Sometimes (because we never know).

 

End of the video he holds up his lottery tickets.



Gambling is entertainment. Not investment.

 

I have a friend that makes like $10-$12 an hour. Almost every day he buys a $20 scratch off ticket (sometimes he buys the $50 ticket). I don't know how he does it but he wins almost every dang time! He atleast gets his money back. My wife on the other hand, buys a scratch off once or twice a year and if she wins a dollar..... WOOOHOOOOO it's party time! You would think she won a million! lol

 

Playing the lottery is sometimes +EV when the jackpot is paying more than the odds of winning. For example if you chances of winning is 1 in 49 million and the jackpot is $100 million, you should buy a ticket, in theory you will come out ahead.

 

You're not factoring in the odds of having to split the prize.

 

I have bought less than 10 lotto tickets in my life. Just for fun, and it really isn't that fun.

Not a big gambler. I was amazed in vegas by the people just willing to ding away their money in exchange for some lights and sounds. The mathematical advantage is with the house. If you played slots enough you would have nothing.

Betting in poker, golf and horse racing? That's a blast. A good social time. A game. Not gambling just to gamble.

 

Okay... story time here. I look for +EV gaming opportunities, and my state lottery (Michigan) is one great example of that. As one example, when you first sign up, you can get a 50% deposit bonus up to $100. So you sign up, deposit $200, and actually receive $300. Then you have to play through the $300 before you can withdraw it. You play it through once on Keno (with an 87.5% rate of return), and if you're smart, you do it on a day when you get a special incentive to do so (play $25 and get $5 free!), and you will come out ahead. Even without special incentives, your EV on the original deposit bonus is +$62.50 plus any credit card bonuses you get for depositing the $300 on a card.

I made a few thousand bucks last year doing that sort of thing. They've tightened it up a bit this year, and I'll probably only pick up a little over a thousand bucks. But it's free, and for me, it's just a fun sort of game.

So there's at least one reason to play the lottery. Anyone in Michigan who is not taking advantage of this is just burning free money.