Adding to my investment

Since I play lotto a few times a month my friend found this book for me, The Truth About Lotto. Pretty good I think. I play a lot different now. Just thought I'd share. You can check it out at http://www.truthaboutlotto.com

[BigMoneyJim]

:P Hrm, it's a sales pitch to buy the book. You get to read the first chapter in PDF form. It doesn't really say anything except (paraphrased for brevity) "I'm smart, I have experience, I did research, and boy have I got some important things to tell you."

The people here seem to know the value of money "invested" into the lottery. I don't expect people here to buy the book.

He claims to have one strategy if you do play the lottery. I was kind of expecting the advice to be "put the money in a savings account", but if he has actual lotto advice as he claims then it's probably to pick your own numbers and avoid playing the lower numbers because lots of people pick their kids' ages or somesuch, so you're less likely to have to share your winnings if you pick high numbers.

Actually, I think casinos offer better payout odds than the lottery. The lottery keeps roughly half of the bets while casinos have a 1.2% - 30% long term advantage depending on the game. And casinos are more entertaining. Not that I'd recommend a compulsive gambler to run to the casino instead of plopping $5 on weekly lotto tix....

D'oh! I just realized another good piece of advice for people who insist on playing the lottery: write a book about it and try to sell it!

Hey Bud ! -

I've got a safer bet for you ; I bet you're the author

[Nords]

... to the "Make Money Fast" section?

[ShokWaveRider]

Some Real investment advice here ay!

Well Bud, how many books have you sold? If you are not the author ,what are the highlights.

PS. I don't play the lotto. I am retired already.

SWR

[unclemick]

My 87 yr old mom (lives with us) has been playing powerball for 15 yrs. Give us the straight skinny so she afford to get a candy apple red Hoverround and bogey on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My old boss used to buy about 50 lottery tickets every week.

After 8 years he hadnt won a thing.

Do the math.

Although I noticed one interesting thing about lotteries, the difference between how some states do them. When I lived in MA, my girlfriend and I always bought a "scratcher" or two when we were getting gas. Every 3-5 tickets you'd win five bucks or a free ticket or a buck. It was a collectively losing situation, although I did win $500 once and $50 several times, I clearly paid in about 5x what I got out.

When we moved to CA, we kept up the habit. For a year. Neither of us won a thing. We quit. Havent bought one since. This is the state that pays out $175,000,000 to one or two winners.

I think CA needs to take a hint from MA on how to keep people "in the game" and how to peanut butter the winnings around a little. I cant imagine for the life of me what I'd do with $175M that I couldnt do with $25M...

Oh yeah Bud...does your "friend" also sell viagra and penis enlargement tools? Beat it.

The only time I regularly bought lottery tickets was
when I lived in Texas. I always knew it was a
"sucker bet", but I looked at it as cheap entertainment.
In 3 years or so I matched 4 out of 6 numbers about
3 times which paid me about $80.00 each time. This kept me coming back (smart). I ended up behind but not by much
and I had some fun. Not a bad deal.

John Galt

[wabmester]

The lottery is primarily a tax on those who are bad at math.

I calculated the odds of winning the CA lottery when they started the thing. I think it was a little worse than 1 in 5,000,000.

What intrigued me for a second was the idea of a guaranteed win: you can buy every possible combination for a little over $5M. So when the prize pool is over $5M, the only thing you have to worry about is sharing the prize with another winner. Unfortunately, the bigger the pot, the more likely you are to split it. And then there's the taxes....

I played once and picked the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6. People think you're crazy when you do that, but it's just as likely to win as any "random" sequence (and much easier to remember).

[db]

Regardless of the odds, a lottery ticket can give one hope of getting rich, sort of a religious experience. But buying more than a single ticket makes no sense.

db
not a lottery player

[unclemick]

Heh. heh. I cover both long shots - buy a powerball once a week for my 87 yr old mother and add to my hobby stocks every 1-3 yrs. It only takes one. Here's to Monty Python and the Holy Grail!

You are right unclemick. "It only takes one"
Besides, someone has to win. If you must gamble, I agree the casino is a better bet. MY wife plays the slots and almost always wins. Once she already had a significant pile and dropped a dollar in a slot as she
was leaving the building. Hit $10,000 on a $1.00
investment. No idea where she stands lifetime
but she is way ahead over the 3 years we've been
together.

John Galt