$550 Million Powerball Tonight! WWYD?

[The Sushi Hunter]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/powerball-winners-already-divorced-bankrupt,30553/

According to sources, while Debra McInery, 56, of Dearborn, MO and Chris Linden, 32, of Fountain Hills, AZ were elated upon winning the record-breaking lottery prize, both quickly blew through the roughly $192 million lump sum they each received, spending it on various failed business investments, reckless gambling habits, and costly divorce proceedings

All within less than 24 hours? Yeah, right.

I think someone's taking the ONION a bit too seriously. C'MON MAN.

Not too seriously, I know it's a joke. But who would even think that is a real article when they claim all these things happened within 24 hours? But it would have been better if it had been written it a few months from now to make it more believable, not within the first 24 hours.

[The Sushi Hunter]

I remember when they were trying to start the state lottery here in Texas. To get the yes votes they needed, they said the money would go toward pay increases for teachers, police officers and firemen. Once it was instituted, they reported that the money would go into the general fund. Lying bastards. The only time I've ever bought a lottery ticket was to give as a gift at a gift exchange for Christmas because it was suggested by the host of the Christmas party as a good gift.

Yeah, same in Ca. A few months before I joined the U.S. Military, the scratchers first came out. This was in late '85. The lottery officials claimed that the money generated would go to schools among other such things. Funny thing is, after 26 or so odd years later, the school system is in worse shape now then before they had the lottery.

Oh and that movie I was asking about yesrerday was called Brewster's Millions.

[The Sushi Hunter]

These type of lotteries are fixed. The only time it's not fixed is when all the possible combinations have been played. Tickets are bought using a computer system. They control what numbers are issued in regards to quick picks. Ever wonder why the machines cut off selling tickets 15 minutes before the draw? Because they need that time to figure out which number combinations have not been played and set up the ball machine accordingly. If all numbers are played by people who choose their own numbers and not by quick pick, then the winning numbers that come up is lagit. If you think what I'm saying is complete bullshit, fine, have the game raided upon the numbers being drawn and examine the powerball machine and all the balls. Check to see if all balls are the same size and weight and check to see if all numbers, and one of each, are present and accounted for in the machine. Until they do that, I'm sticking to my guns that this is fixed. If it wasn't fixed, too many people would be winning and they'd actually lose money. It's not a coincidence as to why this powerball lottery hit half a Billion. They know the larger the pot, the deeper people will dig into their life savings for the chance.

You want to lose your money, play the lottery. You want to lose a buttload of money, follow the numbers and play accordingly to what numbers have and have not come up. Guaranteed, you'll lose a fuckload of your money. For example, if you notice that say....the number 5 for the mega number hasn't come up in a few months, play it and play it often and in greater quantities. You'll be playing the mega number 5 until hell freezes over and have lost thousands (depending on how many you play each draw) before the 5 comes up. This mega number was added to the mix simply because it's how the lottery reaches out and "baits" the big gamblers. The average Joe Blow won't pay attention to what the mega numbers of the past draws are and will simply just play a simple quick pick or their own numbers. The lottery doesn't target these small time players. To the small time players this game is "fun". But it's the big rollers who pay attention to the mega numbers and who are the major contributors of the money that the lottery targets.

But hey, you can't dream of winning unless you buy tickets. Basically your only buying the dream of winning.....people.

I have a story that supports your claim.

When I turned 18, the local lottery had reached an all-time high (I think it was $18 million. This was before Maine had the Powerball, so this was pretty damn high.) My folks blew a ton on quick picks. I looked through them and noticed there were 6 numbers that none of the quick picks had chosen...I played those numbers and 4 out of 6 came up. I won $40. I never won that much ever again.

So, I've suspected it for the longest time. I know the game is rigged. But when the jackpot is high and I know all the combinations will likely be exhausted, it only makes sense to waste a buck or two. It won't hurt the budget once every 8 weeks.

If it was on the up and up, they would actually lose money because more people would be winning. It's like the casino's, the machinese are set to only pay out a certain amount, but take in much much more. I've played before in the past, and when it is big, yeah. Nothing crazy though. I'm buying that 24 hours of dream time for the buck.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Here’s some lottery stats to think about. The odds of winning just the Ca super lottery are 1 in 41,416,353. What that means is there are 41,416,353 possible number combinations. If you played 1 million dollars per year, never the same numbers, you would have to play at that rate for over 41 years before you played all of the combinations.

The Ca super lottery has the mega number feature. This mega number is 1 through 27, which means there are 1,535,939 number combinations for each one of these mega numbers. So if you play a set of super lottery numbers with the 1 as the mega number, there are 1,535,939 different combinations for that specific mega number, as with all 27 mega numbers. The interesting thing about this is, if you were to play say 39 tickets with for example the 5 as the mega number for all 39 tickets, there would still be 1,535,900 other combinations to choose from with the 5 as the mega number. Chances are still not much any better.

A few years ago, a store near where I used to live in San Francisco sold the winning Ca lottery ticket. I used to go there and buy a few tickets here and there back in ’92 with a few roommates of mine. When this store sold the winning ticket, I was talking with the owner, he remembers me back from those days in ’92 when I lived a few doors down. He told me that he had been selling lottery for a little over 20 years before selling the winning ticket. During that time, he claimed that he sells between $800 and $2,500 tickets for each Ca super lottery drawing, twice per week, depending on how large or small the pot is. There are two drawings per week, so if you do the math, that’s roughly 104 drawings per year. Multiply that by 20 (years) and that’s 2,080 and that’s how many drawings he’s sold tickets, based on a 20 year timeframe. Now multiply 2080 drawings by $800 to $2,500 and this means the guy sold between 1,664,000 to 5,200,000 tickets before he was lucky enough to sell the winning ticket to someone. So if you played that much money on lottery over the same 20 year span, your chances of buying the winning ticket would be the same as his chances were to sell the winning ticket.

These stats are based on the Ca super lottery @ 41,416,353 to 1 odds. The odds for winning powerball are 175,000,000 to 1. If you want to have some fun, figure in those odds.

When he was talking to me about it, the very first thing he said in response to me commenting that he had been selling Ca super lottery tickets for over 20 years before he sold the winning ticket was: “it’s about fucking time!”