If I had all the money I ever spent on lottery tickets… oh wait, I do. You can get better odds in Las Vegas, and that city was built on odds. You want 2 to 1 odds? Go to the racetrack, and you won’t get it there either. [More below the break.]
How about flipping a quarter? 50-50, right? Not if I’m flipping. I can flip heads 20 times in a row, easy. Takes practice, but it can be done. If the bet is, say one penny, and each time it’s heads I win. If you bet double or nothing, by the end of 20 flips (20 losses for you) that’s $0.01 x 2^20 = $10,485.76. Any takers?
“Rock, Paper, Scissors” for money? Heh. Wear a t-shirt that says “SUCKER” on the back and empty your wallet on the pavement instead. It’ll save time.
“Your actual odds of winning the lottery depend on where you play, but single state lotteries usually have odds of about 18 million to 1 while multiple state lotteries have odds as high as 120 million to 1.
…
“It’s time to take a long hard look at the chances of you winning the lottery. While winning the lottery may be something that you want, to show you your chances we’ll take a look at a number of remote occurrences that you probably wouldn’t like to have happen to you – and probably don’t think will ever happen to you – but are still much more likely to happen to you than winning the lottery.
“How about the classic odds of being struck by lightning? The actual probability of this happening varies from year to year, but as a good estimate, the National Safety Council says between 70 and 120 people a year die in the US by lightning – so let’s take 100 as our base. With the US population being approximately 265 million people, that means that the chances of being killed by lightning are roughly 2,650,000 to 1. Not very likely. However you are still 6 to 45 times more likely to die from a lightning strike than you would be to win the lottery.”
Tell you what. Send me what you pay in lottery tickets, and I’ll double the odds of winning. 200% increase in chances, right? Heh. I’ll give you a t-shirt first. Guess what it says on the back.
[Found in here, quote from here.]
Tags: accessory, fashion, gambling, lottery, odds, raccoon, rock paper scissors, tacky, tips
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 5:29 AM
That’s why I never play the lottery. I light my money on fire and watch it burn. The odds of it giving off light are 1-1. Good post. I love the photo. Davie Crockett would be envious of the coon skin cap.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 11:54 AM
Leeuna– At least Davy Crockett never had to clean up after his.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 6:28 PM
Hey Bunk!
My dad was an excellent billiards player, and his reputation made his pool hall quite popular. But he was also a card player who knew all kinds of ways to cheat. Being very young, I thought all this was very cool! I even got to be pretty good at the things he taught me, and I imagined that I might have somehow “inherited” a knack for winning.
I first learned this wasn’t true when I could almost NEVER win at a simple coin-toss game my friends talked me into playing. This is the way it’s been my whole life – I rarely win when there’s a prize on the line – despite the fact that I continue to do pretty well when no prize is involved.
Go figure! :-)
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 7:00 PM
Mak! Nice to see you back here.
Trouble with cheating at cards is that it can lead to an unfortunate and painful condition commonly referred to as “several broken bones.”
As for shooting pool, I was decent. Mostly played for pitchers of beer, rarely for money. As a lefty, I could set up shots that were great for me, and if I missed, I left a very difficult shot for a right-hander. My buddies and I would walk into a game, I’d take on the table “owner” and within a game or two we’d have it to ourselves for the rest of the night.
Yeah, I know. Braggin’ with no proof. But it’s true.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 7:36 PM
Glad to be back! I missed coming around.
Man, it’s been a while, but I’m not sure that I ever played a lefty! Not to brag myself, but there were quite a few people who pushed me to go pro when they saw how good I was. It wasn’t until they saw the difference when there was cash or something on the line that they understood why I didn’t.
Your reference to “several broken bones” reminds me of the time when I woke up to find that my dad’s pool hall had somehow become a very ugly crime scene filled with cops and emergency personnel, while I slept totally unaware on a cot in the office. I don’t know what it was about (my dad sometimes hosted after hours “gambling events”), but there was blood all over one of the tables and a broken cue that looked as if the sharp end had been used like a spear. To this day, I can’t believe that I slept through the whole thing!
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 7:49 PM
Mak– You win the “I Can Top That Story” prize for the year.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 8:18 PM
Sorry, my friend. That wasn’t my intent.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 11:31 PM
Mak– That was a compliment for an amazing story. No snark.
Thursday, 4 March 2010 at 7:46 AM
It is the fool’s tax…which is probably what that raccoon is telling that guy
But someone does win that thing…usually a janitor who will keep his job
“just in case”
Thursday, 4 March 2010 at 11:39 AM
Fritz– There are companies that help “the suddenly rich.” Too many folks who receive a windfall go on a spending spree, and within ten years or so they’re back where they started.
Thursday, 4 March 2010 at 11:58 AM
Exactly… would be interesting if someone could do a documentary on how many of them actually lose all their money, I think the numbers would be high and the stories incredible
Thursday, 4 March 2010 at 7:18 PM
Fritz– I remember reading a post years ago that tracked some of the lottery winners. Professional atheletes can have the same trouble.
Back when I was apartment slumming, I knew a guy that had enough talent to be selected for the Cincinnati Reds’ farm team right out of high school. The first year, they’d give the teenage recruits each a lump sum of $20,000 as first year’s salary. Then they’d watch to see how the money was handled. That would weed a lot of them out.
Friday, 5 March 2010 at 2:29 AM
Fritz “….It is the fool’s tax…which is probably what that raccoon is telling …”
Jawohl … Fritz hat recht
That Racoon is typically sagacious ….
…… BUT if he were living in England, he wouldn’t be devoting himself to something useful (but not socially valued in Inglaterra) liking Architecturing earth=quake/flood=proof buildings for Haiti ……
He would be tempted to become a Lottery Executive receiving his Multi=Million-dollar Annual Bonuses
Friday, 5 March 2010 at 8:13 PM
Herr Eagle– *snork*
Saturday, 6 March 2010 at 12:37 PM
Hey Bunk, My mother in law spends heaps on lottery tickets each week then got all excited one week when she won $15 big deal… Can you send me a T-Shirt for her???