Lottery and fate

RainDog · #1 10-19-2005, 07:26 PM

After just buying 10 Powerball tickets with a jackpot of $340 million, I've been debating the EV of this purchase. For me at least it's +EV for the excitement and the dreams. Not to mention that the odds themselves are leaning towards +EV despite the astronomical variance. But I'm interested in your opinions on some questions of a nature that should be relevant to this forum:

A. Does the possibility of the existence of fate, miracles, divine intervention, etc. give the lotto a higher EV than otherwise would be expected?

B. If yes, then is there any reason to buy more than one ticket?

C. Can merely wanting something to happen bad enough or expecting/knowing that it will happen influence the possibility of its occurence?

Cheers

Sabrazack · #2 10-19-2005, 07:30 PM

Well, i guess it depends on what you believe in...

However, in the world I live in the answer to A is clearly no.

C can only be a yes if you yourself can influence the outcome of an event. For example you might be able to outperform yourself in some sport if you want to win enough. But i doubt the lottery is going to give a crap about if you want to win or not.

ReadyEddie · #3 10-19-2005, 07:45 PM

I bought 40 tickets with my roomates. So clearly you're dominated .

A - No, you're still like 200 million:1 no matter what. Being a poker player this should be obvious.
B - I agree, it should be yes if you believe in A
C- no, thats just silly...

#4 10-19-2005, 07:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]
B - I agree, it should be yes if you believe in A

[/ QUOTE ]

It should be no if you believe in A. If you believe in miracles/fate then 1 ticket is the same as 1000.

BluffTHIS! · #5 10-19-2005, 08:45 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
B - I agree, it should be yes if you believe in A

[/ QUOTE ]

It should be no if you believe in A. If you believe in miracles/fate then 1 ticket is the same as 1000.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you think God is gonna help you win, then He don't need 10 chances to do it.

And if you think He's lookin to punish you for something bad you've done lately, then you are getting reverse implied odds on any attempts to win. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Peter666 · #6 10-20-2005, 12:40 AM

A guy in Winnipeg won something like 10 million in the lottery but blew it all in 7 years and ended up doing manual labour again until he committed suicide. Is that the type of fate we are talking about? [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

SheetWise · #7 10-20-2005, 12:51 AM

[ QUOTE ]
A guy in Winnipeg won something like 10 million in the lottery but blew it all in 7 years and ended up doing manual labour again until he committed suicide. Is that the type of fate we are talking about?

[/ QUOTE ]
Did Stu do any better? Money is no solution to people who have serious problems, unless their problems stem from a lack of money.

ReadyEddie · #8 10-20-2005, 10:47 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
B - I agree, it should be yes if you believe in A

[/ QUOTE ]

It should be no if you believe in A. If you believe in miracles/fate then 1 ticket is the same as 1000.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah w/e thats what i meant

Trantor · #9 10-20-2005, 01:26 PM

[ QUOTE ]
After just buying 10 Powerball tickets with a jackpot of $340 million, I've been debating the EV of this purchase. For me at least it's +EV for the excitement and the dreams. Not to mention that the odds themselves are leaning towards +EV despite the astronomical variance. But I'm interested in your opinions on some questions of a nature that should be relevant to this forum:

A. Does the possibility of the existence of fate, miracles, divine intervention, etc. give the lotto a higher EV than otherwise would be expected?

B. If yes, then is there any reason to buy more than one ticket?

C. Can merely wanting something to happen bad enough or expecting/knowing that it will happen influence the possibility of its occurence?

Cheers

[/ QUOTE ]
In the world of the sane, no. There are those who believe in the possibility of divine intervention of God mediated by prayer but prayer is not the same as mere "wanting" something to happen.

Many call these government lotto schemes a poverty tax...the revenue is predominantly from the poorer end of society so it is, in effect, a reverse progressive, but voluntary, tax

eOXevious · #10 10-20-2005, 01:46 PM

Well, I suppose someone can be as emotional as they want, but no one can argue with the mathmatical numbers and combinations. Which reminds me of those idiots that keep track of the numbers recently picked and then don't pick those numbers.