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Author Topic: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?  (Read 9233 times)

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shmokes

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Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« on: December 28, 2011, 11:14:56 am »
Every year I buy a ticket for each of our stockings. And every year they don't hit the jackpot. This is ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow---!
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2011, 11:37:16 am »
"they" say one in three wins... i guess i'm the other of the two.  :dunno

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2011, 11:38:11 am »
Hoping to win the lottery is a lot like wishing... Wish in one hand, ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- in the other, and see which one fills up first.

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2011, 11:52:20 am »
Hoping to win the lottery is a lot like wishing... Wish in one hand, ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- in the other, and see which one fills up first.

I've always loved that saying. 

In my Statistics class a few years ago the instructor went through an exercise to show the odds of winning the Powerball.  The zeroes went all the way across the blackboard.

I still play anyway occasionally.  If I won I would build one huge arcade I can tell you that.

shmokes

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2011, 12:36:03 pm »
Lol . . . I know. For example, people always compare your chances with winning the lottery with your chances of being struck by lightning. It's actually a really terrible comparison that doesn't begin to capture what a bad deal the lottery is. Your chances of being struck by lightning are astronomically better than winning the lottery. Odds of being struck by lightning in the U.S. are like 1 in a million. Odds of winning the big lottery jackpots are usually like 1 in 200 million, I think. So you're hundreds of times more likely to be struck by lightning.

Still, though, I think that of all people, I deserve to win, because I want it the most. So the universe should do this for me. Next Christmas for sure.
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2011, 12:50:52 pm »
To quote Joshua from "War Games":
"The only way to win is not to play."

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2011, 01:06:02 pm »
My parents were in town for the holiday and it turns out that one of their neighbours won 1/3 of the recent 250 Powerball.
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2011, 03:09:37 pm »
I won $2 on a $1 scratch ticket last night.  I purchased two $1 scratchers though...   :lol
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2011, 04:33:52 pm »
The thing you have to understand about the lottery, are you ready for this?, is that you must buy it knowing you won't win!  When you buy the ticket, you have to know that the odds of winning are pretty much naught.

That way, when you win the jackpot, you will be super surprised!
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2011, 05:04:06 pm »
Can never believe people spend their money on that junk every week. It’s all those shows of the lottery winners that convinces people they can be the next winner.

shmokes

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2011, 05:41:18 pm »
It really is a pretty evil institution. It is a regressive tax (i.e. poor people are taxed at a greater rate than rich people). For example, in most states that have the lottery public schools are funded primarily or exclusively through lottery proceeds rather than property taxes, as is normal pretty much everywhere else. Since only poor people are silly enough to play the lottery, that makes the public school system funded primarily, almost exclusively, by poor people. It's really horrendous. The lottery is the people's government knowing that the poor people are not sophisticated enough to know when they're being duped, and then instead of protecting them from people who would take advantage of this fact, the government takes advantage of it instead.
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #11 on: December 28, 2011, 06:30:58 pm »
I used to be in the pool at work, but have lazed on that the last two or so years.

I'm always wishing that they don't win without me, and so far my wish has always come true.
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #12 on: December 28, 2011, 07:25:46 pm »
The lottery is simply a tax on people that suck at math.
But wasn't it fun to think you won the lottery, just for a second there???

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #13 on: December 28, 2011, 07:56:24 pm »
The lottery is simply a tax on people that suck at math.

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shmokes

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #14 on: December 28, 2011, 11:51:16 pm »
The lottery is simply a tax on people that suck at math.

That's what I said. A regressive tax. But actually, it's worse. It's a tax on people who feel trapped and desperate. It's the same thing either way you slice it, though. Only poor people play the lottery. Sure, the odd middle-classer is hooked. And people like me buy a ticket for the stocking every year. But only poor people play the lottery seriously. Poor people fund the lottery. The fact that the government actually uses it as a revenue generator, the fact that they use it to replace progressive taxes, is reprehensible.

Why do people have such a hard time distinguishing between can and should?
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #15 on: December 29, 2011, 12:48:04 am »
My parents were in town for the holiday and it turns out that one of their neighbours won 1/3 of the recent 250 Powerball.

---fudgesicle---....

Moving along....

It really is a pretty evil institution. It is a regressive tax (i.e. poor people are taxed at a greater rate than rich people). For example, in most states that have the lottery public schools are funded primarily or exclusively through lottery proceeds rather than property taxes, as is normal pretty much everywhere else. Since only poor people are silly enough to play the lottery, that makes the public school system funded primarily, almost exclusively, by poor people. It's really horrendous. The lottery is the people's government knowing that the poor people are not sophisticated enough to know when they're being duped, and then instead of protecting them from people who would take advantage of this fact, the government takes advantage of it instead.

Which, ironically enough, California still has a hard time funding the schools. To put it succinctly, it doesn't work.

Many moons ago, I got a hold of a paper describing just how much money the school district got from the Lottery at the time. Don't ask how I got it. But to put it simply, there was enough money flowing in that each school would have a brand new computer lab nearly every year. Yet our school just barely put together one via Measure S (at the time, this was an increase on local property taxes). The true amount of Lotto money flowing down would barely buy pencils for the the individual teachers much less the students.

The entire Lotto distribution is flawed from the top down. Every time the money is divided, more and more of it goes missing towards "administration" costs. If any of it ever reaches the actual school it was intended for, it's not even worth the check it's printed on. I don't know what other states are like, but the Lotto in California is purely a tax for the poor and a windfall for the scum. I suspect that's why Arnold wanted to privatize the California Lotto, but whether it was to increase the lining in the scum's pocket or to reduce it, I'm not entirely sure. 

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #16 on: December 29, 2011, 01:25:02 am »
wasn't there a guy trying to buy all the lotto numbers so he was guaranteeing a win in excess of the amount paid out buying tickets? i forget how much he spent trying it... also i'm to lazy too google or spel rigt and its late.

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #17 on: December 29, 2011, 04:40:22 am »
wasn't there a guy trying to buy all the lotto numbers so he was guaranteeing a win in excess of the amount paid out buying tickets? i forget how much he spent trying it... also i'm to lazy too google or spel rigt and its late.

Wasn't that something like fifteen years ago? I think he was on TV someplace in Minnesota or something. Guy had several computers printing out thousands of those Lotto punch cards and scanning them at stores or some such. I don't remember what happened though.

I seem to recall the guy makes his living mailing entries to all those contests. I think he's the reason most contests nowadays forbid automated entries.

shmokes

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #18 on: December 29, 2011, 08:57:59 am »
wasn't there a guy trying to buy all the lotto numbers so he was guaranteeing a win in excess of the amount paid out buying tickets? i forget how much he spent trying it... also i'm to lazy too google or spel rigt and its late.

The problem is, if your chances of winning are 1 in 200 million, you have to buy 200 million tickets to guarantee a win and it still wouldn't actually be guaranteed. Not many people have the money to do this. And the risk is way too high. What if you buy 200 million tickets and your number still isn't drawn, or someone else also draws your number and you have to split the winnings? That's a lot of money to kiss goodbye.
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #19 on: December 29, 2011, 10:59:58 am »
wasn't there a guy trying to buy all the lotto numbers so he was guaranteeing a win in excess of the amount paid out buying tickets? i forget how much he spent trying it... also i'm to lazy too google or spel rigt and its late.

The problem is, if your chances of winning are 1 in 200 million, you have to buy 200 million tickets to guarantee a win and it still wouldn't actually be guaranteed. Not many people have the money to do this. And the risk is way too high. What if you buy 200 million tickets and your number still isn't drawn, or someone else also draws your number and you have to split the winnings? That's a lot of money to kiss goodbye.

you actually have a chance. if you do the maths, there are 13,983,816 possible combinations... 49 Χ 48 Χ 47 Χ 46 Χ 45 Χ 44 = 10,068,347,520

since it doesn't matter the order of the draw numbers....  6 Χ 5 Χ 4 Χ 3 Χ 2 Χ 1 =  720 orders of the winning combination....  Dividing 10,068,347,520 by 720 gives 13,983,816

seems one would only need to purchase $13,983,816 worth of tickets to guarantee a win (every possible permutation of numbers)...as long as the grand prize was over what the government would suck up... and depending on the prize pool spread, couldn't one make money doing this? (including the 5 of 6 and 4 of 6 or whatever prize winnings)

anybody interested in a scheme??  :lol

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #20 on: December 29, 2011, 11:14:46 am »
seems one would only need to purchase $13,983,816 worth of tickets to guarantee a win (every possible permutation of numbers)...

Yea, but you'd have to have a way to pick every possible permutation of numbers for the 13,983,816 tickets you buy, which would be a ---smurfette---. I don't know about the rest of the country but lotto ticket prices are going up to $2 per ticket in Colorado next month...

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #21 on: December 29, 2011, 11:24:16 am »
That's interesting. I wonder if the rules limit that somehow. Or maybe it is just naturally limited because there is no realistic way of purchasing that many tickets. You couldn't very well go to your local gas station and say, "13 million Powerball tickets please." And even if you could do that, it wouldn't work. Those tickets would have randomly generated numbers on them. You'd actually have to fill out 13 million entries on those cards to get specific numbers. Although, I suppose if you had the money to purchase all the tickets, filling out the cards wouldn't be a big issue. You'd just hire it done. It couldn't cost more than a few thousand dollars, I guess, which isn't much if you've already got 13 million to drop on lottery, and you're guaranteed to make like a $50-$100 million return.

Still, you'd have the problem of making such a large purchase. I suppose maybe you could just hire that out too. Split up the numbers among like 1000 people and have them go out and start making purchases. They'd each need to purchase 13,000 tickets. Maybe they could go from store to store buying 100 at a time. That'd only be 130 transactions per person. That could be done in the few days before any given draw.
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #22 on: December 29, 2011, 11:29:58 am »
seems one would only need to purchase $13,983,816 worth of tickets to guarantee a win (every possible permutation of numbers)...

Yea, but you'd have to have a way to pick every possible permutation of numbers for the 13,983,816 tickets you buy, which would be a ---smurfette---. I don't know about the rest of the country but lotto ticket prices are going up to $2 per ticket in Colorado next month...

yeah we have a "new" one here (more or less just renamed it) but it's 3 sets of 7 numbers for $5 so 1.66 a play. and i just noticed that the regular canada wide 6-49 (one set of numbers) is $2 now..  :angry: but we have one for just our neck of the woods, thats still $1 for 2 sets of 7 numbers (50 cents a play). but the jackpot is only ever 1,000,000. enough for me anyways!  :cheers:

That's interesting. I wonder if the rules limit that somehow. Or maybe it is just naturally limited because there is no realistic way of purchasing that many tickets. You couldn't very well go to your local gas station and say, "13 million Powerball tickets please." And even if you could do that, it wouldn't work. Those tickets would have randomly generated numbers on them. You'd actually have to fill out 13 million entries on those cards to get specific numbers. Although, I suppose if you had the money to purchase all the tickets, filling out the cards wouldn't be a big issue. You'd just hire it done. It couldn't cost more than a few thousand dollars, I guess, which isn't much if you've already got 13 million to drop on lottery, and you're guaranteed to make like a $50-$100 million return.

Still, you'd have the problem of making such a large purchase. I suppose maybe you could just hire that out too. Split up the numbers among like 1000 people and have them go out and start making purchases. They'd each need to purchase 13,000 tickets. Maybe they could go from store to store buying 100 at a time. That'd only be 130 transactions per person. That could be done in the few days before any given draw.

that's what that guy was doing, split up the pool into teams who went and bought as many tickets as the store would let them. i remember seeing a program on tv about it... one store refused to sell them any more tickets, so the ended up speeding across town to another store to continue buying tickets.

i do believe the lotto corporation has something against mechanically generated tickets, so you would have to fill out the ticket form by hand... but that doesn't make sense, since the "quick pick" tickets are "mechanically generated"

guess when you make the rules, you can break them.

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #23 on: December 29, 2011, 01:36:10 pm »
That's interesting. I wonder if the rules limit that somehow. Or maybe it is just naturally limited because there is no realistic way of purchasing that many tickets. You couldn't very well go to your local gas station and say, "13 million Powerball tickets please." And even if you could do that, it wouldn't work. Those tickets would have randomly generated numbers on them. You'd actually have to fill out 13 million entries on those cards to get specific numbers. Although, I suppose if you had the money to purchase all the tickets, filling out the cards wouldn't be a big issue. You'd just hire it done. It couldn't cost more than a few thousand dollars, I guess, which isn't much if you've already got 13 million to drop on lottery, and you're guaranteed to make like a $50-$100 million return.

Still, you'd have the problem of making such a large purchase. I suppose maybe you could just hire that out too. Split up the numbers among like 1000 people and have them go out and start making purchases. They'd each need to purchase 13,000 tickets. Maybe they could go from store to store buying 100 at a time. That'd only be 130 transactions per person. That could be done in the few days before any given draw.

I play the lottery twice every week.  We have a daily play lottery that runs over 7 days by choosing 6 numbers, but this type of game requires two large pots and 5 smaller pots.  The smaller games cost 20p a day per line + two £1 games.  I plumb for these £3 games, and I do hit the odd 3 numbers.  I have only hit 4 numbers three times.  My numbers come out often, and I get a return.  If I go stupid and play £5 or £10 a game if it is a rollover then I never win.  If you consider that £3 a week dead money, and it will be near impossible to win over £156 year so it is all dead money.  If you can afford it.  I do play the Euro when it gets to stupid money.

I rented a condo a several years back from the waitress who won Megabucks and had that car accident.  I think of that every time I gamble.  If you win big money, what are the odds that it can kill you or change your life for the worse.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2011, 01:38:03 pm by ark_ader »
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #24 on: December 29, 2011, 02:39:33 pm »
I play the lottery twice every week. 

This doesn't surprise me.
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #25 on: December 29, 2011, 02:43:43 pm »
what are the odds that it can kill you or change your life for the worse.

there was a guy who won the big bucks. built himself a big house on the outskirts of town, we dubbed it "The 649 Ranch"

bought all kinds of animals and cars and motorcycles boats etc... generally being stupid.

guess how long it was before the boat was parked out by the road with a for sale sign on it.  :lol

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #26 on: December 29, 2011, 03:24:44 pm »
Even still, there's a popular myth that people win these enormous jackpots and are bankrupted within a couple years. I don't believe it. I mean, you win 10 or 20 million, maybe. But if you win like 100 million, forget about it. Nobody is gonna burn through that. It doesn't even make sense. Lotto winners are public knowledge. Once you've got $100 million, financial advising firms will find you. I mean the serious ones. Even if you just shoved that money into treasuries with a guaranteed 3.x% interest rate, you'd have an annual income of more than 3 million dollars without ever touching the principal. That's $3 million dollars per year, every year for the rest of your life. Without ever spending a penny of your winnings.

And THAT'S if you were to put it all in risk-free treasuries. Which would be pretty stupid. You could easily earn 6% on your money without breaking a sweat or incurring substantial risk. Which would, of course, mean a $6 million a year income without ever touching the principal. I think most people could eke out a living on $6 million a year. Even really really really dumb people. I mean . . . ya gotta put your money somewhere. It's not like you can just put $100 million under your mattress.
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #27 on: December 29, 2011, 03:52:37 pm »
even the smartest of people can get absolutely retarded when subjected to large amounts of money.

even the penny pinchers that know what to do and are smart about their money... (I'm not talking about squeezing ketchup packets into your bottle or anything) but they can even get all stupid when having to worry about money is no longer an issue...

you stop watching how much things cost, you stop keeping an eye on your bank account, you just buy things because hey it's only $X.XX no big deal.

pretty soon you go to buy another flatscreen for the garden shed... swipe your card... and nothing.

there is butt loads of people who won the lotto and lost it all. Willie Hurt snorted the rest of his money away after losing much of it to his wife after she divorced him. (it's funny that i remember it cause of his name)

there was the fella who won that 300 some million powerball lotto (the biggest one ever)  got half a mil jacked from his car parked out front of a strip club then it happened again like a year :laugh2: should have bought a car alarm.  :lol

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #28 on: December 29, 2011, 07:50:54 pm »
This is why I don't play the lottery...Or is it why I hate algebra?
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #29 on: December 29, 2011, 11:11:03 pm »
The sad truth is that most people that play the lottery would have no idea how to handle that much money. So the odds are quite high that actual lottery winners won't know how to deal with it.

Can't find any stats off hand, but it's sad that just about all the stories you hear are of winners that crashed and burned soon after winning, couples divorcing, etc.

I suspect that there are plenty of winners that just sock the money away, keep on living, and just take really nice long vacations and retire MUCH earlier than they otherwise would have.

It's also funny how those winning $$$ numbers never add up to that much.

For instance, from one article:

"Instead of taking the $314.9 million jackpot as an annuity, Whittaker opted for a single payment of $170 million. After taxes, he got $113.9 million."

Ouch, 2/3 of your winnings gone before you even get a dime.

Of course, then you have to wonder what he was thinking.

At 314mil, over a 30 year annuity, that's about 10mil a year, or about 872,000$ a month, figure roughly 50% tax on that, and you're still talking 400,000+$ PER MONTH. Is my math right? It's late.

Who couldn't live on that?

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #30 on: December 30, 2011, 01:44:29 am »
It's not about whether the annuity is enough. it's about the math the lotto people use to come up with that number. The cash payout is based on what would add up to the total jackpot if invested at such-and-such rate of return over a thirty year period. So, as a lotto winner, you have to look at what number they used for the such-and-such. If they based the payout on an 8% return, you have to decide whether, given the lump sum, you could do better than 8% average over 30 years. If so, lump sum, if not the annuity is a better deal.

Of course, there are other factors. A lot of lotto players, most maybe, are quite old. If I'm 60 years old, what do I want with a 30 year annuity? Or maybe the cash payout is based on a 6% return and the market says that anything less than 8% is a ripoff. But I know that I can't be trusted with money, or I have a family of hairbrained schemers that I can't say no to. Then maybe I still take the annuity.

Or, hell, maybe you're just worried that the state/country will go bankrupt and 15 years down the road they'll default on your annuity. I have no idea how possile this is, but maybe it's a concern . . .

At any rate, it's really not a clear-cut thing whether to take the lump sum or annuity. It's a case-by-case thing. Sometimes it's objectively a better deal, sometimes not. And sometimes subjective factors outwiegh the objective facts.

Edit: grammar/spelling. Typed on an iPad with autocorrect turned off.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2011, 01:49:59 am by shmokes »
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #31 on: December 30, 2011, 02:13:12 am »

I still play anyway occasionally.  If I won I would build one huge arcade I can tell you that.

I was thinking about that today. I figured the local golf castle in the early 80s, after adding go-karts and batting cages, cost...mmm....20 million if you were to buy it, games and all. That's why they don't make them anymore. When I was a kid, the place was abso-packed on weekends. Now, I'm surprised they're still around.


My parents were in town for the holiday and it turns out that one of their neighbours won 1/3 of the recent 250 Powerball.

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« Last Edit: December 30, 2011, 02:14:45 am by Gray_Area »
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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #32 on: December 30, 2011, 11:41:31 am »
For instance, from one article:

"Instead of taking the $314.9 million jackpot as an annuity, Whittaker opted for a single payment of $170 million. After taxes, he got $113.9 million."

Ouch, 2/3 of your winnings gone before you even get a dime.

Of course, then you have to wonder what he was thinking.

At 314mil, over a 30 year annuity, that's about 10mil a year, or about 872,000$ a month, figure roughly 50% tax on that, and you're still talking 400,000+$ PER MONTH. Is my math right? It's late.

Who couldn't live on that?

Maybe i am not looking at it right, but I see the lump sum to be a better deal.

Going by your math with the annuity, the guy would make a total (rounding up) of 150 million after waiting 30 years, sounds like a good deal. However, the guy could just go with the lump sum of 113 million, immediately invest 50 million of it at a safe expected ROI of around 5%, and by the time the 30 years are up, he would have totaled 200 million instead of the 150 million, and that is after the interest earnings are taxed at that same roughly 50% number.

He would also have over 60 million dollars at his disposal immediately for any business, charity or crazy world changing idea he wanted to start. I personally think that if I won millions of dollars, I would have the belief that it was for a reason and would want to do something with the money that is tangible to benefit the world.

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #33 on: December 30, 2011, 12:34:46 pm »
For instance, from one article:

"Instead of taking the $314.9 million jackpot as an annuity, Whittaker opted for a single payment of $170 million. After taxes, he got $113.9 million."

Ouch, 2/3 of your winnings gone before you even get a dime.

Of course, then you have to wonder what he was thinking.

At 314mil, over a 30 year annuity, that's about 10mil a year, or about 872,000$ a month, figure roughly 50% tax on that, and you're still talking 400,000+$ PER MONTH. Is my math right? It's late.

Who couldn't live on that?

Maybe i am not looking at it right, but I see the lump sum to be a better deal.

Going by your math with the annuity, the guy would make a total (rounding up) of 150 million after waiting 30 years, sounds like a good deal. However, the guy could just go with the lump sum of 113 million, immediately invest 50 million of it at a safe expected ROI of around 5%, and by the time the 30 years are up, he would have totaled 200 million instead of the 150 million, and that is after the interest earnings are taxed at that same roughly 50% number.

He would also have over 60 million dollars at his disposal immediately for any business, charity or crazy world changing idea he wanted to start. I personally think that if I won millions of dollars, I would have the belief that it was for a reason and would want to do something with the money that is tangible to benefit the world.

Going by Shmokes's math, $114M at 8% would be more than 1 billion after 30 years.  The real rate that would turn $114M into into $315M in 30 years is about 3.4%.  If it's a 20 year annuity the rate would be 5.1%.

I'd like to know where you're getting your "safe" 5%.  I only know of one investment that's safe and pays more than the rate of inflation, and that's limited to a $5000/year contributions.

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #34 on: December 30, 2011, 12:52:19 pm »
I was going off of an average fed bond payout of 5.4%, and a friend of mine who is a high end financial advisor guarantees a min 5% on return annually (averaged over a course of a decade i believe) when he is given full control over the investments. I don't know if minimum investment needed for the guarantee, but I am sure a powerball winner would meet that amount.


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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #35 on: December 30, 2011, 01:49:35 pm »
The end-of-the-year lottery in the Netherlands is ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow---. It has a 30.000.000€ grand prize, which takes up 40% of all prize money. The other half is spend on prizes just enough to buy a ticket for the next round. I rather see 300 prizes of €100.000 or even 3000 of €10.000. It is just plain stupid this way.

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #36 on: December 30, 2011, 06:51:55 pm »
I was going off of an average fed bond payout of 5.4%, and a friend of mine who is a high end financial advisor guarantees a min 5% on return annually (averaged over a course of a decade i believe) when he is given full control over the investments. I don't know if minimum investment needed for the guarantee, but I am sure a powerball winner would meet that amount.



Where are you getting that 5.4% fed bond figure?  That kind of interest isn't available these days.

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #37 on: December 30, 2011, 10:28:03 pm »
I will never win the big one but if you do in Canada there are no taxes to be paid.   If it is 50 million you get 50 million  :D :D

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #38 on: December 30, 2011, 11:34:52 pm »
I was going off of an average fed bond payout of 5.4%, and a friend of mine who is a high end financial advisor guarantees a min 5% on return annually (averaged over a course of a decade i believe) when he is given full control over the investments. I don't know if minimum investment needed for the guarantee, but I am sure a powerball winner would meet that amount.



Where are you getting that 5.4% fed bond figure?  That kind of interest isn't available these days.

Yeah, that 5.4% number is the average long term federal bond average over the last 25 years or something I believe. May not be in current play, but long-term historical average. My buddy's firm still is holding that 5% gurantee as well, although it is only offered though a certain grade of financial advisors. That guarantee is calculated by averaging over a decade or a long-term timeframe like that.

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Re: Am I the only one sick and tired of not winning the lottery?
« Reply #39 on: December 30, 2011, 11:36:19 pm »
I will never win the big one but if you do in Canada there are no taxes to be paid.   If it is 50 million you get 50 million  :D :D

Yeah, might not improve odds of winning, but the winner will definitely feel better about their winnings. I think that is how it should be.