Lotteries and possibility vs. probability

[Blitzboy]

Your worlds are quite logical because there is no guarantee of winning the lottery. If someone buys lottery tickets at a certain rate throughout his life, there is no assurance that he will win rather there is a high probability that he will loss. So all the time in his life that he spends his money on the lottery can be said to be a total waste. In this case, many people think that if fate favors him, then he can win. But that number is negligible. If a small amount of money can be spent which is not a problem, then a person can buy a lottery to find his luck.

Just buy one ticket in every lottery, technically you has a chance to win every lottery even though the chance is near to 0%. However I think the popularity of lottery is greatly reduced due to impossible to win and there's no fun when you buy the ticket. Unlike sports betting where you can watch the match and enjoy it.

What's make lottery is bad because there's no transparency to pick the winner, that's why most people think lottery is a rigged game.

I made so for several years. I bought several tickets every income. As the result all my prizes were less than i spent buying these tickets. After it i counted chances to win big prize(much more than the ticket cost) and understood that the best way was to invest these money in some stocks and bonds.

Of course, the probability of a big win is so minimal that even hoping for such a win is generally pointless.  The statistics of your expenses really clearly show that participation in the lottery is just money lost.  And of course, it would be better to invest them in some useful stocks or bonds, or in general just buy some things useful for you with them.  In this sense, all sellers of lottery tickets are such "pipe dream" sellers.  But many people believe and hope that they will be lucky and the dream will come true.  And they buy the lottery all the time and don't win anything for years.  But you can always dream that in the next draw I will be lucky and I will become a millionaire. 
But in the end, all this bothers and people stop buying the lottery. 
However, new dreamers come to replace and the cycles continue endlessly.

Your logic about the lottery's non-productive nature is quite solid. I mean, who wouldnt want to invest their hard-earned money in something that gives returns, instead of splurging on a seemingly "endless dream cycle"? However, isnt there something quite human about dreaming? We are not just economic agents maximizing profits, are we? Isnt the wonder and excitement at what might be a part of our everyday lives? As for your reference to stocks and bonds, lets not forget the crashes of 1929, 2008, and the numerous others in between. Arent those also dream-shattering experiences? It seems like an investment choice is less about hard stats and more about choosing your kind of dream!

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[Lanatsa]

Your worlds are quite logical because there is no guarantee of winning the lottery. If someone buys lottery tickets at a certain rate throughout his life, there is no assurance that he will win rather there is a high probability that he will loss. So all the time in his life that he spends his money on the lottery can be said to be a total waste. In this case, many people think that if fate favors him, then he can win. But that number is negligible. If a small amount of money can be spent which is not a problem, then a person can buy a lottery to find his luck.

Just buy one ticket in every lottery, technically you has a chance to win every lottery even though the chance is near to 0%. However I think the popularity of lottery is greatly reduced due to impossible to win and there's no fun when you buy the ticket. Unlike sports betting where you can watch the match and enjoy it.

What's make lottery is bad because there's no transparency to pick the winner, that's why most people think lottery is a rigged game.

I made so for several years. I bought several tickets every income. As the result all my prizes were less than i spent buying these tickets. After it i counted chances to win big prize(much more than the ticket cost) and understood that the best way was to invest these money in some stocks and bonds.

Of course, the probability of a big win is so minimal that even hoping for such a win is generally pointless.  The statistics of your expenses really clearly show that participation in the lottery is just money lost.  And of course, it would be better to invest them in some useful stocks or bonds, or in general just buy some things useful for you with them.  In this sense, all sellers of lottery tickets are such "pipe dream" sellers.  But many people believe and hope that they will be lucky and the dream will come true.  And they buy the lottery all the time and don't win anything for years.  But you can always dream that in the next draw I will be lucky and I will become a millionaire.  
But in the end, all this bothers and people stop buying the lottery.  
However, new dreamers come to replace and the cycles continue endlessly.

Your logic about the lottery's non-productive nature is quite solid. I mean, who wouldnt want to invest their hard-earned money in something that gives returns, instead of splurging on a seemingly "endless dream cycle"? However, isnt there something quite human about dreaming? We are not just economic agents maximizing profits, are we? Isnt the wonder and excitement at what might be a part of our everyday lives? As for your reference to stocks and bonds, lets not forget the crashes of 1929, 2008, and the numerous others in between. Arent those also dream-shattering experiences? It seems like an investment choice is less about hard stats and more about choosing your kind of dream!

You wont earn something if you wont risks and this is surely on what those people have in mind and this is why they do really have this kind of act when it comes on dealing into something whether on lotteries or
investing into stocks or bluechips or into those things which it is really that can be seen on traditional markets and investment. It would really be just that normal that we would really be having this kind of approach

Its better to have a dream rather than on having nothing at all.The important thing on here is that you should really know on how to be realistic on whatever move or decisions you would be making.As long you are really making your finances are still safe then it would really be just that wise that you should really be doing that in first place. Spending on something like lottery tickets wont really be that bad
and its not on having a dream on winning those jackpots, as long you are still in control with your mind and not spending tons on which it do comes into a point that it is really that too much or severe
then you should really be just fine.

There are really just that people who are really that skeptical on what other people been doing or deciding with their money and dealing up with something.Well, its their money after all
and they do have the rights on what they should gonna do into it.

[khaled0111]

..

You, somehow summarized it. Although the chances to win are to be neglected, but the there is still a small chance to win, and we should not neglect this small chance.
Porifirii, you made a great representation and I hope it will not be ignored by those who read this topic..

[tusandii]

..

You, somehow summarized it. Although the chances to win are to be neglected, but the there is still a small chance to win, and we should not neglect this small chance.
Porifirii, you made a great representation and I hope it will not be ignored by those who read this topic..

I agree with you, even though the chance of winning in the lottery is very small, we shouldn't ignore it because with this small chance gamblers can think that they still have a chance to win even though in reality it is almost impossible.
But unfortunately only a few people who can understand this.
After all, now that lottery betting enthusiasts have increased on average, they are just ordinary gamblers who think about chasing the jackpot.

[mak013]

Your worlds are quite logical because there is no guarantee of winning the lottery. If someone buys lottery tickets at a certain rate throughout his life, there is no assurance that he will win rather there is a high probability that he will loss. So all the time in his life that he spends his money on the lottery can be said to be a total waste. In this case, many people think that if fate favors him, then he can win. But that number is negligible. If a small amount of money can be spent which is not a problem, then a person can buy a lottery to find his luck.

Just buy one ticket in every lottery, technically you has a chance to win every lottery even though the chance is near to 0%. However I think the popularity of lottery is greatly reduced due to impossible to win and there's no fun when you buy the ticket. Unlike sports betting where you can watch the match and enjoy it.

What's make lottery is bad because there's no transparency to pick the winner, that's why most people think lottery is a rigged game.

I made so for several years. I bought several tickets every income. As the result all my prizes were less than i spent buying these tickets. After it i counted chances to win big prize(much more than the ticket cost) and understood that the best way was to invest these money in some stocks and bonds.

Of course, the probability of a big win is so minimal that even hoping for such a win is generally pointless.  The statistics of your expenses really clearly show that participation in the lottery is just money lost.  And of course, it would be better to invest them in some useful stocks or bonds, or in general just buy some things useful for you with them.  In this sense, all sellers of lottery tickets are such "pipe dream" sellers.  But many people believe and hope that they will be lucky and the dream will come true.  And they buy the lottery all the time and don't win anything for years.  But you can always dream that in the next draw I will be lucky and I will become a millionaire. 
But in the end, all this bothers and people stop buying the lottery. 
However, new dreamers come to replace and the cycles continue endlessly.

I`ve never dreamed about super prize. For me it was like to pay percent for luck. After i stopped, i decided to read some more information about lotteries and knew that there is a percent that the organizer must pay as prizes. And usually it is about 50% from the sum of the sold tickets. The winner here is only organizer.
The new dreamers mostly bad in maths i think.

[AicecreaME]

..

You, somehow summarized it. Although the chances to win are to be neglected, but the there is still a small chance to win, and we should not neglect this small chance.
Porifirii, you made a great representation and I hope it will not be ignored by those who read this topic..

I agree with you, even though the chance of winning in the lottery is very small, we shouldn't ignore it because with this small chance gamblers can think that they still have a chance to win even though in reality it is almost impossible.
But unfortunately only a few people who can understand this.
After all, now that lottery betting enthusiasts have increased on average, they are just ordinary gamblers who think about chasing the jackpot.

The people who are taking their chances in lotto are mostly desperate to get rich quick. Although I've known some who just developed a habit overtime while thinking that they might actually win as time goes by. It's not really a bad thing to hope for the best. It's serves as a motivation after all. Because who knows, you might be the lucky one. Chasing fortune isn't an easy task though. It will test out your patience and your resources as well. So if you aren't that well-off, it's better to allot your money to other necessary things than lottery. I'm just being practical and logical here and I'm not invalidating their reasons to bet on lottery.

[elevates]

I get so angry when I see lottery being projected on a main stream movie as a side income. I am talking about this new movie on Netflix wherein this guy who belongs to the African American community goes to a liquor stores buys a ticket but never wins. That loop of not winning a single lottery keeps on till the end. Untill the hero of that movie founds the reason. That is where it takes to another dimension of fantasy movie. BTW, you would hear about Bitcoin when a character explain a particular reason.related to the movie story line. I won't suggest anyone to watch that movie as it is too much of a fantasy without a proper reason.If you like a fantasy movie without any good graphics then do a Google search.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

I get so angry when I see lottery being projected on a main stream movie as a side income. I am talking about this new movie on Netflix wherein this guy who belongs to the African American community goes to a liquor stores buys a ticket but never wins. That loop of not winning a single lottery keeps on till the end. Untill the hero of that movie founds the reason. That is where it takes to another dimension of fantasy movie. BTW, you would hear about Bitcoin when a character explain a particular reason.related to the movie story line. I won't suggest anyone to watch that movie as it is too much of a fantasy without a proper reason.If you like a fantasy movie without any good graphics then do a Google search.

Might still be reasonable to state the title of the movie regardless, ease the stress of trying to figure out the actual movie through a google search, ease that stress for some of us that might be interested in watching the movie.

And also to add, it is only children who believes or think what they see in movies are real, put fantasy aside now, even those movies that look so real are not also real, the movie was still put together by the coming together of some actors and actresses, so in the nutshell, there is no movie that is completely real, even if the script/movie is based on a true life story, its only based on true life story, its still not the true story itself, so no need discriminating any movies based on this regard, i can only discriminate a movie if the storyline is not interesting, or the actors failed to play their role well.

Lately, ive been personally looking for some gambling related movies to watch, please share the title of the movie, or send it to me in pm if you still insist on not wanting gamblers to watch the movie.

[dezoel]

Of course, the probability of a big win is so minimal that even hoping for such a win is generally pointless.  The statistics of your expenses really clearly show that participation in the lottery is just money lost.  And of course, it would be better to invest them in some useful stocks or bonds, or in general just buy some things useful for you with them.  In this sense, all sellers of lottery tickets are such "pipe dream" sellers.  But many people believe and hope that they will be lucky and the dream will come true.  And they buy the lottery all the time and don't win anything for years.  But you can always dream that in the next draw I will be lucky and I will become a millionaire. 
But in the end, all this bothers and people stop buying the lottery. 
However, new dreamers come to replace and the cycles continue endlessly.

A lottery is a part of gambling, and gamblers never lose hope. As they say, "Never stop dreaming.", and so do the gamblers even if they have been on the losing side for many years, and they continue to do it even in the future, all for the hope of maybe getting their lives changed in just a blink of an eye. A person with limited money would always gamble only with a dream, a dream that will bring a positive and long-lasting change in their lives.

People who dream of getting life-changing amounts of money from gambling are usually the ones who have no other hope of getting richness in their lives, they find gambling to be their only way to having a better life, otherwise, they will just have to spend their whole life in misery.

[ethereumhunter]

I get so angry when I see lottery being projected on a main stream movie as a side income. I am talking about this new movie on Netflix wherein this guy who belongs to the African American community goes to a liquor stores buys a ticket but never wins. That loop of not winning a single lottery keeps on till the end. Untill the hero of that movie founds the reason. That is where it takes to another dimension of fantasy movie. BTW, you would hear about Bitcoin when a character explain a particular reason.related to the movie story line. I won't suggest anyone to watch that movie as it is too much of a fantasy without a proper reason.If you like a fantasy movie without any good graphics then do a Google search.

If so, many people should already be complaining about the film because that's like telling people to use the lottery as a side income where they can buy as much as they can afford and wait for the results to come out. This will misrepresent to viewers that they can still buy the lottery, hoping to win it, instead of teaching them that buying the lottery does not guarantee a person will win big money. But the audience should have been able to think when they saw the scene where the man buys a ticket but never wins and makes the audience not have to spend their money just to buy lottery tickets.

[Hamphser]

I get so angry when I see lottery being projected on a main stream movie as a side income. I am talking about this new movie on Netflix wherein this guy who belongs to the African American community goes to a liquor stores buys a ticket but never wins. That loop of not winning a single lottery keeps on till the end. Untill the hero of that movie founds the reason. That is where it takes to another dimension of fantasy movie. BTW, you would hear about Bitcoin when a character explain a particular reason.related to the movie story line. I won't suggest anyone to watch that movie as it is too much of a fantasy without a proper reason.If you like a fantasy movie without any good graphics then do a Google search.

If so, many people should already be complaining about the film because that's like telling people to use the lottery as a side income where they can buy as much as they can afford and wait for the results to come out. This will misrepresent to viewers that they can still buy the lottery, hoping to win it, instead of teaching them that buying the lottery does not guarantee a person will win big money. But the audience should have been able to think when they saw the scene where the man buys a ticket but never wins and makes the audience not have to spend their money just to buy lottery tickets.

Whether you do see  those advertisements or not then it would really be just that not needed for you to depend on your decisions basing up on what you do see because we do really have our own will and decisions

in speaking on whatever things that we do encounter.Why you would really be believing into those people who do say that buying out lottery could give out that kind of result? This is really totally misleading and
this is something that would really be pushing someone to purchase tickets because they do really have that kind of assumptions that winning on lotteries would really be that simple or easy.
We know that lottery chances are slim and close to impossible and this is why it would really be ideal that you should really be having that impression and spending towards lottery on buying up tickets
in moderate way and not something that would really be having that desperate motive.

Bet only on the amount which you can afford to lose and not something that you would really be spending heavily on buying tickets because this is where people would usually be finding themselves
getting addicted and spending tons on those tickets which arent really supposed to be done in the first place.

[tusandii]

..

You, somehow summarized it. Although the chances to win are to be neglected, but the there is still a small chance to win, and we should not neglect this small chance.
Porifirii, you made a great representation and I hope it will not be ignored by those who read this topic..

I agree with you, even though the chance of winning in the lottery is very small, we shouldn't ignore it because with this small chance gamblers can think that they still have a chance to win even though in reality it is almost impossible.
But unfortunately only a few people who can understand this.
After all, now that lottery betting enthusiasts have increased on average, they are just ordinary gamblers who think about chasing the jackpot.

The people who are taking their chances in lotto are mostly desperate to get rich quick. Although I've known some who just developed a habit overtime while thinking that they might actually win as time goes by. It's not really a bad thing to hope for the best. It's serves as a motivation after all. Because who knows, you might be the lucky one. Chasing fortune isn't an easy task though. It will test out your patience and your resources as well. So if you aren't that well-off, it's better to allot your money to other necessary things than lottery. I'm just being practical and logical here and I'm not invalidating their reasons to bet on lottery.

When you're lucky, the lottery can provide a very large jackpot and can even change a person's life drastically, but to be able to have that luck, it's only one in a thousand people, meaning the chances are very small.
I know there are some people out there who suddenly become millionaires when they win the lottery jackpot but most of them don't last long because in a few years their wealth is used up for fun and doing stupid things.

I remember the saying that money that is easy to get is also easy to run out.

[ethereumhunter]

Whether you do see  those advertisements or not then it would really be just that not needed for you to depend on your decisions basing up on what you do see because we do really have our own will and decisions

in speaking on whatever things that we do encounter.Why you would really be believing into those people who do say that buying out lottery could give out that kind of result? This is really totally misleading and
this is something that would really be pushing someone to purchase tickets because they do really have that kind of assumptions that winning on lotteries would really be that simple or easy.
We know that lottery chances are slim and close to impossible and this is why it would really be ideal that you should really be having that impression and spending towards lottery on buying up tickets
in moderate way and not something that would really be having that desperate motive.

Bet only on the amount which you can afford to lose and not something that you would really be spending heavily on buying tickets because this is where people would usually be finding themselves
getting addicted and spending tons on those tickets which arent really supposed to be done in the first place.

But that's how it is. People have seen that someone can win from the lottery, so they think they can actually win, which is why they keep buying lottery tickets. But without having luck, they will never win it and we know that winning lottery tickets is very difficult so they try to buy many tickets at once. They have a desire to win the lottery so doing something like that even though it won't guarantee they can win. But some people win the lottery with just a few tickets they buy because of their luck; not everyone can get that kind of luck.

If people only bought lottery tickets with the money they could afford, they wouldn't be frustrated if they couldn't win. Maybe one day they will win and make a lot of money. So they keep buying the lottery while waiting for their turn to get lucky and win.

[EarnOnVictor]

..

You, somehow summarized it. Although the chances to win are to be neglected, but the there is still a small chance to win, and we should not neglect this small chance.
Porifirii, you made a great representation and I hope it will not be ignored by those who read this topic..

I agree with you, even though the chance of winning in the lottery is very small, we shouldn't ignore it because with this small chance gamblers can think that they still have a chance to win even though in reality it is almost impossible.
But unfortunately only a few people who can understand this.
After all, now that lottery betting enthusiasts have increased on average, they are just ordinary gamblers who think about chasing the jackpot.

When we talk about the lottery, there are many games you can play within the scope, and it depends on how best you can forecast as it's the only gambling that some people are predicting accurately and win. I have a friend who is an agent of a company called Premier Lotto in my country and I visit him frequently while I was in his state. I was amazed by how people could use past results to know the numbers that will come out. There is no day that he doesn't pay some people while some are even regularly paid.

So, it's about the game you go for and how best you know it in relation to your forecasting power and luck as gambling is generally a game of chance.

[Peanutswar]

People get too many movies in terms of gambling that they think those after they make a bet and calculations, they will win the bet. Instead it's not just always happen; after a bet, the chance of the gambler to get winning just increases but not as accurately to win, gambling requires calculations for the outcomes the number of opportunity will only rise if the specific attempt already considered but if not the chance of winning is still below the reason why it's a godly chance to succeed in the lottery unless if you want to succeed in the game, you need to bet all of the possible outcomes of the game. Some people looking for a whole with the game itself and tried to get the chance of the scenario is a win-win or just a waste of time.

[Porfirii]

..

You, somehow summarized it. Although the chances to win are to be neglected, but the there is still a small chance to win, and we should not neglect this small chance.
Porifirii, you made a great representation and I hope it will not be ignored by those who read this topic..

Hey! thank you khaled0111!! I was watching the film and my mind connected what I was watching with this topic, so I wanted to share them with everyone interested in it. I'm glad that it was useful.

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When we talk about the lottery, there are many games you can play within the scope, and it depends on how best you can forecast as it's the only gambling that some people are predicting accurately and win. I have a friend who is an agent of a company called Premier Lotto in my country and I visit him frequently while I was in his state. I was amazed by how people could use past results to know the numbers that will come out. There is no day that he doesn't pay some people while some are even regularly paid.

So, it's about the game you go for and how best you know it in relation to your forecasting power and luck as gambling is generally a game of chance.

I don't know what kind of lottery you are talking about, but the one I was thinking when I created the OP has nothing to do with anything that can be predicted with past results, as future results in not rigged lotteries should be completely independent of past ones.

To simplify, it is like when you toss a coin: the probabilities to obtain heads 10 times in a row is neglectable, but the probabilities to obtain heads after having obtained it 9 times in a row is 50%. What I mean is that, in this kind of games, the probability is reset after each result. Of course, nowadays perfect randomness is questioned, like free will, but no current system can unravel said unknowns.

[QueenVera]

Lotteries are popular because people can't count.

It's easy for us to calculate probability when something can happen 30% of a time or 10% of a time, our brain gets that, but when you go below 0.1% it really doesn't matter. Human brain sees it as very very low possibility, but existent. Then you can decrease it to 0.0001% and the person will still say that the possibility is very low, but it's there. So the lottery creators make sure you have a very very low chance, like 1 to a few million, and tell you that the entry fee is extremely low, like $1 and you go for it because your brain tells you "what if?"

This is true because on most cases, People is not looking on the probability of winning but rather on the potential prize size they think that they just betting small amount for a chance to win a money that will change their life. I never puchased a national lottery ticket because It’s hopeless for me to think that I will win a lottery with low win rate but I don’t blame other people for pursuing lottery bets since most of the lottery winners are common person that is a dreamer.

For me, Lottery is popular not because people can’t count since lotteries winning percentage is very popular as it is always being use as fun fact as the chance of being hit by a lightning twice is high probability than winning a lottery. Lottery is popular because of the huge jackpot prize in an exchange for a small bet same as slot games.

The thing is that when the price at stake is very high, people would want to have a trial to see if they stand a chance of winning not minding the probability of winning it, they believe on the possibility of winning by luck, and situations like this would always occur especially when someone else have proved that it's possible to win from the particular event, let's say for instance I have a friend that's won or heard about someone that won a lottery a huge sum of money with just a small amount, that alone would make me one to try as well and see if there's a possibility of winning just like my friend, everyone have dreams of being rich and think of different possible ways of making their dreams a reality and there are people who are lucky enough to achieve their dreams through lottery.
 Most individuals would try their luck to see if they stand a chance of winning the huge prizes from lottery hence it's popularity, the price at stake would always attract people to have a fair trial of winning, even though the possibility is very high but there are chance that one could be lucky to win it and since there's a possibility of using a small money to win a jackpot people would always want to give it a trial thereby making lottery becoming more popular.

[fullhdpixel]

A few days ago I saw Nolan's new film about Oppenheimer's life and (not really a spoiler) in a few moments during the film the protagonist is worried about the possibility of a chain reaction that could be able to burn the entire earth's atmosphere. Although the probability is "almost zero", it is still theoretically possible and, therefore, the psychological effects of these images are disturbing for him.


Source: www.scienceabc.com / NASA Vadim Sadovskis.

I couldn't help but think about this thread, and how the positive side of the same effect (when it doesn't become an obsession) is the reason of lotteries being so successful. Although the possibility is near zero, images of a dear life come to the player's mind, creating a pleasant feeling.

The dream of a dear life is exactly what keeps a gambler going, or should I say a poor gambler, because a person who doesn't have a lot of money or doesn't have money at all tends to take gambling as their only way to have a better life, they know they can't earn a lot of money in a very short period of time due to lack of resources, education, opportunities, and a lot of other things, so they take gambling as the only route that can possibly give them a better life.

If that wasn't the thought, I bet no one would waste the little money that they get by working for hours in labor, because even if a person is addicted to gambling, they also understand that you lose more than you win in gambling, but it is just the hope for that one win that might make a difference.

[khaled0111]

I`ve never dreamed about super prize. For me it was like to pay percent for luck. After i stopped, i decided to read some more information about lotteries and knew that there is a percent that the organizer must pay as prizes. And usually it is about 50% from the sum of the sold tickets. The winner here is only organizer.
The new dreamers mostly bad in maths i think.

I am a bit surprised here! Did you think the organization or the entity behind the lottery is doing it for free! You don't need to read anywhere or ask anyone to realize that they are doing it for profit like any casino or any other service provider. They get their percentage from the total pot then give the rest to the winner(s).
Regarding your latest sentence, yes, the organizers are always the winners because they are not risking anything. Remember: "the house always wins".

[serjent05]

A few days ago I saw Nolan's new film about Oppenheimer's life and (not really a spoiler) in a few moments during the film the protagonist is worried about the possibility of a chain reaction that could be able to burn the entire earth's atmosphere. Although the probability is "almost zero", it is still theoretically possible and, therefore, the psychological effects of these images are disturbing for him.


Source: www.scienceabc.com / NASA Vadim Sadovskis.

In theory, everything is possible, the challenge is how to prove that theory. 

I couldn't help but think about this thread, and how the positive side of the same effect (when it doesn't become an obsession) is the reason of lotteries being so successful. Although the possibility is near zero, images of a dear life come to the player's mind, creating a pleasant feeling.

Isn't that the power of hope and dreams?  Thinking of winning on lotteries can trigger a chain effect dependent on how deep the imagination of a person is.  But we know it is always taken back when one wakes up to reality and knows that his bought ticket didn't even win a consolation prize.