I didn't buy in to the office mega million lottery....

[Mike Gallo]

So today at work I got approached by a few different cliques of people who asked if I wanted to buy lottery tickets with them. I do not belong to any one clique as I beat to my own drum. I usually read 2 + 2 on break or when I have any down time at work. I talk to everyone, hang out with hardly anyone.

One group had everyone contribute $2.00 a person. That group had the most amount of tickets.

Another group that approached me asked me to contribute $7 a person. When I asked why such an odd amount, they commented that the number 7 brings luck. They told me a tale of how the guy who went to get the tickets had a "mad lucky" run playing roulette, that started with betting his last seven dollars.

The last group that approached me asked me for went all out and spent $10 a person.

I told all of the groups I wanted in however I would not give my initial buy in until after we cashed the ticket.

Nobody went for it. So, I have no chance of waking up a gazillionaire.

I found it comical that at break time everyone hustled around the copy machine to get copies of ticket and compare numbers.

It made me think of two things. People like to pay more tax then they need to and it only takes a dollar and a dream.





Anyone have any goofy lottery stories?

[mmbt0ne]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
Anyone have any goofy lottery stories?

[/ QUOTE ]

It pays for my college education. LoL!!11!

[kipin]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone have any goofy lottery stories?

[/ QUOTE ]

I found three unused $5 scratchers on top of a scratcher machine, and ended up winning nothing!

But it sure was exciting getting dust all over the table and my fingers.

[GrekeHaus]

I was at a white elephant party a few years back and the gift I got ended up being $15 worth of lottery scratch off tickets.

I won nothing.

[Blarg]

Office life is pretty drab, especially when you're not on the top. A buck is an incredibly cheap price to pay for a colorful little pleasant dream.

Now, there are those who spend serious money or talk about the lottery as if it were an investment. Those kinda guys I see almost as if I'm watching them in a movie in slow motion, and I wouldn't be surprised if my eyes got as big as saucers listening to them. Those guys are not in a fun place.

[thatpfunk]

Lottery: A tax for stupid people.

[JMP300z]

I didnt buy in when they did it at the restaurant I worked at. Stay true to +EV.

_JP

[shadow29]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone have any goofy lottery stories?

[/ QUOTE ]

It pays for my college education. LoL!!11!

[/ QUOTE ]

[IndieMatty]

I work for a farely large organization, and I did a lateral move over to sales and marketing from finance related stuff. Well we did a lottery pool. And I am a gambler at heart. Plus..very weird. I mean lets face it, 20 people who share the same "misery" you do win 180Million and because you didn't want to pony up the money...you're the one who has to keep working? Obviously this job sucked too.

So what would I do if they forgot me and won? I told them multiple times..I'd have no recourse but to kill myself. Yes. There's no way I could live with myself knowing that people (some of which I actively hated) are relieved from their ordinairy mundane existence and now are on easy street. I voiced this opinion constantly. I even mentioned it my party in jest when I left...

About a year after I left the division, I had sort of lost touch with the group. And they hit 5 out of 6? Whatever it was the payout was about 10k;

Obviously they forgot to buy for me...or rather I didn't keep up. I basically came within another number of potentially ending my life.

Now I just give the one dude who runs it like a hundred bucks. I figure I walk out the door in NYC and spend a hundred dollars. So..whatever. I'm gullible and stupid. But I also know that I would HATE myself for not giving that buck up.

[Mike Gallo]

Excellent story.

[Blarg]

I used the same reasoning at my job. I'd hate to be the only one left after everyone else found the door out of hell.

[Popinjay]

[ QUOTE ]
I told all of the groups I wanted in however I would not give my initial buy in until after we cashed the ticket.

Nobody went for it. So, I have no chance of waking up a gazillionaire.

[/ QUOTE ]

Man that is brilliant

[Tboner7]

I bought 30 $1 scratch-offs as gifts for people at my work last Christmas, and two won $1 and the rest lost.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
I bought 30 $1 scratch-offs as gifts for people at my work last Christmas, and two won $1 and the rest lost.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know how you can do that. I mean what if one of them won like the 100k a year for life. Another reason I couldn't live with myself. Giving that much money away...knowing it crossed your hands.

This and the dentist are my only fears,,, /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know how you can do that. I mean what if one of them won like the 100k a year for life. Another reason I couldn't live with myself. Giving that much money away...knowing it crossed your hands.

This and the dentist are my only fears,,, /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, me and my mom buy like $5 worth of tickets when the jackpots get over like 40 million, and we will never buy tickets for each other.

Which is rather odd because if either one of us wins the other would be set for life anyways.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't know how you can do that. I mean what if one of them won like the 100k a year for life. Another reason I couldn't live with myself. Giving that much money away...knowing it crossed your hands.

This and the dentist are my only fears,,, /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, me and my mom buy like $5 worth of tickets when the jackpots get over like 40 million, and we will never buy tickets for each other.

Which is rather odd because if either one of us wins the other would be set for life anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perfectly normal.

[Mike Gallo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I told all of the groups I wanted in however I would not give my initial buy in until after we cashed the ticket.

Nobody went for it. So, I have no chance of waking up a gazillionaire.

[/ QUOTE ]

Man that is brilliant

[/ QUOTE ]


Thanks /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[adanthar]

When I was 17.5 years old, I bought a scratch off ticket for which the grand prize was an appearance on a 'Lottery TV' type show (I forget the name) where everyone was a contestant, some C list celebrity did stuff for them and most people won a few grand.

I scratched off the right box and won an appearance on the show. All I had to do was wait six months (the ticket was good for 1 year after the purchase date) and then claim the prize.

Naturally, I lost the ticket within two weeks. Since then, I've stuck to my claim of regular gambling being -EV.

[M2d]

http://www.cheers-becker.de/c_cliff_02.JPG [ QUOTE ]

Yeah, me and my mom buy like $5 worth of tickets when the jackpots get over like 40 million, and we will never buy tickets for each other.

Which is rather odd because if either one of us wins the other would be set for life anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Boris]

nice.

[DBowling]

i think my biggest lotto score was $3, but it was so long ago, and ive stopped playing, so i dont remember

[youtalkfunny]

My friend's aunt hit 6-of-6 in the early days of Massachusetts' MegaBucks. $400,000 in the pot.

She was mighty disappointed to learn that there were 20 other winners. I guess that's what you get when you play numbers like, 1-2-4-5-7-11.

I try to tell people that 26-28-29-31-35-36 has just as good a chance of winning, but is more likely to scoop if it does--but no one (who plays -EV games) believes me.

My friends aunt has become a very bitter woman (or maybe she was like that before, who knows?). She maintains that she was "ripped off".

The Lottery commission cut her some slack--they just wrote her a check, waiving the "payable over 20 years" clause.

Second best lottery story ever: That kook in WVa, who won about $150M. Now he walks around with $100Grrr on him at all times, and he's constantly getting drugged/robbed/scammed--maybe because he spends all his time in strip clubs. His wife has said that she wishes that they had never won this money. Can you imagine that?

Best lottery story ever, every word is true: Guy in Connecticut finds a bunch of old tickets in his drawer, and he's bored on Friday night, so starts grading them. Turns out one is worth $3M. He spends the weekend partying.

He goes to the Lottery Commissioner's office on Monday morning. He's told that the ticket is only good for a year, and it expired yesterday.

"But yesterday was Sunday! You weren't open!"

He didn't have to bring the ticket to the lottery office. He could've brought it to any corner store, and the clerk running it through the machine would've got him in the system.

He begged for mercy. To no avail. The state gets to keep the $3M, and they weren't giving it up.

[Blarg]

My favorite was of a guy who won 5 out of 6 numbers in some state lottery, I forget which. He called up the lottery commission and asked what the prize was. It was really big, quite a few hundreds of thousands.

So he went in and cussed out his boss big time, making a big scene, and quit. Then he went and bought a boat and partied it up like mad all weekend. On Monday he went to go collect his lottery money and found out he wasn't getting all the money; it was being split by like 30 other people who also got 5 out of 6 numbers. And so the man with the new boat and empty bank account went crawling back to his boss that very morning begging for his job back.

Sounds too horribly perfect to be true, but I remember reading it somewhere that seemed reliable at the time.

[Apathy]

Not really lotto but...

The very first time the Mcdonalds 'monopoly' game came to Canada, I had been getting stamps form various food products and putting them in a fruit bowl in the kitchen, not knowing what they added up too or anything, since I didn't have a game board.

One of those stamps was boardwalk.

I was about 12 years old.

When I finally got a game board and figured out how the game worked, and noticed I had about 3 Park Places I ran home, feeling certain I had become a grade 8 millionaire.

The stamps were nowhere to be found, thrown away by someone while cleaning the kitchen.

I frantically searched through all the garbage but couldn't find boardwalk, or any of the other stamps anywhere. To this day my mom doesn't believe I ever had it, but I am sure I did.

None of the three boardwalks ($1million grand prize) in Canada were ever claimed in that contest.

[MelK]

I bought a lottery ticket was when I was driving cross country in a distant state. When I got home, I had to go to the library to find a newspaper that had that state's results (pre-internet). I got 4 out of 6 numbers for a $40 win. So I had to call their 800# to get their address and mail in my ticket. A couple of weeks later I got a check in the mail.

Moral of the story: buy your tickets locally. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.cheers-becker.de/c_cliff_02.JPG

[/ QUOTE ]

I realize that guy was from cheers, but other than that, I have no idea what this is suppose to mean. I have maybe seen like 1/3rd of an episode combined in my life.

[Blarg]

Cliff was a windy bore who never shut up and lived with his mom.

Hey, don't get mad at me -- I'm just the one explaining the picture, not making the post.

[brassnuts]

People talk a lot of crap about lottery, about how it is a waste of money, positively -EV, and of course, some people like to throw in how it is a tax for stupid people. I can't disagree with this type mathematical reasoning. However, this is how I approach the lottery. If it hasn't been won in a while and has a super big pay out, I will play it. Not because I think my mathematical odds are better or because it's less -EV. I play the lottery because I'm wagering a dollar, a single dollar, for the possibility of becoming unimaginably (to me at least) wealthy. In short, I'm wagering nothing (or something very close to nothing) for a truly life-changing amount of money. Being a semi-professional gambler, I prefer think about it less as a wager and more like I'm buying the possibility of being super wealthy. Screw the odds.

[astroglide]

i don't play lotto but i have no problem with it for people who aren't buying it blankly with the morning paper or whatever. those that occasionally buy only during big jackpots will get a SHITLOAD of daydreaming value out of that $1.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
buying it blankly with the morning paper or whatever.

[/ QUOTE ]

i have no idea what this means.

[MarkL444]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
buying it blankly with the morning paper or whatever.

[/ QUOTE ]

i have no idea what this means.

[/ QUOTE ]

buying it everyday.

[willie]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
buying it blankly with the morning paper or whatever.

[/ QUOTE ]

i have no idea what this means.

[/ QUOTE ]

he's talking about people who out of routine- buy a ticket with their morning paper and coffee before work.

[InchoateHand]

And even the "routine" would be fine, as long as they get a dollar of daydreaming in.

[mmbt0ne]

Even -EV games have upswings in variance. This upswing makes you set for life. Remember that when you're cruising the Georgia next time, and wonder if it's a good idea to buy a lotto ticket. It is. It's a GREAT idea. Buy a dozen.

[Matt Flynn]

when the jackpots get big, i always buy in with the office pool and always make sure copies of the tickets are handed out before the drawing. big jackpots are usually breakeven even with the added purchases, and the downside of being stuck there when everyone else hits makes it a no-brainer.

to me it's one of life's little rules, like never refusing a breath mint.

[Mike Gallo]

Nobody won the lottery.

The lotter has escalated to 262 million.

The group that spent $10 each, won enough money to buy tickets for this Friday.

None of the other groups won anything,but they have increased the buy in to $2.00 a person.

I might buy some tickets for myself. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[willie]

[ QUOTE ]
they hit the jackpot, i can't freaking believe it. I'm posting from inside of my car, which is running inside of my garage.

I'm feeling a little depressed so i think i'll take a nap here to alleviate my pain

[/ QUOTE ]


ugh oh

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]
Nobody won the lottery.

The lotter has escalated to 262 million.

The group that spent $10 each, won enough money to buy tickets for this Friday.

None of the other groups won anything,but they have increased the buy in to $2.00 a person.

I might buy some tickets for myself. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

262? odd:

http://www.megamillions.com/
http://www.megamillions.com/images/digital/2.gif http://www.megamillions.com/images/digital/0.gifhttp://www.megamillions.com/images/digital/5.gif http://www.megamillions.com/images/digital/million.gif

[Mike Gallo]

See that, good thing I posted.

Everyone here claims the jackpot will reach 262...

[tpir90036]

Is it weird that I became sad on the way to work when I saw the MegaMillions billboard updated to 205M? The reality that I had not won (I hadn't checked my tickets yet) set in and all of my dreams from the night before were snapped off in a heartbeat.

I guess I will have to save my "retirement" speech for next Monday after I bring it home this Friday.

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]
See that, good thing I posted.

Everyone here claims the jackpot will reach 262...

[/ QUOTE ]

They are [censored] morons; but we already knew that /images/graemlins/smile.gif.

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
My friend's aunt hit 6-of-6 in the early days of Massachusetts' MegaBucks. $400,000 in the pot.

She was mighty disappointed to learn that there were 20 other winners. I guess that's what you get when you play numbers like, 1-2-4-5-7-11.

I try to tell people that 26-28-29-31-35-36 has just as good a chance of winning, but is more likely to scoop if it does--but no one (who plays -EV games) believes me.

[/ QUOTE ]

You aren't suppose to play numbers that for in a pattern, like 1, 11, 21, 31, etc. Or numbers that form some sort of design on the board (once a jackpot was hit of numbers that formed an upside down triangle). The worst one of all is chosing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Also, having at least a few numbers over 31 incease your chances of not having to split the jackpot (people choosing birthdays)

[tripdad]

my uncle passes out lottery tickets every Christmas at our family gathering. one year, i bought some fake ones....$10,000 winners. i gave one to him to pass out amongst the family. Aunt Patsy had the best Christmas of her life for 5 minutes...her and all her sisters including my mom were jumping up and shouting for joy, praising the Lord, etc... until she read the back of the ticket for instructions on how to collect. great fun.

cheers!

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
i bought some fake ones....$10,000 winners. i gave one to him to pass out amongst the family. Aunt Patsy had the best Christmas of her life for 5 minutes...her and all her sisters including my mom were jumping up and shouting for joy, praising the Lord, etc... until she read the back of the ticket for instructions on how to collect. great fun.


[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, you're a jackass.

I feel doubly sorry for your daughter.

[DcifrThs]

[ QUOTE ]
i don't play lotto but i have no problem with it for people who aren't buying it blankly with the morning paper or whatever. those that occasionally buy only during big jackpots will get a SHITLOAD of daydreaming value out of that $1.

[/ QUOTE ]

prospect theory uses individual utility functions and proves that for certain risk aversions &amp; given state variables, buying the lottery occasionally during big jackpots is +EV not even including the daydreaming value.

-Barron

[frank_iii]

[ QUOTE ]
There's no way I could live with myself knowing that people (some of which I actively hated) are relieved from their ordinairy mundane existence and now are on easy street.

[/ QUOTE ]

8 Lottery Winners Who Lost Their Millions (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Savemoney/P99649.asp)

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There's no way I could live with myself knowing that people (some of which I actively hated) are relieved from their ordinairy mundane existence and now are on easy street.

[/ QUOTE ]

8 Lottery Winners Who Lost Their Millions (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Savemoney/P99649.asp)

[/ QUOTE ]

Meh, a bunch of these people are morans who didn't win enough to cover what they wanted. If you won a million dollars, how much would your life really change? These people blew it cause they're stupid.

[frank_iii]

[ QUOTE ]
Meh, a bunch of these people are morans who didn't win enough to cover what they wanted. If you won a million dollars, how much would your life really change? These people blew it cause they're stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the whole point!

All I'm saying is that people who are regularly buying 7 lottery tickets may not quite be the best equipped to handle larger incoming cash payments. So it's not quite "easy street" for them in the end.

[Blarg]

Don't kid yourself. Almost all of us fall into that category; we just haven't been there yet.

I'm sure it would be extremely disorienting to suddenly win millions of dollars. Not just would your life turn completely upside down financially, so would your social relations, like it or not. Heck, to some of your family members you'd be worth more dead than alive. And if you quit your job, you'd be totally adrift, if you're like most people, because most people don't ever bother acquiring a compelling interest in anything outside of just hanging out with their friends or watching t.v. Basically, the average person would have no idea what to do with their life, besides something vague and temporary like "traveling." And everything they chose, or that other people tried to choose for them, would cost them a chunk of their winnings. Winning the lottery wouldn't be easily manageable for almost any of us.

[frank_iii]

Well, we're both hypothesizing. I just happen to disagree with you. &lt;shrug&gt;

I suspect that a contented person with a happy family life that is accustomed to living within his means would see very little change from an extra $50000 per year ($1 mil split out across 20 years), outside of the additional pressures from non-immediate family and friends to dole the winnings out.

Further, I'd suspect that the vast majority of lottery tickets are purchased by those who may not live within their means or be content with their current position. They also may not fully grasp the value of a large dollar amount in relation to time and expenses. This is why so many large lottery winners end up poorer than they began.

But, as always, I could be horribly wrong. I'd be willing to submit myself as a test case for large lottery winners, though! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Blarg]

I don't think the average person lives within his means. I think the figures on how much credit card debt and average savings the average American has will back me up on that. Add in mortgage debt and car debt, etc. And that's just for those who can afford cars, houses, and credit card debt in the first place. People who can't are even more likely to be disoriented by a sudden influx of cash -- even using your small number of $50,000 a year, which I don't think is anyone's idea of a major lottery score(just a hell of a nice one).

I don't think most Americans are handling their money well in the first place. So adding significant lottery winnings would just probably make them even more unhinged.

[frank_iii]

Wait a minute, you're agreeing with me. In fact, I was going to say the exact same thing (with relevant URLs for credit card debt/bankruptcy).

What were we talking about again? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

All I was ever trying to say by posting that article is that winning the lottery doesn't necessarily land the winner on easy street.

So, the OP's fears of happy co-workers leaving him in squalor were unfounded. /images/graemlins/grin.gif