Sunday, November 30, 2008

Funny Cure For Those Who Waste Money on Lottery Tickets

Yes, lottery tickets provide some hope and opportunity to dream. They have huge upside and low downside, if you control your spending. I think they are a reasonable indulgence if limited to one or two bucks per week. Some people may have a strong religious belief against anything gambling related... More power to you.

I first remember playing the lottery as a 14 year old. As a teenager I spent no more than $10 bucks on lottery tickets total. On one of my lottery tickets I picked all but one number correctly. Unfortunately, I threw the ticket away because I thought that you had to get all numbers correct to win. It wasn't a mega-million or powerball. I would really be kicking myself if it was! Today, I typically play the lottery only when the payout rises above 100 million and the local news is covering it. I normally don't track the lottery at all and would be oblivious to the prize pool unless the local news is covering it. I typically buy $5 to $10 worth of tickets when the lottery exceeds 100 million. I realize this is a bit overboard.

We all know that the costs add up. I recommend you watch the following Chris Rock video titled "Money Makin' System" if you spend more than two bucks a week on the lottery. The video will help remind you how stupid it is to waste money on the lottery with a little humor to boot. Warning: the video has two minor curse words (a-s and b-t-h) but is otherwise clean.




My reference to a cure in the title was simply done because the video aims to remind all of us how stupid wasting money on the lottery can be.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought you had to be 18 to play lotteries. (At least you do in my state - that's one thing I learned as an employee of a retailer selling lottery tickets.)

I wondfer what would happen if someone (unlawfully) bought a winning ticket juet before their 18th birthday, and tried to collect the prize just after their 18th birthday.

(Winning tickets are usually valid for one year - after that, it's too late to collect the prize.)

I can see a state wiggling out of paying on the ground that the ticket was bought unlawfully.

Finance Junkie said...

yeah, you have to be 18. there's a similar rule for R rated movies too. But, if you're with an adult... well, you can figure a solution out.