports stars, and says that lottery winners generally do much worse. We all know how many former athletes declare bankruptcy, die young, etc., so to do much worse says something.

EDIT: Oops, forgot the link: http://www.businessweek.com/printer/...-losing-ticket

That reminds me of an old story I read, which went something like this (I found this version on a website):

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.

"May be," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"May be," replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

"May be," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

"May be," said the farmer.