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Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

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Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#141

Post by CydeWeys »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #104
esaym wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That actually sounds like a good idea. Though there is the old saying "the lottery is just a tax on the poor". My aunt actually won 2 million back in 2007. She had just divorced my uncle (so I guess she is my ex-aunt) and bought a ticket and used the birthdays of me and a few others as the numbers. She was smart in that she chose to set up a trust fund with yearly pay outs instead of a lump sum. She told her sister t…

How do you know such detailed financial numbers? It sounds like she gave her financial bookkeeping records.

Some families talk about money. I know mine does. Read old Jane Austen novels and you'll see it was common over a hundred years ago too.

Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#142

Post by tantalor »

briandear wrote: post #109
tantalor wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You aren't doing anything wrong. That's debatable. Lotteries are supposed to be completely up to chance. If by your own ingenuity you exploit a weakness then you are tipping the scales in your favor, which is unfair to less clever players. It's basically the tragedy of the commons; everyone has the same chance of winning, but only you know you can safely risk more and win more, lessening the winning of others.

Unfair to the less clever players? How is it unfair? They can do the exact same strategy. It isn’t my fault of someone else doesn’t “get” it. It’s a game, not a civil right.

But the lottery is not a game of skill or knowledge. It's a game of chance!

Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#143

Post by ALittleLight »

larrydag wrote: post #88
esaym wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That actually sounds like a good idea. Though there is the old saying "the lottery is just a tax on the poor". My aunt actually won 2 million back in 2007. She had just divorced my uncle (so I guess she is my ex-aunt) and bought a ticket and used the birthdays of me and a few others as the numbers. She was smart in that she chose to set up a trust fund with yearly pay outs instead of a lump sum. She told her sister t…

I personally like the saying "the lottery is a tax on the innumerate"

Although it's a bit cruel because the "innumerate" are disproportionately poor. Lottery tickets may be driven more by despair and hope for an improbable escape than by innumeracy.

Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#145

Post by droidist2 »

coldcode wrote: post #69

I wish lotteries handed out many $1M prizes instead of giving $250M to one person. People understand what to do with $1M (I think) but most people are ruined by $250M.

I actually watched a video on CNBC's YouTube recently about the lottery and one thing they mentioned is that they've made the odds of winning worse to let bigger jackpots build up, so they're actually going in the opposite direction of what you'd like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYxYSgg6JEI&t=4m30s

Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#146

Post by hnick »

jedberg wrote: post #101

To all the folks saying, "how did the State not know the odds?", a lot of gambling games come out without anyone running the odds. A great example is blackjack switch [0]. The game was invented by an ex-gambler and he never really knew the odds of the game. He just convinced some casinos to try it and would advertise what their average take was. Because most people are bad at math and wouldn't play well, it was alway…

Casinos can refuse service to someone who wins too much anyway (e.g. counting cards), so that's not such a big problem for them.

Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#147

Post by kazinator »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #130
SilasX wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, needing millions to risk on this means it isn't "available to everyone". And yes, it is a risk, even if your mask is solid. There's always the risk that the lottery commission could say "oh, come on, the terms and conditions prohibit this kind of thing", leading to a protracted legal battle.

> There's always the risk that the lottery commission could say "oh, come on, the terms and conditions prohibit this kind of thing", leading to a protracted legal battle. Not sure why this is down-voted. It's spot on.

Probably because it didn't happen; these people got away with it for years, and don't seem to be in any hot water.

They bought tickets and won due to the inherent probability of the game, fair and square. No inside information, no gaming of anything.

What supposed to make mass ticket buying non-profitable is the expected return being < 1, not any hidden terms and conditions.

Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#148

Post by conductr »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #130
SilasX wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, needing millions to risk on this means it isn't "available to everyone". And yes, it is a risk, even if your mask is solid. There's always the risk that the lottery commission could say "oh, come on, the terms and conditions prohibit this kind of thing", leading to a protracted legal battle.

> There's always the risk that the lottery commission could say "oh, come on, the terms and conditions prohibit this kind of thing", leading to a protracted legal battle. Not sure why this is down-voted. It's spot on.

Think downvoting is on first half of the comment because as is noted already, compounding.

On the legal topic, I think it’s not a prohibitive risk. It’s completely in the game’s design and completely within the lottery’s control as they basically control distribution. Running a casino isn’t a risk free operation, miscalculations cost money.

Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#149

Post by p1necone »

p1necone wrote: post #129
Johnny555 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if you could educate people on their expected return from a lottery ticket purchase, they wouldn't play at all. Telling people that they have a 95% chance of winning nothing at all is not a good way of selling lottery tickets.

I think it's naive to value a lottery based solely on your monetary expected value. The value of money doesn't increase linearly, and isn't the same for everyone. $20 could have an inconsequential effect on my quality of life, while winning say $2 million could be a total life changer. Likewise, the difference in impact between winning $0 and winning $2 million is likely a lot larger than the difference between winni…

Personally I like to think of lotteries as a binary thing - either I win enough money to retire now, or I don't.

Re: Couple wins millions using lottery loophole

#150

Post by wolco »

esaym wrote: post #83
coldcode wrote: post #69

I wish lotteries handed out many $1M prizes instead of giving $250M to one person. People understand what to do with $1M (I think) but most people are ruined by $250M.

That actually sounds like a good idea. Though there is the old saying "the lottery is just a tax on the poor". My aunt actually won 2 million back in 2007. She had just divorced my uncle (so I guess she is my ex-aunt) and bought a ticket and used the birthdays of me and a few others as the numbers. She was smart in that she chose to set up a trust fund with yearly pay outs instead of a lump sum. She told her sister t…

Why take out a mortgage and lockup money at the same time?
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