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Old 01-08-2016, 06:13 PM   #21
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First I'd buy an unlisted phone number.
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Old 01-08-2016, 06:24 PM   #22
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Paid $5 for a group buy at work and $4 for 2 tickets for myself and my husband.
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Old 01-08-2016, 06:24 PM   #23
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With odds of 50/50 (either you win or you don't) why wouldn't I buy a ticket?
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Old 01-08-2016, 06:54 PM   #24
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I beg your pardon? Is that new math?

With a single ticket, your chance to win is 1 in 292 million, or 3.4 x 10^-9, or 0.000000003424.

Conversely, your chance to lose is 0.999 999 996 575.
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:05 PM   #25
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I beg your pardon? Is that new math?

With a single ticket, your chance to win is 1 in 292 million, or 3.4 x 10^-9, or 0.000000003424.

Conversely, your chance to lose is 0.999 999 996 575.
Naw, somethin' wrong with yer calculater either yew win or yew don't
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:07 PM   #26
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I am pretty sure I won't. Particularly as I do not even buy one ticket.

Of course, there's a chance someone drops his winning ticket on the sidewalk, and I pick it up.
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:08 PM   #27
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I am pretty sure I won't. Particularly as I do not even buy one ticket.
Yeh be a party pooper!
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:12 PM   #28
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Buying more than one ticket is like saying you need to buy a smaller house to reduce the risk of your house being hit by a meteor. The odds are crazy and it's a sucker bet. One ticket gets you in the game and anymore than that, well you don't understand statistics and laws of probability. My humble opinion of course. ;0)


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Old 01-08-2016, 07:16 PM   #29
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No, small as the chance of winning with one ticket is, buying 10 tickets does increase it by 10 times. And if you buy all 292 million possible different combinations, your chance of winning increases to be 100%.

The analogy with the asteroid and your house is to buy 10 houses spread out all over the world. That does reduce the chance of all of them getting wiped out. Of course you cannot be in all of them at the same time, so that does not really help you to survive, only your real estate assets.
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:30 PM   #30
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My analogy stands. I didn't say it didn't increase your odds. It's a ridiculous idea that buying 5 or 10 or 20 is going to change anything to cause a win just as buying a smaller house does almost nothing to decrease the odds of being hit by space debris.


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Old 01-08-2016, 07:36 PM   #31
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I bought one ticket on my own. I also chipped in $5 with a couple of friends from work. It's nice to dream for a couple of hours.


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Old 01-08-2016, 07:38 PM   #32
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I am pretty sure I won't. Particularly as I do not even buy one ticket.

Of course, there's a chance someone drops his winning ticket on the sidewalk, and I pick it up.
Yeah, this is our approach--figure if we are meant to win, the ticket will blow in via an open window in one of our cars at a stoplight.

(Maybe 15 years ago, my mom gave me money to buy her a ticket for a game that wasn't sold in her state; I felt like I was buying crack once I figured out how to do it!)
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:38 PM   #33
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A beggar sat on the sidewalk with a cup in front of him. A passerby stopped, looked down, and saw that there was a dime in the cup.

The pedestrian bent down, picked up the dime and replaced it with a $1 bill. He told the beggar "Now, you are 10 times richer". The beggar protested "It's only $1. I am still poor".

Both are right. Yes, 10 times a minuscule amount may still look minuscule. But it's still 10 times. With 10 tickets, you have 10x the chance of winning the jackpot relative to 1 ticket. Your chance has increased from 1-in-292 million to 1-in-29 million. Keep buying more, and your chance keeps on improving, up to when you buy all 292 million tickets.
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:59 PM   #34
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When the lottery gets over ~$300M, I generally buy 5 tickets. At $300M, you could buy every ticket and make money (assuming no splits or taxes...).
Also assuming one of the 2xxM tickets has the winning combination of numbers. I don't know much about the lottery but I buy a ticket or two now and then.
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Old 01-08-2016, 08:09 PM   #35
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I've done the math and the expected payout won't get me past OMY, so I'm saving my money to invest next week after this big prize goes unclaimed for one more time.
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Old 01-08-2016, 08:26 PM   #36
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I bought one ticket. For $2, DH and I get to do mental math and dream.

That's the best part about the $2. Wife and I had a productive talk about what we'd do if we won. Pretty much we think alike on what we'd like to do.

If I really did win, from my understanding, it'd be wise to do the major bulk of donating in the year the lottery is won. That way a huge chunk could be written off as charitable giving.

Seriously though when thinking about winning, I'm ambivalent. I'm not a statistic but when you read the horror stories of winners, it's a gruesome picture. And I'm content with my life as it is now.
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Old 01-08-2016, 08:31 PM   #37
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There are 292 million different number combinations, and if you buy every single one of them you have 100% chance of winning. So, you should stop, right? Or should you buy duplicate tickets all over?

A man walked into a grocery store, and handed to the counter clerk his selection of the lottery numbers. He told the clerk "Give me two tickets with these numbers".

The clerk looked up and said "Are you sure? Don't you want to buy two tickets with different numbers instead to improve the odd?"

The man said "Yes, I am sure. These ARE the winning numbers. What I am not sure is whether someone else might have picked the same numbers. Therefore, I am buying two tickets. That way, if someone else also has these numbers, I will have 2/3 of the jackpot and he will get only 1/3".
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Old 01-08-2016, 10:07 PM   #38
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I bought 5 tickets on the way home. Good for a few minutes of dreaming!
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Old 01-08-2016, 10:14 PM   #39
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I'll pick up a couple of tix. I wonder if you won, would it be feasible to move to another state with no income tax before claiming the prize?
You are optimistic

Better yet, move to a tax free country, renounce citizenship and claim it.
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Old 01-08-2016, 10:28 PM   #40
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It's at $800,000 now.
You can buy the tickets online, no need to line up.

Seems a bit dangerous for some folks, what's the credit limit ??
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