Is playing national lottery smart or waste of time?

[dimonstration]

It’s not smart nor waste of time. It depends on how you treat your bet and how often you place bet on this lottery. It’s a waste of time if you are betting in daily basis and allocates most of your money on it just to get a financial freedom once you which is very rare to happened. But playing it just for fun especially when the jackpot prize is bigger than usual is not a bad idea to have a chance of being a millionaire in fun way.

Betting on lottery is never a smart choice because we all know how slim the winning percentage of this game. This game is only meant for fun only and not to be seriously play.

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[swogerino]

Topic and poll inspired by another thread - question:

Do you play national lottery games (Powerball, EuroMillions, Lotto etc)?

My view on big, often state-owned lotteries is they're designed mainly for 2 reasons: to make a profit and as a social tool that sells dreams of instant life change and massive wealth to the masses to keep them in line.

Most people are not satisfied with their lives and they need some sort of hope for the future to keep going and to prevent themselves from turning into crime, falling into depression etc. However messed-up your life might be, there's still hope that buying a cheap lottery ticket could potentially turn you into a millionaire (or even a billionaire) overnight. That's a powerful tool.

But the reality is, such lotteries usually have way worse odds than any casinos or gambling sites. So, mathematically speaking, you're better off gambling your money there.

Thoughts?

I play my national weekly lottery for the simple reason that a ticket costs just 2 dollars,a completely irrelevant amount for 90% of the society here and thus I buy a couple of tickets every week without expecting a win but of course if the win happens then it means it solves some of my problems,for example I can afford to live without working for a minimum of 2-3 years as that is how big the prize of this lottery is.This is nor smart nor not smart,it is just a small gamble which if it comes true it can solve to me or anyone who wins the prize some problems.

They have the worse odds but they do not make anyone addicted,we have to wait on Saturday when the lottery is being shown in TV so as long as someone has such ticket there is no need to go to the casino,of course there are a lot of people who buy such tickets and who never go to the casino or gamble so in this sense they are smart for me.

[julerz12]

Here in the Philippines, we have all types of lotteries nationwide. A national lottery run by the government that promises to use the collected bets for charities, medical assistance, etc.
Filipinos need to pick a six-number combination to place their bet. Here are the odds of winning in these lotteries per lottery variations.

Mega Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 45. Odds of winning: 1 in 8,145,060
Super Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 49. Odds of winning: 1 in 13,983,816
Grand Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 55. Odds of winning: 1 in 28,989,675
Ultra Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 58. Odds of winning: 1 in 40,475,358
Source: [ 1 ]

As you can see, the odds of winning this lottery are dramatically low that it would seem you would have a higher chance of getting hit by lightning (1 in 600,000 in the Philippines) than winning it.
It's not a waste of money though as those collected bets are used to help those in need, so it's kinda like you're just making a charitable donation. But, it's a false hope. You are better off concentrating your thoughts on how to improve your life rather than thinking of a 6-digit combination to bet into.

[acroman08]

regarding the poll, I wouldn't say that often bet or rarely bet on a lottery I am someone in the middle.

Do you play national lottery games (Powerball, EuroMillions, Lotto etc)?

yeah, I play national lottery games. personally, I wouldn't say it is a waste of time or money. it doesn't hurt to spend a small amount of money and get the chance of winning the jackpot which can change your life many times over. yeah, I understand that the chance of winning is slim to none but I don't really care. besides, you don't really need to guess all the winning numbers in order to win something.

[jrrsparkles]

It is changing someone's life everyday but as you said the odds are like one in a million so to my best knowledge I did played very few times in my entire lifetime and I know I am not going to win that but there are many colleagues I came across has the habit of buying lottery tickets very often and they manage to win in hundreds while losing thousands so as an individual realistic point of view its waste of time but when luck hits you hard then nothing withstand against it.

[bittraffic]

I can only count the number of times I bought a lottery ticket. I put all my hopes into it but when I didn't win, I already forget there was hope for it.
Even the scratch lottery, I once thought of buying some of it while in a mall but it's always going to occur in my mind what are my chances of winning. And I stand correct not to play such games.

But I have no doubts that there are people who are lucky enough to have won millions in lottery. Yet we also know they have spent a lot of money buying tickets.

[pixie85]

I think it's a waste of time. I never do it because the odds are against you.

There's a guy in my neighborhood who spends a lot of money on the lottery each month. 500 EUR or even more and he never won anything above 2k eur.
He lost a lot of money playing this but is addicted and has nothing going on in his life, no family and so on, so he just works, pays the bills and wastes whatever money's left on the lottery. 

[TimeTeller]

I can only count the number of times I bought a lottery ticket. I put all my hopes into it but when I didn't win, I already forget there was hope for it.
Even the scratch lottery, I once thought of buying some of it while in a mall but it's always going to occur in my mind what are my chances of winning. And I stand correct not to play such games.

But I have no doubts that there are people who are lucky enough to have won millions in lottery. Yet we also know they have spent a lot of money buying tickets.

I have the same thought also when it comes to lotteries, and very rare that I did purchase lottery tickets.
But during those few times, you can really feel the excitement of knowing what numbers were picked.
Maybe, just the thought of what if you got lucky with some numbers and get the consolation rewards.

And if I may add, most national lotteries are of course government-owned, and one benefit that I believe the OP forgot to mention is that some part of the profits are channeled to charitable works or to charity organizations.
So for me, I am not against with lottery games, I may not be playing as frequent as others, but if they can help other people, I have nothing against with this gambling game.

[seoincorporation]

Mega Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 45. Odds of winning: 1 in 8,145,060
Super Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 49. Odds of winning: 1 in 13,983,816
Grand Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 55. Odds of winning: 1 in 28,989,675
Ultra Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 58. Odds of winning: 1 in 40,475,358
Source: [ 1 ]
...

This is why I don't play the national lottery, the odds to win are too damn low. I mean a chance of 0.0000001227%, so, we have a better chance to find a wallet in the street with money than to win the lotto.

To have some comparations... Hit a x999 on plinko has a chance of 0.0034% and hitting a x330,000 on dice is a chance of 0.0003%. And both hits are really hard to get, now with this comparative think about how hard is to win the lottery, I would say it's almost impossible.

[wiss19]

Here in the Philippines, we have all types of lotteries nationwide. A national lottery run by the government that promises to use the collected bets for charities, medical assistance, etc.
Filipinos need to pick a six-number combination to place their bet. Here are the odds of winning in these lotteries per lottery variations.

Mega Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 45. Odds of winning: 1 in 8,145,060
Super Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 49. Odds of winning: 1 in 13,983,816
Grand Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 55. Odds of winning: 1 in 28,989,675
Ultra Lotto = pick 6 numbers from 1 to 58. Odds of winning: 1 in 40,475,358
Source: [ 1 ]

As you can see, the odds of winning this lottery are dramatically low that it would seem you would have a higher chance of getting hit by lightning (1 in 600,000 in the Philippines) than winning it.
It's not a waste of money though as those collected bets are used to help those in need, so it's kinda like you're just making a charitable donation. But, it's a false hope. You are better off concentrating your thoughts on how to improve your life rather than thinking of a 6-digit combination to bet into.

Even if the odds in winning a lottery are so low, it's surprising to see a winner from time to time because it was always announced online or offline. I think this is one of the reasons why people don't stop betting because they are hoping that they are going to be the next winner.

We can only wish that the jackpots that we will get are huge or higher than the total bets that we made over the decades but I dunno maybe there are people who will still be happy and the prize doesn't really matter for them because like you said, the proceeds of the bets are still going to go through the charities. It's okay to lose as long as you are helping someone else indirectly.

[abel1337]

It a cheap way to turn people life upside down. There are people who devoted themselves betting on their magic number for years now and there are only handful of people who are winning this national lottery. I don't join lottery since it's 100% luck based and it's pretty upsetting if you bet everyday on this even if it's cheap. I know I don't have the luck in this kind of games since I very rarely win any kind of raffle I join. Only handful of people can win this and winning it for the second time is extremely rare. I would just choose to gamble in casino since the odds of me winning there is much more than this national lottery.

[BobK71]

I have wasted a lot of money in such lotteries where i won nothing. There is no relevant issue in spending money in this platform. Because i am worried about whether the lottery that i am buying is being drawn through proper management or whether something fake is being assured or not. Although i used to buy lottery without losing much money. But no one should spend a small amount of money where nothing return. I have now completely stopped buying those lottery tickets. I believe i will never see those lottery winners. Because they might be staged as fakes. It can also be a big mistake to believe when corruption is entrenched at every level.

[Porfirii]

I think that it is quite smart. National lottery is often very cheap, like 2.5€ for EuroMillions, but just 1€ for local "Primitiva" or 1.50€ for "El Gordo" in Spain, and I suppose that this is the range of prices for most countries.

And with such a cheap bet you buy the excitement carried by the chance to suddenly become rich, for a whole week!

We all know that chances to win are minimal, but we usually doesn't care: we want to believe, to enjoy that feeling of hope. So, to me, the minute you spend playing the lottery is one of the best spent minutes of the week, taking into account the outcome in terms of joy thinking about the future. And it goes without saying if you become one of the lucky winners.

[o48o]

Topic and poll inspired by another thread - question:

Do you play national lottery games (Powerball, EuroMillions, Lotto etc)?

My view on big, often state-owned lotteries is they're designed mainly for 2 reasons: to make a profit and as a social tool that sells dreams of instant life change and massive wealth to the masses to keep them in line.

Most people are not satisfied with their lives and they need some sort of hope for the future to keep going and to prevent themselves from turning into crime, falling into depression etc. However messed-up your life might be, there's still hope that buying a cheap lottery ticket could potentially turn you into a millionaire (or even a billionaire) overnight. That's a powerful tool.

But the reality is, such lotteries usually have way worse odds than any casinos or gambling sites. So, mathematically speaking, you're better off gambling your money there.

Thoughts?

Changes of winning in one of them is astronomical. But differences on the probabilites of different lotteries are also ridiculously high. Numbers just are so high that we stop paying attention how many times no one is getting the main prize. And when you think of one second how many people are playing in your area, or in the world, number on those too turn instantly so high that we can't comprehend those.

They are being played because that brings comfort to some living in poverty, that in one day they could end up being super rich. Which they are not going to be.

[n0ne]

We can't be judgemental on the result of the lottery. Its long since lottery being played. For majority of them buying lottery tickets have turned to be a regular one. Even now there are daily wage people who allocate and keep the amount to buy lottery separately. Whether this is. smart move or waste of time depends on the activity of the users.

[Shinpako09]

Sometimes I think of it as a waste of time. The price per combination may be cheap but most play with more than one combination almost every day. If you are going, to sum up, all that bet in a year, that would be quite big. I'd rather take my chances in casino games where it has better odds of winning compared to the lottery which is way too low.

[BitcoinPanther]

I always believe that lottery is made by the government to profit, or fund some projects, or charities.  There is two stance I have here.

1.  If the proceeds of the lottery profit goes to the right party such as economy development or charity support fund then I will say, it is a smart move of soliciting its citizen to support the government projects and acts of kindness and in return reward the lucky winner of life changing aount.

2.  If the lottery profit fund goes to the pocket of the corrupt officials then i can say it is a waste of time.

[Agbe]

Topic and poll inspired by another thread - question:

Do you play national lottery games (Powerball, EuroMillions, Lotto etc)?

My view on big, often state-owned lotteries is they're designed mainly for 2 reasons: to make a profit and as a social tool that sells dreams of instant life change and massive wealth to the masses to keep them in line.

Most people are not satisfied with their lives and they need some sort of hope for the future to keep going and to prevent themselves from turning into crime, falling into depression etc. However messed-up your life might be, there's still hope that buying a cheap lottery ticket could potentially turn you into a millionaire (or even a billionaire) overnight. That's a powerful tool.

But the reality is, such lotteries usually have way worse odds than any casinos or gambling sites. So, mathematically speaking, you're better off gambling your money there.

Thoughts?

Those who are very good in Lotto can buy lottery ticket to play random numbers. But are you trying to advertise something? Because the way you sound, you talk with full confident that person must win and as for me that is not possible. Lottery ticket is also a lucky game, which is not compulsorily that the wager must win but he has to try his lucky. Lotto line of games are more difficult than to predict than even sport and other casinos' games.
The " COULD" you used has already confirmed the statement that, the win which you confidentially said, the person will win millions or billions overnight is probability. So the guaranteed win is not possible again based on the word 'could'. Before people win lottery games, he has lost enough. People lost in money in Lotto or lottery than casinos. Please don't convince people to play lottery games, if they loss you will be held responsible

[Vaskiy]

I always believe that lottery is made by the government to profit, or fund some projects, or charities.  There is two stance I have here.

1.  If the proceeds of the lottery profit goes to the right party such as economy development or charity support fund then I will say, it is a smart move of soliciting its citizen to support the government projects and acts of kindness and in return reward the lucky winner of life changing aount.

2.  If the lottery profit fund goes to the pocket of the corrupt officials then i can say it is a waste of time.

Agreed, in my country particular state have got national lottery. The fund is being used for the development of medical infrastructure and for the cancer patients. Everything is transparent and no corruption in the fund. Some interesting incidents happen often, recently an person aged 80+ won the lottery and the thing is that he had saved each and every lottery he had bought regularly till date. What he have spend on buying the lottery tickets till date is something close to his winning money.

[Viscore]

But the reality is, such lotteries usually have way worse odds than any casinos or gambling sites. So, mathematically speaking, you're better off gambling your money there.

Thoughts?

But millions of people choose to ignore or do not know this, all they know is this is their ticket to escape poverty and change their life, even if it's almost impossible to hit the jackpot, we also have a lottery here and we have 9 games held daily because we supported our lottery because it is government-run and the proceeds of the profit are being used by our government in the health sector and for social welfare.
I play the lotto often, and I know that it's almost impossible to hit the jackpot but I support our government-run lottery because of the benefits our poor people are getting.

That’s one good thing about lottery, even if gamblers will rarely win, those amount that goes into gambling lottery house will still be benefited by the poorest people that really need assistance from the government, physically and financially. So there’s no really losses when we bet, as there are lotto beneficiaries await from it. The only thing we start losing is when we bet more than we can afford to lose. As lottery can changes everything from rags to riches, but it can also make us worst gamblers and put us into more poverty.