Should I stop playing the Lotto?

UCDCritic

I've been thinking about this for a while.

I spend 12 - 15 euro a week on the euro millions.

It's been about a year since I last won anything and that would be 4 euro.

The largest amount I ever won was about 5 years ago and that was around a 100 euro.

I'm starting to feel like I should just give up the fantasy.

If I saved that money at the end of a year I would it would add up to a nice little some of money. I reckon I've spend thousands on it over the years.

But each Tuesday and Friday I feel if I don't play this could have been the time I won.

I feel torn.

Please advise.

Cantremember

Free at last thank god almighty free at last

GoldFour4

Well they do say the lottery is a tax on stupid people.

You appear to have realised this OP, well done.

**Timbuk2**

All you need is a basic understanding of probability to know you should never play the lotto.

So stop.

Sir Arthur Daley

If you are not in you cannot win as they say.

smcgiff

It's not called the idiot tax for nothing.

December2012

Spend it on Prize Bonds instead. You could still win and you can cash them in when you need to.

Spunge

Should just invest that money into something instead and watch the charts for the craic.

BBDBB

cut your "investment" in the lotto by half and save the other half for that nest egg

allthedoyles

Put your next €15 into Paddy Power account and play Casino Jackpots .

It could be you !

Capt'n Midnight

WikiHow wrote: »

If you are not in you cannot win as they say.

If luck is not involved then it's a very low return on investment.

If luck is involved then you only ever need to buy one ticket.


if you believe internet statistics 80% of Russian Males born in 1923 did not survive WWII so you'll need to explain luck and 90% of the population of Paraguay died in the "War of the Triple Alliance."

So yeah , explain how luck works ?

Rasheed

Play my club lotto. €50 for the year, the jackpot is €3,500 and I'll let you peak at the women in the dressing room.

Stained Class

I worked in a place many moons ago that had a Lotto syndicate.

I joined. Sure 'twas only a couple of quid a week. Did it for years & won sweet FA.

When I left that job I still paid into the syndicate for a couple of years after.

I was petrified that I'd see my ex-collegues on the front page of the local paper after they scooped the jackpot!:eek:

Never happened though.

cold case

I was spending €16 per week on lotto. Gave up over 5 years ago, after agreeing that if our numbers came up, then we were not meant to be rich!!

I keep checking for our numbers and apart from a few €5 here and there, we have saved over €4,000 so far.

eoins23456

Stop playing. The odds of winning the euro millions are ridiculous. Save up for something maybe or buy a few cans

CarrickMcJoe

Depends if you use the same numbers every week. I remember my old boss crapping himself when he forgot to do his lotto cause he used the same no's since it began.

zenno

My dear comrade, I have been doing the same numbers on the Irish lotto for around 16 years and never missed a wednesday or saturday, and the most I won was 57 euro. I spend €12 per week on it. But my time will come :pac:

It's all a load of garbage, but there again my annoying friend on my right shoulder keeps telling me to carry on, because if I stop now, and my numbers came up I would feel like manure. The kind nice guy on my left shoulder just says... Ah man it's time to awaken and see the light of idiocy spending cash on it as you won't ever win... it's millions to 1.

Looks like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place with these two arseholes.

Mezcita

High street bookies give much better odds of getting a few numbers.

MJ23

Save up the money and buy a blow-up doll.

zenno

MJ23 wrote: »

Save up the money and buy a blow-up doll.

I'm allergic to rubber unfortunately.

CarrickMcJoe

I do a 4 euro quick pick whenever I think of it. Got 5 numbers twice. €380 first time(was one number away from £820,000, I had 16, it was 17) and €2,500 the last time (nice on a Monday morning).

biko

Spend the money on drink instead. At least it gives you a good reason to feel crap the next day.

PizzamanIRL

UCDCritic wrote: »

I've been thinking about this for a while.

I spend 12 - 15 euro a week on the euro millions.

It's been about a year since I last won anything and that would be 4 euro.

The largest amount I ever won was about 5 years ago and that was around a 100 euro.

I'm starting to feel like I should just give up the fantasy.

If I saved that money at the end of a year I would it would add up to a nice little some of money. I reckon I've spend thousands on it over the years.

But each Tuesday and Friday I feel if I don't play this could have been the time I won.

I feel torn.

Please advise.

Don't be stupid.

Increase your spending to €25 and play the Daily Millions and the National Lottery too. Maybe even the Spanish Lottery.

wretcheddomain

UCDCritic wrote: »

I've been thinking about this for a while.

Please advise.

Think about this for a while instead.

Imagine you were sitting down at a machine with two things: a big red button and a screen.

You're told before the game begins that you've a 1 in 116,531,800 of winning the jackpot; the only thing is you have to pay €12 to press the red button to see if you've won.

Would you continue to press the big red button?

zenno

Here goes. Just about to check my numbers again for the millionth time, fingers crossed, but to be honest, I feel like my whole body is contorted at this stage Probably another €3 scratchcard.

You pay real cash to play, so you should win cash if you win, not a scratchcard.

wretcheddomain

zenno wrote: »

Here goes. Just about to check my numbers again for the millionth time, fingers crossed, but to be honest, I feel like my whole body is contorted at this stage Probably another €3 scratchcard.

We should have scratchcards with politicians heads buried beneath the grey part - their head being divided into 9 parts; if you reveal all 9 parts and hence the politicians face then you win a prize. If you found Enda Kenny you win €5000 but if you found James Reilly you win a packet of cigarettes etc.

Cienciano

Keep doing it, but just buy one line, or the smallest amount available.

Capt'n Midnight

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Don't be stupid.

Increase your spending to €25 and play the Daily Millions and the National Lottery too. Maybe even the Spanish Lottery.

You don't even need to buy tickets for the Spanish Lottery :rolleyes:


If you win anything someone will let you know.

cerastes

Rasheed wrote: »

Play my club lotto. €50 for the year, the jackpot is €3,500 and I'll let you peak at the women in the dressing room.

Its bad enough doing the lotto, thankfully, I only do it rarely from time to time, Ive no luck at it, but but I'd be concerned about playing club lotterys more, chance of the funds being re-directed.

zenno

wretcheddomain wrote: »

We should have scratchcards with politicians heads buried beneath the grey part - their head being divided into 9 parts; if you reveal all 9 parts and hence the politicians face then you win a prize. If you found Enda Kenny you win €5000 but if you found James Reilly you win a packet of cigarettes etc.

I'm a bit out there at this moment in time, but I am struggling to imagine something relating to your prognosis and characteristics of said comment

The last thing my brain needs now is scratching scratchcards with a politicians jigsaw puzzle scenario.

Just checked my numbers there. nothing---zero. until next time.



A true optimist.

Or just braindead

cooperguy

I dont know why you are spending so much on it anyway! The odds of winning are tiny so just buy 1 line. The difference between a chance of 1 in 8,145,060 and 2 in 8,145,060 is so small why would you bother spending the extra money.

PizzamanIRL

Seriously though never mind the Euromillions. If you keep doing it, just do the one line and stick with it. 2 or 3 lines don't really increase your chances a whole lot. Same with the other Lotto. Just do one line each week.

zenno

cooperguy wrote: »

I dont know why you are spending so much on it anyway! The odds of winning are tiny so just buy 1 line. The difference between a chance of 1 in 8,145,060 and 2 in 8,145,060 is so small why would you bother spending the extra money.

Ye see, that's not entirely true. If I won 60 grand I'd be happy, but I probably will spend 60 grand from all the years and then when I win 60 grand, I will be over the moon thinking I actually won something. Sure I would have saved it from not doing the lotto.

ION08

Well I got a Royal Flush the second I ever played Poker... I had no idea no idea what was going on but people seemed to be very excited about seeing one so I guess anything is possible! You just need a bit of dumb luck

wretcheddomain

ION08 wrote: »

Well I got a Royal Flush the second I ever played Poker... I had no idea no idea what was going on but people seemed to be very excited about seeing one so I guess anything is possible! You just need a bit of dumb luck

I'd avoid comparing a Royal Flush to that of winning the Euromillions if I were you.

ION08

wretcheddomain wrote: »

I'd avoid comparing a Royal Flush to that of winning the Euromillions if I were you.

Im not comparing odds (although royal flush is pretty rare) I'm just saying all you need is a bit of dumb luck on your side.

Didn't that euro millions winner from limerick hit the Euromillions jackpot with her first flukey quickpick?

zenno

wretcheddomain wrote: »

I'd avoid comparing a Royal Flush to that of winning the Euromillions if I were you.

A lot of Irish folk won a fare bit from the past years on the euromillions. I personally know I will probably not ever win the main jackpot, but 350,000 would be nice, sure 20 grand would be nice. Anything at this stage

Red Nissan

You need to be from the right background to have an elevated chance of winning. A few lower class wins are thrown in to throw investigators off the scent, but the vast majority win for a reason.

It goes against the odds that some people can win a jackpot twice in their lifetime and the same shop areas.

And winning streak on the TV ~ facepalm. No average person will ever get on that as it is run currently.

cooperguy

Red Nissan wrote: »

You need to be from the right background to have an elevated chance of winning. A few lower class wins are thrown in to throw investigators off the scent, but the vast majority win for a reason.

It goes against the odds that some people can win a jackpot twice in their lifetime and the same shop areas.

And winning streak on the TV ~ facepalm. No average person will ever get on that as it is run currently.

Are you actually being serious or is my sarcasm detector broken?

Dirty Dingus McGee

I spend €20 per week on the Lotto €12 on the Euromillions €8 on the Irish Lotto.Its the only thing that keeps me going.

zenno

It's the only way out!!!

Red Nissan

cooperguy wrote: »

Are you actually being serious or is my sarcasm detector broken?

Serious.

My suspicions were confirmed from RTE's politicians telling their story. An elderly couple applied for a grant to modify their house so their wheelchair bound son could visit.

They were denied, their local TD advised them to try the Winning Streak Game Show on RTE, she won 70,000 in Euro more than the 17,000 in Euro that she needed to make the modifications.

You know the odds of that? Impossible.

tomwaterford

Red Nissan wrote: »

Serious.

My suspicions were confirmed from RTE's politicians telling their story. An elderly couple applied for a grant to modify their house so their wheelchair bound son could visit.

They were denied, their local TD advised them to try the Winning Streak Game Show on RTE, she won 70,000 in Euro more than the 17,000 in Euro that she needed to make the modifications.

You know the odds of that? Impossible.

no way...did any politician ever advise anyone that

Red Nissan

tomwaterford wrote: »

no way...did any politician ever advise anyone that

It was aired on RTE, you'd have to see the show, which is now gone off the Real Player.

GenieOz

Red Nissan wrote: »

It was aired on RTE, you'd have to see the show, which is now gone off the Real Player.

What a coincidence..

cooperguy

Red Nissan wrote: »

Serious.

My suspicions were confirmed from RTE's politicians telling their story. An elderly couple applied for a grant to modify their house so their wheelchair bound son could visit.

They were denied, their local TD advised them to try the Winning Streak Game Show on RTE, she won 70,000 in Euro more than the 17,000 in Euro that she needed to make the modifications.

You know the odds of that? Impossible.

I think you need a better story than that!

Wacker The Attacker

UCDCritic wrote: »

I've been thinking about this for a while.

I spend 12 - 15 euro a week on the euro millions.

It's been about a year since I last won anything and that would be 4 euro.

The largest amount I ever won was about 5 years ago and that was around a 100 euro.

I'm starting to feel like I should just give up the fantasy.

If I saved that money at the end of a year I would it would add up to a nice little some of money. I reckon I've spend thousands on it over the years.

But each Tuesday and Friday I feel if I don't play this could have been the time I won.

I feel torn.

Please advise.

Have a ****.

Do some maths

Have another ****.

Decide you don't want to play anymore.

Then have a celebration ****

on the river

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

Have a ****.

Do some maths

Have another ****.

Decide you don't want to play anymore.

Then have a celebration ****

I agree just let the **** do the talking. It will guide you in the right direction

Red Nissan

cooperguy wrote: »

I think you need a better story than that!

I guess we could say the same about the phone taping and the Garda Commissioner ~ unbelievable.

tomwaterford

Red Nissan wrote: »

It was aired on RTE, you'd have to see the show, which is now gone off the Real Player.

are you really suggesting that politians in the dail are handing out places on winning streak to hard pressed voters???

a bizzare conspiracy if true

Red Nissan

GenieOz wrote: »

What a coincidence..

Actually I wanted to download that show, I did download a scrubber to extract the video, like the ones to extract protected vids from YouTube, and I left it running, only to return home to a crashed PC.