Is there a mod in the house (with a cc machine)?
Otherwise, I'll just post my UBS account # and you can all wire your shares in.
YWN Coffee Room » Money & Finance
Imagine Winning the Lottery ......
(306 posts)-
Posted 3 years ago #
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In PA about 19 years ago, they rigged the pick 3 by injecting a small amount of liquid in all numbers except for 2 numbers (I think 9's and 6's) then they placed big money on those combinations. I think it came in triple 6's. When the numbers were in the machine be blown around all the weighted numbered balls stayed low in the machine and the others rose to the top. the investigation lead to the arrest of the insiders who attempted to pull off this caper.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Will you guys trust a junior mod with this? I do have a credit card machine ready for action.
Posted 3 years ago # -
It is now 10 minutes by the CR clock
I have served my time wellPosted 3 years ago # -
Yes, but the difference is clear. It would be perfectly legal for lottery numbers to be drawn by computer, and I'm sure there is no law that says they are not allowed to fool you into thinking it is random.
Posted 3 years ago # -
26, I think it makes you an IDEAL pick.
Everyone who is interested should email cc info 26.
Posted 3 years ago # -
For some reason my fight or flight instinct has been activated... and I think I should be running...
Posted 3 years ago # -
ames, really, can't you imagine some kind of behind the scenes "connection" that you can't see? I can think of several. The winning balls could have a chip inside them that the computer sends a gust of wind towards. Or, the winning balls could be weighted, as 72 said. Just because we can't see it doesn't mean it's not there. Otherwise, how do you explain the magic shows I've been to?
Posted 3 years ago # -
noooooooooooooooooooooo
Posted 3 years ago # -
Cindarella has been crushed
Posted 3 years ago # -
btw- I meant the myth of magic has been crushed
sorry for that crusher- er- CindarellaPosted 3 years ago # -
Is there a mod update on the number of participants so far?
I had a thought - maybe Paypal would be better than CC.
Posted 3 years ago # -
areivim,
the myth of magic will always be crushed by the power of being open to educating oneself...
Enjoy the illusions presented before you...
know reality...
never confuse the two.Posted 3 years ago # -
what a lucky day to come visit! Where do I sign to get my share of the winnings?
Posted 3 years ago # -
I believe this to be 72's life motto:
(ps- I hear ya loud n clear pop ;))YW Moderator-72
Moderator
areivim,the myth of magic will always be crushed by the power of being open to educating oneself...
Enjoy the illusions presented before you...
know reality...
never confuse the two.Posted 3 years ago # -
sorry, not all posts are meant to be deep. Just take it at face value- this is 72's big belief
Posted 3 years ago # -
maybe not his life's motto- deffinitely his CR motto
Ask him and learn from the pro himself ;)Posted 3 years ago # -
Jothar, it seems that you are weong about lotto being a tax on the stupid based on this article:
A Can Of Coke Is The Real "Tax On Stupid People"
Scenario I: You're walking down the street with a friend when you remember that there's a Mega Millions drawing that night. "One second," you say, "I'm going to stop into this store and buy a lottery ticket for $1."
If your friend is like many people, you'll get a haranguing about how stupid that is, about how the lotto is just a tax on the poor, the desperate, and the stupid, and how you're much better just putting your money into a bank.
Scenario II: You're walking down the street, and you're feeling thirsty. "One second," you say, "I'm going to stop into this store and buy a can of Coke."
"Cool," says your friend.
------
But really, which is the tax on the stupid, the lottery ticket or the can of Coke? Most people reflexively say the lottery ticket, as WSJ numbers guy Carl Bialik reminds us today. But consider. In the first scenario, you're out $1, in exchange you get a brief chance to fantasize, and the very remote chance of getting rich, plus a little tension while they pull the numbers.
In the second scenario, you're out $1, you get a brief sugar high, followed by a crash, followed by tooth decay, sugar addiction, and then obesity, if you make a habit out of it. Clearly the Coke is worse in every way. If someone asked you whether they should buy a lotto ticket every day, or a Coke every day, you'd have to suggest the lotto ticket. Its superiority isn't even in doubt.
Probably the reason people freak out over the lotto ticket is because the presence of math seems to make the analysis very clear, and they're thinking about it strictly as an investment, and since there are so obviously better investments to make, the lottery ticket is dumb.
But for one thing, lottery ticket buyers probably aren't thinking of them as investments, and really, regardless of how they view them, the fact is there are a lot dumber things you can do with $1, including buying a can full of sugar water. That's the real tax on the stupid.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I like the slant of that article!
Posted 3 years ago # -
The article is specious.
1. The Coke provides a genuine, tangible benefit- a drink (admittedly overpriced) of sugar water, Caramel color,flavorings, and caffeine. The benefit is delivered. The lottery ticket, on the other hand, provides a dimyon of a future benefit, but very rarely delivers on it. It's a complete waste of money
2. The addiction liability of the Coke is one shared by the lottery ticket as well, and in a much more severe form. One imagines "If I triple my investment, I triple my odds of winning!", forgetting that 3 times basically 0 are still basically 0.
3. Finally, you can make a bracha on the Coke, delivering an instant shefa of bracha to the world (Nefesh Hachaim part II). No such benefit accrues when buying a lottery ticket. Buy the Coke, but brush your teeth.Posted 3 years ago # -
The following is a public service announcement:
The Mega Millions is Jackpot is now $75,000,000 - Next Drawing is Tuesday September 25.
you can play the Mega Millions in the following States:
California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The PowerBall Jackpot is now $150,000,000 - Next Drawing is Wednesday September 26
you can play the PowerBall in the following States:
Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A bottle of Coke is anywhere from 1.25 and up and is available in all 50 States (as are dentists, endocrinologists and cardiologists)
Posted 3 years ago # -
You can always buy a Diet Coke.
If you took the dollar bill and lit it on fire, you would have a tangible benefit of watching the paper burn, without any empty calories or tooth decay, and you have statistically about the same chance as wining the lottery.Posted 3 years ago # -
if you lose you can light the lottery ticket on fire and get the benefit of watching paper burn without violating laws regarding the destruction of US currency OR you can save the losing tickets so that if you win you can offset your winnings with the loses for tax purposes
Posted 3 years ago # -
Yeah, like open your faucet, fill up a couple of bottles and sell them for profit.
Posted 3 years ago # -
hey how do I buy the lottery , I can always try, once somebody told me I was going to win the lottery but I never buy..how is that, please alight me on that
Posted 3 years ago # -
sell them for profit in midbar yehuda!!!!
Posted 3 years ago # -
Or in the airport to really rake it in.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Or during shiur!
Posted 3 years ago # -
lol i want to win no lose
Posted 3 years ago # -
yeah, I can already see the $$$ rolling in.
Posted 3 years ago # -
We could collect rain water and sell it or we could find a stream and collect the water. Profit!!!
Posted 3 years ago # -
mybat, it would have to be approved by all the mods first. ;)
Posted 3 years ago # -
Woooow! I'm in awe! It is mod 80!
Posted 3 years ago # -
Drop of genuine Erev Yom Kippur mikveh water in every bottle..
Posted 3 years ago # -
Mine will have Motsoai Yom Kippur mikveh water and will sell at a premium!
Posted 3 years ago # -
just let me know where so I know not to buy.
Posted 3 years ago # -
From a newspaper article today:
When Lou Eisenberg struck it rich in 1981, winning $5 million in what was then the largest lottery payout ever, people started asking him for advice about money."All of a sudden, people were asking, 'Lou, what about this?' 'What about that?' " Eisenberg, now 81, recalled.
It turns out he was the one who needed the answers.
Nearly 30 years after picking winning numbers, all that's left are memories of his lucky day and the whirlwind life of TV appearances, cheering fans, travel and luxury.
The former multimillionaire now lives in a mobile home in Lake Worth, Fla., on $250 a week from his Social Security and pension checks.
you left out some details that explain how he spent his money:
With installments of $219,000 a year, $130,000 after taxes, paid out over 20 years, he was able to quit his job and buy a $130,000 condo with an ocean view and a terrace in Brighton Beach.
As his fame grew, so did his spending. There were days at the track, trips to Europe and Hawaii, and dinners where the newly minted millionaire always picked up the check. "Whoever needed something, I gave cash. I wanted to be nice to people," he said.
He said he gave a big chunk of his winnings to his second ex-wife. He married a third time, but that didn't last either.
By 2001, after he cashed the last lottery check, he was broke.
Eisenberg now spends time at a dog track in West Palm Beach, Fla., and still bets "a penny" here and there.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Jothar: They say the hard part is´nt always making the money, it´s knowing how not to spend it all!!
Posted 3 years ago # -
Mybat, the hard part here is winning, with the odds of winning statistically zero. This point is, even lu yitzur you win, there's no guarantee the galgal hachaim will keep you that way.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Yes jothar. The world turns. But look at how many celebrities just spend like there is no end. Money could finish. Especially if they are spending faster then they could make it. (Michael Jackson)
Posted 3 years ago # -
sit and shtieg
Posted 3 years ago # -
Here's a little something from Tim Harford, Financial Times advice columnist:
Dear Economist,
Thanks to the recession kindly engineered by financial whiz-kids, I find myself jobless with large debts and a house that is worth less than the mortgage. I have some redundancy money. What am I supposed to do with it? It’s not enough to pay off my debts. Financial disaster seems very likely, so why shouldn’t I just spend the windfall on lottery tickets?
J.P., via e-mailDear J.P.,
I’m not going to argue with you about the expected returns on lottery tickets; you’ll know that your chances of winning anything worthwhile are near zero. Let me make a more striking claim: even if you won, it would be unlikely to save you from financial trouble.
The economists Scott Hankins, Mark Hoekstra and Paige Marta Skiba are in the process of investigating that claim, looking at 35,000 winners of the Florida lottery, almost 2,000 of whom later filed for bankruptcy. The researchers find that lottery winners are more likely to go bankrupt than others – which is not surprising, since many of them don’t win much, and lottery enthusiasts tend to be poor.
More surprising is the discovery that those who won between $50,000 and $150,000 were as likely to have gone bankrupt five years later as those who won less than $10,000. Since the size of a win is random, there should have been no difference between big winners and small winners at the time they bought their ticket. It is remarkable that the additional money was not used to pay off debts.
Admittedly, winning $100,000 did seem to postpone bankruptcy by a year or two, so presumably these winners had a nice time on their way to ruin. Yet this is not an approach I feel able to recommend. Finding a job would go a long way to solving your problems. I won’t pretend that will be easy, but the odds are better than those of winning the lottery.
Posted 3 years ago # -
The bankruptcy issue is tied to the instant gratification mentality that is predominant amongst lottery players. The delayed gratification mentality is what motivates a person to work hard in school, go to college, get an entry level job in hopes of moving up, save money for retirement, etc. Instant gratification is the predominant mentality in poor societies - the ghetto kids who are always looking for their "ticket" out, for example, and all the buddies who hope to ride out with him on his ticket.
Therefore, it is not surprising that a large percentage of lotto winners end up bankrupt - since a large percentage of lottery players are imbued with an instant gratification mentality (which is what drives them to spend their paycheck on lotto tickets in the first place). This observation is a purely sociological one, and I believe it completely undermines the value of your statistics. The chances of you going bust before you win the lottery are probably about the same as they were for you before you won.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Squeak, no it doesn't. You merely explained why the statistics are true. Granted, a delayed gratification type who wins the lottery will invest the money in something paying long dividends. But he will also be much less likely to blow money on the lottery in the first place. That's why the lottery is a tax on the stupid- the delayed-gratification types don't pay it.
Tim Harford has a better suggestion- pick numbers and DON'T buy the ticket. That way you can sweat to see if you should have bought the ticket. If the numbers are picked, you feel like an ID10T. You win much more often, and save money besides.My inbox is filled with lottery winnings ever day. I must win about $10-20 million worth of lotteries every day. should I cash them in? :-)
Posted 3 years ago # -
Jothar, you are right in semantics. The statistics ARE correct. It is your conclusion that is incorrect. Merely winning the lottery is not a valid predictor for bankruptcy. Rather, the predictor is the predisposition of the lottery winner.
Posted 3 years ago # -
For 1 dollar??? Buy it if it makes you happy. For entertainment purposes only,don't expect to win.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Squeak, the lottery winning is siman, not a sibah. Winning the lottery isn't causative, but a lottery winner usually is the type who plays lotteries, and it's indicative of the personality type.
Posted 3 years ago #
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