DC Woods said...

So why do I still buy lottery tickets? Definitely not for the expected monetary return on investment. I think of it as a discretionary entertainment spend. I get literally hours of enjoyment from fantasizing what I'd do if I won. I happily spend $25 for two hours of entertainment at the movies, and I don't judge the value of that experience based on its expected return. For me, a lottery ticket for the occasional big draw has just as much entertainment value, or more, than the many other things that I spend money on to entertain myself.

Me too.

I am currently in court as an 'expert' for some lottery organisation (name and address withheld, and no idea why they picked me...). Disgruntled client bought ticket which crossed the deadline due to delays, hence the contention. A winning number became useless in a matter of seconds.

It's a fascinating world, I had worked with them before.
Fascinating, but state lottery is really a disgusting business.

pierrec45 said...

Fascinating, but state lottery is really a disgusting business.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think revenue from WA lotteries (other than winnings and admin) is all returned to the community through grants? I don't think the state govt takes a cut?

Nor do we have pokie machines in plague proportions.

Chris6791 said...

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think revenue from WA lotteries (other than winnings and admin) is all returned to the community through grants? I don't think the state govt takes a cut?

Nor do we have pokie machines in plague proportions.

Somewhat true, but couple of caveats here. Firstly, the machinery that run said lotteries tend to be fat, since they write their own check. Also, they constantly try to expend their revenues base, i.e. online gaming, new sort of games, electronic pokies, exporting concepts, etc. This revenue growth is never at the expense of rich people, it's at the expense of...

I would have little confidence in the other machinery that oversees the distribution of money. There would be a lot of wastage there. And I can only hope they're fair.

In some states, a portion of the $$ has to go straight to NPOs, but I'll tell you what: some of them's NPOs were real close to bogus.

Other than that, no problem with them...

Lotto is a retirement plan for people who can't do maths.