Lottery

A lot of people base their hopes and dreams on the lottery. This is rather sad as you have absolutely no control over the lottery and very very slim chances of winning. Instead, it would be wiser to try and actively achieve your wishes.
 
Balddog said:
fruit machines just SCREAM class.
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When I was younger I used to post on a forum full of full-time fruit machine players. Some of them did very well from their "job". Tax free too I suppose.
 
Doohickey said:
4 8 15 16 23 42

;)
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LoL, would never use those numbers tbh:

1) I don't want to be stranded on some random pacific island
2) I don't want to have to share my winnings with 1,000s of other people :p
 
I've played half a dozen times - I've won £170 all together. I've quit whilst I was ahead! :cool:

I think it's very dangerous getting obsessed with trying to "win" it, with the psychology of "what if I win" being the main motivator...
 
Freefaller said:
I think it's very dangerous getting obsessed with trying to "win" it, with the psychology of "what if I win" being the main motivator...
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My mother is just like that, to be honest. She's been putting five rows of numbers on every Saturday since the national lottery started in 1994, so in all she's spent nearly three and a half thousand pounds on it to date and at a guess, she's won about £150 in that time. I just don't see how it's worth it at all.
 
Exsomnis said:
My mother is just like that, to be honest. She's been putting five rows of numbers on every Saturday since the national lottery started in 1994, so in all she's spent nearly three and a half thousand pounds on it to date and at a guess, she's won about £150 in that time. I just don't see how it's worth it at all.
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This was my point, I am 100% certain that she could have doubled her money in 12 years and now be sitting on £7000. I imagine even more.

Or she could have gone on that holiday she always wanted anyway.

Or instead of pinning all your hopes on winning the lotto pin them on something which you have control of.
 
Freefaller said:
I've played half a dozen times - I've won £170 all together. I've quit whilst I was ahead! :cool:

I think it's very dangerous getting obsessed with trying to "win" it, with the psychology of "what if I win" being the main motivator...
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yeah but what if i win....... :o

Replicant said:
Yeah, i played it once, i was about 12 and i got my mates mum to put the ticket on, was kind of like "ooo i'm gambling on this lol"

Playing it regularly is just tacky imo, if your going to gamble at least play something like blackjack or some fruit machine that you have a greater degree of effort in playing and getting some enjoyment from, not sat up watching the bbc with a tacky piece of paper sticking out your wallet or back pocket. Its an expression of wanting something for nothing like a chav with 5 kids looking to claim benefits.
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biggest load of crap ive ever heard.
 
Tesla said:
This was my point, I am 100% certain that she could have doubled her money in 12 years and now be sitting on £7000. I imagine even more.

Or she could have gone on that holiday she always wanted anyway.

Or instead of pinning all your hopes on winning the lotto pin them on something which you have control of.
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Well said.
 
Exsomnis said:
My mother is just like that, to be honest. She's been putting five rows of numbers on every Saturday since the national lottery started in 1994, so in all she's spent nearly three and a half thousand pounds on it to date and at a guess, she's won about £150 in that time. I just don't see how it's worth it at all.
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yeah but what if she wins... :o
 
Clerkin said:
yeah but what if she wins... :o
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In the highly unlikely situation that she wins over three and a half thousand pounds back from Camelot or whoever it is, I'll be happy she's not wasted her money. Until then, fluuuuuuussssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh.
 
Tesla said:
A lot of people base their hopes and dreams on the lottery. This is rather sad as you have absolutely no control over the lottery and very very slim chances of winning. Instead, it would be wiser to try and actively achieve your wishes.
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It's certainly true that you have no control over the lottery and a very small chance of winning a life-changing jackpot. But while basing your hopes on it might be sad, and incredibly stupid as well, playing it (IMHO) isn't.

Providing anyone putting money on the lottery is doing it in the certain knowledge that they are VERY unlikely to hit the jackpot, but MIGHT get a few quid back, with a very small off-hand chance at that jackpot, and providing they can afford to effectively give away whatever stakes they're playing with, then fine. In other words, if they treat it as a bit of a laugh, what's the harm?

And, for most people, their chances of 'earning' £1,000,000 (let alone ten or twenty million) are far better playing the lottery than they are working for a living. And if you exclude from that "most people" group I mentioned those that already have enough money that a lottery win won't change their lives much, then the odds get even longer against them making £1,000,000 any other way.

In this day and age, most people could afford a £1, or even £5, a week on the lottery without it really impacting their lives or finances in any meaningful way. So, putting a trivial sum on something that might make you rich beyond any chance of getting there any other way actually makes a perverse kind of sense, providing you acknowledge that it's more or less the equivalent of taking that same stake money and throwing about 80% of it in a sewer.

After all, if you stick £1 on the lottery every week, statistically you'll certainly win the jackpot ..... once every 270,000 years or so. :D
 
I do it through the website with direct debits :p No messing around and only remember to check once every few weeks heh.

Just waiting for that time I check my bank to see a few mil sitting there :eek: Funniest part about playing online is that just winning a tenner you get a email from them saying "WE HAVE EXCITING NEWS !!!!?!?!?!!!111oneonebbqomfg..."
 
Noxis said:
I do it through the website with direct debits :p No messing around and only remember to check once every few weeks heh.

Just waiting for that time I check my bank to see a few mil sitting there :eek: Funniest part about playing online is that just winning a tenner you get a email from them saying "WE HAVE EXCITING NEWS !!!!?!?!?!!!111oneonebbqomfg..."
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LOL :p

i do the same, only got a tenner once and i didnt get an email :(
 
On last Saturday's main draw your expected payout (sum of [individual odds*individual prizes]) was in the region of 50 pence. Now for a £1 investment you can see you're on average going to lose money a hell of a lot quicker than make it :).
 
Playing the lottery is no different to any kind of gambling. If the prize money is high the chances of winning are low. However, I think its ok to play as long as your not one of those people thats going to put their life on hold till they win the jackpot.
 
for all those who say that the lottery is waste of money, it may be but no more so than going out every weekend and getting slaughtered or smoking.

I agree that some people, some desperate people have an unhealthy obsession with it but for the vast majority its just a couple of quid a week and if they dont win its no big deal.

Its a hell of a lot better than being that one loser standing at a slot machine, whenever i see them i just think that its sad. My brother cant walk past one without putting money in, i feel slots are a lot more addictive than the lotto could ever be.
 
I've started playing it online over the past couple of months, I've won on the Euro millions twice and got three numbers on the normal lottery. I've spent about £30 and won £24. Not too bad if you ask me.

My only recommendation would be the Euro millions.
 
I only get a ticket when I have a lucky day at work :)

Trolleys have £1 coin operated locks - you'd be suprised how many people leave them lying around :D
 
What is wrong with doing the lottery?
Sure your chances of actually winning the top prize is low - however it is infinitely lower if you don't actually buy any tickets.

Sure - somebody who has never won the lottery and has been playing £1 a week for 5 years has lost money.
It's called a gamble and you have the decision to make them every single day of your life.
A person with £5000 worth of savings could put his money into a High interest savings account - which could earn him an amount in interest.
He could also put it in a lower interest rate account and retain instant access.
He could also spend it all on Premium Bonds - sure he gets absolutely no interest but "if" he was to win £1,000,000 then he's quids in isn't he.

Do you consider things like house insurance a similar "not really worth it gamble"?
I mean I've never ever had the need to claim on either buildings or contents insurance - so over all those years I've just been wasting money.

As for putting the money in fruit machines instead...
£1 gamble on the lottery - random numbers, chance of winning a few million.
£1 gamble on fruit machines - random numbers, chance of winning a few hundred
 
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