Reason #5,110 to hate lottery winners

[Eddie Teach]

My concern is that winning a lottery uproots your life in a way that is almost never positive.

I find this claim dubious.

[DGuller]

Two newstands in the neighborhood are closed today.  Lol capitalism.  The one in the mall has a long-ass line.  I guess it's worth it for 900 mil.

[mongers]

My concern is that winning a lottery uproots your life in a way that is almost never positive.

I find this claim dubious.

We are talking about DG here.

If he won he'd probably enter some Risk-reward feedback loop and implode in a cloud of calculus.   

[DGuller]

Life is about a journey, not the destination. 

[Berkut]

I bought a few tickets. I would risk the danger of a terrible life of wealth.

[Berkut]

We should start a Languish pool.

Reply and quote to this message if you agree to kick in 1% of your winnings to be distributed among everyone else who agrees to participate.

[Eddie Teach]

Life is about a journey, not the destination.

First class plane tickets, luxury cruises, having a chauffeur vs. bus pass or beat up clunker? I think the first option may be the more enjoyable journey.   

There is the risk that somebody may lose their sense of purpose when they stop getting a paycheck, but they have lots of choices to fill that void(including working the job they had before winning).

[Tonitrus]

I think looking at the lottery from the expected value point of view is silly.  It's fine to be risk-seeking if you get some enjoyment out of it.  Unless you're buying hundreds of dollars worth of tickets, then that looks a little pathetic, to be honest.

My concern is that winning a lottery uproots your life in a way that is almost never positive.  So it's not that your odds of winning are low, but in life-terms they're in fact zero.

Which is why if you wish to bet for entertainment, why not gamble for  jackpot winnings that you'd like and appreciate?

For instance what about horse racing, it's easy to learn the ropes, visit racetracks for nice days out and you can bet such that, say one will aim to win $100,000 in an afternoon, whether by individual bets or an accumulator.
That way you may end up with winnings that you'll be more comfortable with and doesn't impose the problems you mentioned above.

That's the crazy thing about these jackpots...I am quite sure most of the mugs standing in line for a $900m ticket would have been more than happy with the $300m it was a few weeks ago.  Or even $4m from just the local state lottery (with better...if only in scale...odds).  But people see almost-instant-billionaire and lose their minds. 

That being said, I did lay out some Powerball (it was at $300m then) when I was home for the holidays.  Alaska though, keeps one thrifty. 

[katmai]

We should start a Languish pool.

Reply and quote to this message if you agree to kick in 1% of your winnings to be distributed among everyone else who agrees to participate.

Sadly I live in one of like 6 states that doesn't particpate in powerball, other wise sure!

[Tonitrus]

We should start a Languish pool.

Reply and quote to this message if you agree to kick in 1% of your winnings to be distributed among everyone else who agrees to participate.

Sadly I live in one of like 6 states that doesn't particpate in powerball, other wise sure!

Might be better to say that we simply have no lottery to speak of (as, say, Washington state has several different ones). 

[Eddie Teach]

That's the crazy thing about these jackpots...I am quite sure most of the mugs standing in line for a $900m ticket would have been more than happy with the $300m it was a few weeks ago.  Or even $4m from just the local state lottery (with better...if only in scale...odds).  But people see almost-instant-billionaire and lose their minds. 

That being said, I did lay out some Powerball (it was at $300m then) when I was home for the holidays.  Alaska though, keeps one thrifty. 

Your expected ROI is actually better now, because you're getting subsidized by all the people who spent money and didn't win a couple weeks ago.

[DGuller]

Berkut, for this to be a fair pool that is free of shenanigans, that 1% has to be allocated proportional to the number of tickets bought (evidence being presented after we find out which one of us won).

[DGuller]

There is the risk that somebody may lose their sense of purpose when they stop getting a paycheck, but they have lots of choices to fill that void(including working the job they had before winning).

Going to work as a hobby doesn't give you the same sense of purpose that going to work because it's necessary does.  We need some stress to not decompose mentally, just not too much of it.  How much satisfaction does a game give you after you enter a cheat code and get essentially infinite resources?

That said, I bought 10 tickets.  While I firmly believe that winning a lottery carries a very high chance of being a curse in disguise, as a scientifically minded person, I have an obligation to test my theory.  So we'll see.

[Berkut]

Berkut, for this to be a fair pool that is free of shenanigans, that 1% has to be allocated proportional to the number of tickets bought (evidence being presented after we find out which one of us won).

If I win $900 million, I don't think I will get too hung up on whether or not someone else bought one or two tickets.

[DGuller]

Berkut, for this to be a fair pool that is free of shenanigans, that 1% has to be allocated proportional to the number of tickets bought (evidence being presented after we find out which one of us won).

If I win $900 million, I don't think I will get too hung up on whether or not someone else bought one or two tickets.

What if someone buys zero tickets but says they're in?