Poll : 13 January - 26 January 2016

Analysis

The bad news (for us) is that LVA's ticket didn't win; the good news (for you!) is that that means we're still here, with your feedback to the last Reader Poll:

• "I buy a ticket occasionally, for both state lotteries and the national ones. Doesn't matter how big the jackpot is. After all, even the smallest jackpots are at least a million & ya just never know! When the Powerball gets huge, I buy $100 worth."
  
  
• "I live in the UK and regularly purchase tickets for Euromillions, but have stopped buying tickets for the Lotto when they increased the price of tickets and made it more difficult to win. I also regularly buy tickets for the Health Lottery in the UK, which supports health charities and for which it is 21 times more likely to win the (much smaller) jackpot."
  
  
• "We have purchased lottery tickets in the past and I am always tempted when there is a big jackpot but we aren't very lucky people and it just seems like a waste of time standing in line with the hordes when we never win."
  
  
• "I will buy a ticket for a national lottery when it gets big for fun. I used to buy scratch-off state lottery tickets. I got away from that when my state, Illinois, stopped paying winners due to not having a budget passed. They started paying again, because the state lost so much money because no one would play, but I haven't started playing again." [Ed: How could they sell tickets and not pay out? They deferred payment to some unnamed date when they figured they'd be solvent again or??We'll need to investigate this!]
  
  
• "Twenty years ago I sometimes joined the lottery pool at work when the jackpot was very large, so I can't say I have never played the lottery. In those days I did it more for workplace comeraderie than with any expectation of winning. I haven't bought a lottery ticket since then, and don't plan to."
  
  
• "My theory on lotteries is simple, you can't lose if you don't buy a ticket. Besides, I'd rather spend the money chasing a royal anyway . . ."
  
  
• "We play 5 sets of numbers each time on Tx Lott, 3 sets of numbers on Mega Mill, 2 sets of numbers on Power Ball. Total monthly expense: $220. In Sept of 2014 hit 4 numbers & Power Ball of 7 on Power Ball for $20,000, less tax. Figure we're even after playing all these years!"[Ed: Congrats!]
  
  
• "Being Canadian, of course I play the lottery - all wins are tax free. Unfortunately the nearest Powerball state is at least a 6 hour drive from where I live so I'm going to miss out - a 12 hour round trip drive is a little much."
  
  
• "This gargantuan Powerball jackpot offers too much +EV to not purchase a ticket. I do not expect to win, with approximate odds of 299 million to one, my few tickets are for the fantasy and dreams they bring. If lucky enough to win, well... Might try to purchase a casino in LV, and make it "player-friendly" with good comps, pay tables, low minimums with very favorable rules. The Las Vegas of old. No bean counters. That is what buying the ticket is about. The dreams. Welcome to my casino!"
  
  
• "I never buy lotto tickets but did buy one yesterday. It was an easy pick as I did not have a winning strategy and did not want to think about it too long."
  
• "I use to play Powerball before they started adding states and messing with the odds. Now I think it's ridiculous - 19 times without a winner? - the ultimate sucker bet! The last few times I did buy a ticket (1 or 2) and didn't get a single number I knew it was time to slap myself on the forehead and say 'Hey, Dummy, time to knock it off.' As for these huge jackpots, I don't want them anyway. It would require a complete change of character to become a person who would understand how to live with that amount of money and be happy. A great and appropriate poll. Thanks."
  
  
• "I purchase a Lotto or Mega Millions whenever I feel lucky."
  
  
• "I run the 'group' lotto at work. There are 20 of us each paying $5 a week. That's a total of $5,200 per year that we spend on tickets. The most we have ever won on a single drawing in the past 10 years is $1,100. After seeing so many thousands of losing tickets I never buy tickets for just myself anymore."
  
  
• "I buy California Super Lotto's from time to time, rarely Powerball, but this time I kind of fall into the 'What the hell!' category, so I bought a few tickets . . ."
  
  
• "I haven't gotten a royal flush in the last 200,000 hands. What do you think I believe my chances are of winning the lottery?"
  
  "i am in a pool at work. everyone pitches in $1.00 each and play every week. There are about 50 of us playing. More chases of winning. We have all agreed to split the pot equally."
  
  
• "I occasionally buy a ticket for a lottery (state and/or national), but it is generally just an impulse/random buy (not jackpot-dependent)."
  
  
• "I would play if my state (Hawaii) had enough brains to let their residents enter. Mass stupidity by our elected officials."
  
  
• "I only buy tickets for the Powerball when the pot goes over the $500 million mark, then I buy a modest amount in tickets."
  
  
• "I don't play the lottery because it's a bad bet. Half the price you pay for the tickets go to the state. Then, if you win, you get paid over 20 years which makes the value of the jackpot half of what you win. Then the government takes half of what you receive in taxes.
  
  
• "I play the lotteries when it has a positive expectation as is the case now with Powerball. You never know and the positive expectation makes it the correct play, right? As a gambler when the reward exceeds the risk, we should play. If I was to play video poker only when I found positive expectation games (very few) then doesn't the same apply? Or say a new blackjack dealer that pays when they shouldn't or doesn't take my losses when they should the expectation has increased in my favor so I should play there. Just my rationalization." [Ed: The reasoning is valid; it's just hard to say whether, even with the jackpot that high. Powerball was a +EV proposition. Check out the Question of the Day that Anthony Curtis penned on the subject in the QoD Archives 01/12/2016].
  
  
• "I play the same set of numbers twice a week for the Mega-Million Lottery in Ohio, but when the Power-Ball gets up there, like it is now, I purchase a couple of those."
  
  
• "I only play the lottery when the cash payout is greater than the odds.....I definitely bought more than usual for this 1.5 billion jackpot, and will take you and your staff to dinner at a restaurant of your choice if I hit it! Hopefully we'll be dining together next week!!!!!" [Ed: We didn't get a phone call, so... Better luck next time LOL.]