Is the worth to participate in Lottery?

conormurphy513

I want to know whether it's worth participate in a Lottery. If yes, then how much money is it okay to spend on it? Can anyone answer?

phelixoflaherty

A tax for fools

Rodgeb

No.

When I was in college one of our modules was in Statistics and Probability, an area we covered was the Irish lotto and the different odds of winning etc.

It was the last time I ever bought a lotto ticket and the number of balls used have increased since then.

One quirk I remember was that you were more likely to get exactly one number than you were to get none which can set a false expectation. It really is a scam and makes a fortune for its owners

Irish_wolf

The odds for any game must be available to anyone who plays. You can find that information here:

https://www.lottery.ie/useful-info/play-responsibly/odds-of-winning-lotto

Your odds of winning are comically low. Especially the Euromillions. That said if you spent your entire life playing the lotto and you finally won the jackpot after 50 years you would likely completely cover any losses you may incur. Buying a Lotto ticket should always be viewed as a means of entertaining yourself with the daydreams of what you would do with the money while you wait for the draw. It should never be viewed as a financial investment.

LambshankRedemption

When he was about 8 or 9, I was at my cousins house. His mother said "Here, give me 6 random numbers I can play on the lotto". He goes "1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6". She says "Don't be ridiculous, what are the odds of those numbers coming up?" Quick as a flash he replies; "The same odds as any other set of 6 numbers coming up". Very smart kid.

My parents did the lotto for, well as long as I knew them so 40 ish years. Not just the euro or two they spent twice a week, but include in the petrol they used getting to the shop to do the lotto. 4 euros a week, by 52 weeks. by 40 years is about 8k. Most they ever won was 50 quid with 3 numbers and the bonus.

There was a thread somewhere on here with a tally from a guy who had 25K invested in prize bonds. From what I remember the profit was ridiculously small.

artanevilla

You're not buying a lotto ticket, you're buying dreams.

The only bit of gambling I do is the Euromillions. €2.50 once a week, that’s the minimum possible such weekly gamble outlay. I fully realise my chance of winning is infinitismal, but it is more than zero. Otherwise my chance of becoming wealthy enough to have a life with less limitation and more enjoyment is zero. With that tiny outlay I can dream quietly that my numbers just might come up. If one has one’s share of bad luck, maybe or maybe not there’s a golden pot at the bottom of that rainbow. For €2.50 I’m buying a dream, however improbable.

Gussie Scrotch

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478285#Comment_121478285

Couple of points:

There was a guy in the UK, who set up a spreadsheet, theoretically doing 10,000 lines per draw. He kept it going for about 8 years. He never won a "theoretical" jackpot and he only actually recouped his "theoretical" outlay on four or five occasions.

However, I personally, way back in the early days of the lottery, once bought five lines on a ticket. I got three numbers up on two of those lines...3 on one line and another three on the other, which won me 2 x 100 punt prizes ( it was a bank holiday weekend)

But....within those two lines of three...I had all five numbers......... jackpot was 1m.

I've never got anywhere near as close since

TheSunIsShining

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478285#Comment_121478285

There was a book on Stats in the library before. Something like that combination came up in maybe Switzerland or somewhere - as you said it's equally likely as any other combination. But the story was in there as it meant each person won far less than they thought they would be getting as the prize was split amongst loads of people as the combination is done as a filler on last lines etc.

Lottery is also won less when more numbers above 31 as so many people use combinations from birthdays....

the whole year inn

Need to give it a break fellas. Its a dream not something you could actually try to win. if you have 5 or 10 euro for it good and well , its a complete shot in the dark, no need to reading stats and experiemnts on how on likely it will win, its fairly common knowledge that to win it you need to be extremlu extremly lucky . To say its a tax on fools is very harsh , if someone enjoys it then no need to be little it.

chin nuts

I remember the jackpot for the Euromillions was 100 million. I bought a tickets and was feeling extremely lucky like I convinced myself that I was gonna win something. Anyways, I sat down to watch the draw, the first 3 numbers called out I had. My heart was beating so hard that I could hardly hear the the next number being called. Predictably enough I didn't get any more numbers. Won 12 euro. But it just proved to me that if I did actually win the lotto, I'd die of a heart attack on in the spot.

callaway92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477782#Comment_121477782

For someone that knows statistics and probability you should know the difference between a scam and a gamble

Do you consider slot machines with a fixed return-to-player to be a scam even though they flat out say that the RTP is 97% etc

Lotto clearly give the odds chance on their site

Robert Jackson

Don't waste your money

CalamariFritti

Well, I've bought the odd ticket myself, but I'm aware they call it extra tax for the stupid.

Del2005

I remember years ago when it was possible to buy all the combinations for less than a multi week roll over. It was tried and they won, but there where 2 other winners so they only made their money back with the money from lower combinations. The lottery increased the balls so it's impossible to do again.

https://www.totallydublin.ie/more/how-to-buy-the-irish-lotto/

3DataModem

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478285#Comment_121478285

The classic "smart kid" who is actually dumb. Yes the odds of winning are the same. But the expected value of the bet is a lot lower... as you share the prize with a lot of other players (300-400 last time I checked). Your best bet is playing numbers 32 and higher, as a huge number of people play birthdays so these are less likely to be shared with other people.

So if your expected value on average is 0.50 per 1.00 bet

If you bet 123456 your expected value is 0.002 or so.

If you bet 32 33 34 35 36 37 your expected value is more like 0.502.

Jafin

I used to play a few times a week. Between the Irish Lotto, Euromillions and a scratch card I spent €20 a week. For a year I decided to put all my winnings into a jar so I'd have a bit of a lump sum at the end of it. At the end of the year I'd won about €300, maybe a bit more. Was all very excited for that until I realised that I had spent just over €1,000, so suddenly my €300-odd win was actually a loss of €700. Stopped playing it regularly then. I do it the odd time now, but I would say it's not even once a month at this stage.

If you have disposable income and won't miss the money there's no harm in chancing your arm, but just make sure you don't get into spending too much.

scheister

The answer here is head or heart answer. If you play the odds the lotto is not worth it. Was there a quote on a tv shows few years ago that you have better odds being abducted by Aliens then winning the lotto. I remember even local gaa club lotto. its around 1 in 20,000 chance to win the top prize.

As alot of people have mentioned it is the entertainment factor you are paying for. With the new draw Euro dreams it is 2.50 a line to give you 3/4 days of dreaming of what you would do with 20k per month. For the little bit i play it is worth the small pick me up. Not sure else you can get for 2.5 these days

positron

It's the dream tax.

You buy your ticket and dream of all the cool things you are going to do with the money.

You can dream without buying the ticket, but then you would be kidding yourself... If you have a ticket, you are legit owner of the dream...

You wouldn't download a dream... would you?