Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#131

Post by tekne » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 2:41 PM UTC

UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #78

lunaru wrote: post #2

I think people understand the odds are small. However, perhaps they perceive their chances of meaningfully turn around their life in other ways have even smaller odds. i.e. improbable vs actually impossible. At least the lottery doesn't care about your current circumstance and everyone has an equal (equally small) chance. Secondly, because everyone realizes the chances are small, the real product being sold is Hope.…

I’m at the point where I take it as a red flag when someone doesn’t understand this, and instead bangs on about “low odds” and “the idiots that think that they’ll win”. A combination of superficial booksmarts, a misplaced sense of elitism, and a very real lack of emotional intelligence, that I know that I don’t enjoy being around. There’s definitely a low end on this bell curve, but I think that your average Joe Blow…

I think there's something to be said for separating disdain for the person and disdain for the institution; unfortunately the latter is used as an excuse for the former.

But actually... there really are, IMO, better ways to "buy hope", or for that matter positive feelings, many of which actually have positive EV (even if not financially), and it is in my opinion a systemic flaw that we use well-known exploits in human psychology to take money from, statistically, the people who have the least.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#132

Post by mikepurvis » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 3:27 PM UTC

rottencupcakes wrote: post #57

mikepurvis wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand how this lotto would make any money.

A limited availability loss leader product meant to normalize lottery tickets to young customers.

Oh I see. Gross.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#133

Post by dangus » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:10 PM UTC

selcuka wrote: post #86

koolba wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Trump administration almost flipped out when Amazon considered explicitly adding tariffs to people’s checkout. I wish they called their bluff and did it as it’d force Amazon to show the country of manufacture.

> it’d force Amazon to show the country of manufacture I don't think many people would care.

I’m reminded of that company that added a Made in USA option of their product that you could select next to the normal price and nobody would buy it at any price premium.

Like, literally nobody.

I wish I could remember where that blog post was, I think it came up on HN.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#134

Post by rpdillon » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 6:18 PM UTC

UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #78

lunaru wrote: post #2

I think people understand the odds are small. However, perhaps they perceive their chances of meaningfully turn around their life in other ways have even smaller odds. i.e. improbable vs actually impossible. At least the lottery doesn't care about your current circumstance and everyone has an equal (equally small) chance. Secondly, because everyone realizes the chances are small, the real product being sold is Hope.…

I’m at the point where I take it as a red flag when someone doesn’t understand this, and instead bangs on about “low odds” and “the idiots that think that they’ll win”. A combination of superficial booksmarts, a misplaced sense of elitism, and a very real lack of emotional intelligence, that I know that I don’t enjoy being around. There’s definitely a low end on this bell curve, but I think that your average Joe Blow…

All gambling is buying hope. The lottery has the worst gambling odds I've ever heard of, so I don't understand why we're defending it.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#135

Post by latexr » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #126

latexr wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think there are any lotteries with that feature. It’s in the link I posted.

Did you try reading the only other sentence in my comment?

No need to get upset. I replied earnestly, I thought you might’ve skipped it.

The point I was making is that with more money you increase your chances to win. The fact that you may have to split the winnings isn’t relevant, you still won. I was explicitly responding to the “the lottery doesn't care about your current circumstance and everyone has an equal (equally small) chance” remark.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#136

Post by anonzzzies » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 10:01 PM UTC

lazyasciiart wrote: post #95

lostlogin wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems a clever marketing tactic to rope in more people. How do you confirm address? ‘I moved home to my parents last week’ etc.

You have to buy a ticket - presumably you have to commit to an address somehow at that point, so people can only buy for one postcode even if they're lying. Unless there's a skewed outcome that shouldn't really matter. (And if there is a skewed outcome...the people who'd bought the winning postcode and didn't have a house on that street would be under heavy scrutiny!)

Apparently, at least in NL, you can buy for different postcodes even though most do not.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#137

Post by lazyasciiart » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 11:16 PM UTC

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #103

lazyasciiart wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or they might just be sneering because they are emotionally incompetent book-smart jerks, like my brother. He has absolutely no personal experience of financial hardship and doesn't believe there is any explanation except stupidity for someone spending $10 on lottery tickets before they've fully funded their 401k for the year.

I believe that category was already handled by the comment I was responding to, which effectively said anyone who sneered at the lottery was like your brother without taking into account the subset of people I pointed to. I'm not sure what percentage of people that talk about the lottery being a tax on stupidity do so because they have been personally traumatized by its effect on their family, or seen its effects on…

It was - it sounded like your comment was arguing with the one you responded to, by suggesting that they are misidentifying the attitude of the people they are talking about.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#138

Post by regenschutz » Sun, Jan 04, 2026, 1:59 AM UTC

UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #78

lunaru wrote: post #2

I think people understand the odds are small. However, perhaps they perceive their chances of meaningfully turn around their life in other ways have even smaller odds. i.e. improbable vs actually impossible. At least the lottery doesn't care about your current circumstance and everyone has an equal (equally small) chance. Secondly, because everyone realizes the chances are small, the real product being sold is Hope.…

I’m at the point where I take it as a red flag when someone doesn’t understand this, and instead bangs on about “low odds” and “the idiots that think that they’ll win”. A combination of superficial booksmarts, a misplaced sense of elitism, and a very real lack of emotional intelligence, that I know that I don’t enjoy being around. There’s definitely a low end on this bell curve, but I think that your average Joe Blow…

My uncle was for the longest of time a gambling addict, and would buy lottery tickets. It was disheartening seeing him ruin his life over this "hope".

I certainly don't doubt that my uncle also felt a strong sense of "hope" when he bought his lottery tickets, but for what differed a lot. My uncle would buy lottery tickets in the hope of regaining the amount of money that he had lost to gambling, while you probably buy them in the hope of having a significantly higher quality of life if you win. One is financially a very bad decision, the other is not (as bad).

Personally, I would never buy lottery tickets. Not because the chance of you winning is small, but because you're supporting a predatory system that attacks those that are the most vulnerable to gambling: those who've already lost large amounts of money. I hate the gambling industry and the damage it causes to regular people.

Luckily my uncle has stopped gambling, but the effects of when he was a gambler are still, sadly, visible.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#139

Post by fragmede » Sun, Jan 04, 2026, 2:01 AM UTC

anonu wrote: post #64

atroposDad wrote: post #11

I would be really curious to see the money side of this. I am not sure about Powerball, but with EuroJackpot, some of the smaller wins can cover the cost of the ticket (or even cover a holiday!). It would be really interesting to watch the expected value play out over repeated plays!! I am imagining a running balance where you keep track of total spend versus total returns. Most of the time the balance steadily goes…

EV is always negative.

The Selbees would disagree.

Re: Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second

#140

Post by thaumasiotes » Sun, Jan 04, 2026, 4:53 AM UTC

latexr wrote: post #135

thaumasiotes wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you try reading the only other sentence in my comment?

No need to get upset. I replied earnestly, I thought you might’ve skipped it. The point I was making is that with more money you increase your chances to win. The fact that you may have to split the winnings isn’t relevant, you still won. I was explicitly responding to the “the lottery doesn't care about your current circumstance and everyone has an equal (equally small) chance” remark.

> I replied earnestly, I thought you might’ve skipped it.

So... you didn't read the second sentence of my two-sentence comment? Or do you have some theory where "you can guarantee that you win" means it isn't possible to guarantee that you win?

> The point I was making is that with more money you increase your chances to win. The fact that you may have to split the winnings isn’t relevant, you still won.

And here, you're still wrong. You can guarantee that you "win" the lottery instead of "losing" it. But if you're going to be buying seven million lottery tickets, it matters quite a lot whether you end up buying seven million tickets at a dollar each and making $1.05 per, or buying seven million tickets at a dollar each and making $0.52 per or $0.35 per. Collecting a jackpot by losing five million dollars is not a "win" in any sense that's not internal to a lottery department, including the sense of people who like daydreaming about winning the lottery.

> I was explicitly responding to the “the lottery doesn't care about your current circumstance and everyone has an equal (equally small) chance” remark.

Note that everyone also has the same chance of buying out the lottery at a profit - it's not necessary to buy those tickets out of pocket, because you can do it with investor backing. The story in your link is the story of someone who bought out a lottery with investor backing. He's not alone; other people also buy out lotteries using money they didn't provide. This is one of the easiest investor pitches you can give.