I'm in. Single quick-pick.

Sundae has it.

You shouldn't buy lotto tickets thinking it's a good investment. As Wolf points out, it isn't.

You can reasonably buy lotto tickets because they give you the right to have nice and ever-so-slightly plausible daydreams about becoming suddenly rich and all the things you could then do.

Like hitting the tip mug so hard it shatters.

In Chicago, Peter Muiznieks bought a ticket at a liquor store. He knows his chance of winning is a long shot, and that the money the country is spending on tickets could go elsewhere. He still couldn't help himself, and laughed as the apparent contradiction of his opinion and his actions.

"Lottery and games of chance are a stupidity tax and the more we all buy into this, the less rational we are as a society," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/americans-bet-...203515291.html

Tonight's jackpot is estimated at $640 million (annuity) or $462 million (lump sum).

I've never seen any patterns that I can pick up on.

I like to choose my own numbers, though. I don't trust the easy picks ("lucky dips"/"quick-picks") from the machine.

Played $10 - 10 games - 60 numbers. got 4 numbers, total, 2 in one game, no megaball. That wins me $0.00. Oh well.

When I lived in a very poor upstate NY town, I got my gas at a Red Apple convenience store and I'd invariable get caught in a line of lottery tickets and cigarettes folks... it was depressing to watch.

Dammit.:neutral:

Willie Richards, who works for the U.S. Marshals Service at a federal courthouse in Atlanta, figured if there ever was a time to confront astronomical odds, it was when $640 million was at stake. He bought five tickets.

"When it gets as big as it is now, you'd be nuts not to play," he said. "You have to take a chance on Lady Luck."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/kan-il...120924228.html

All lottery jackpot amounts have life changing impacts. Why do so many throw in on super jackpots only and not bother otherwise?

Results
 

The office pool won a few minor prizes that will likely get reinvested in a future drawing.

Play for next week. No one else will be.

Wow, they give playing advice on the Euromillions site.

http://www.euro-millions.com/informa...mbers-2295.asp

I also see they do not tax the winnings. I wish they did that in the US.

You are all aware of the gambler's fallacies, right?

I'm surprised the mathemagicians didn't jump all over this thread. The lottery is, indeed, a fun dream. And people do win. I saw old bar patrons win the mega mill a few years ago. One of the city departments. An office pool.

But no instance of a number being drawn has any effect on any other number being drawn, except it lowers the pool of numbers. There are no 'patterns.' It's just pure dumb luck (for lack of a better word.)

I buy a few, here and there. And I dream about that log home. But I don't think there's a system to random number drawing games. Because there isn't. ;)

aka what Zen said.

I got some numbers randomly selected by the "lucky dip" and now I just use those. I only ever buy a ticket when there's a super huge jackpot.
I have played the main lottery three times in my life and the Euromillions twice. Never won anything.
It's random chance, don't delude yourselves, people.

Uh-ohhhh, trouble brewin.