Humans are remarkably illogical species.

Firstly, your odds of winning the lottery are extremely low. Extremely. But we're quite bad at acknowledging just how bad your odds are.

Secondly, the idea that this date gives you a better chance, or that things will line up for your numbers is just ludicrous.

The lottery really is a tax on stupid.

i prefer to think i'm hopeful not stupid, but then again i don't spend my whole welfare check being hopeful. that would be stupid.

/cant win if you don't play
//not on welfare

Your odds are better if you buy a ticket.
True.

BurnShrike: Humans are remarkably illogical species.

Firstly, your odds of winning the lottery are extremely low. Extremely. But we're quite bad at acknowledging just how bad your odds are.

Secondly, the idea that this date gives you a better chance, or that things will line up for your numbers is just ludicrous.

The lottery really is a tax on stupid.

Sure, but the odds of the lotto number being all "1"s is just as likely as it being any one other combination of numbers.

The only real argument for *not* playing common numbers, or dates, would be so you are less likely to have to share your winnings with all the other simpletons playing the date.

Great Idea! Let's take the already astronomical chance of winning the lottery and further compound it by, *if* we win with all ones, we are splitting the prize with another 100 likeminded people

/ Same reason I laughed at everyone who started playing "lost numbers"

I consider the couple of dollars I play on the lottery every week entertainment. I pay $2 for the fun thoughts of winning a huge payout. Not that I actually believe I will win.

ZackDanger: BurnShrike: Humans are remarkably illogical species.

Firstly, your odds of winning the lottery are extremely low. Extremely. But we're quite bad at acknowledging just how bad your odds are.

Secondly, the idea that this date gives you a better chance, or that things will line up for your numbers is just ludicrous.

The lottery really is a tax on stupid.

Sure, but the odds of the lotto number being all "1"s is just as likely as it being any one other combination of numbers.

The only real argument for *not* playing common numbers, or dates, would be so you are less likely to have to share your winnings with all the other simpletons playing the date.

I worked at a gas station for a while and knew of 3 people that came in and played 1,2,3,4,5,6 on a regular basis. If those numbers hit I have a feeling it would be split between so many people, it wouldn't be worth the money invested in the years of tickets

ballchain: Then I was struck by lightning and drowned in the bathtub simultaneously.

So how's the signal strength on Heaven's WiFi?

I just won the lottery, you math challenged fools.

No, really. I did.

/was only $4

I was going to laugh, but I spent money to see "The Phantom Menace" in the theater. Who's the real fool?

I kind of envy people that seem to pin their hopes on winning the lottery. Same crowd that buys the big single beers and the little liquor bottles. I don't envy their smokey stinky lives, but the idea that an unrealized dream is just a chunk of cash away.

Lotteries are, after all, retirement plans for those who can't do the math.

666 came up in the Pennsylvania lottery once, but only because the balls were rigged that day.

I prefer the reverse lottery. I pick six numbers and don't buy a ticket. If the numbers don't come up I figure I won $1. If they do I mail $1m less taxes to the lottery commission over twenty years (providing they cash in their ticket within 3 years).

Has anyone pointed out that 11-11-11 was 2000 years ago?

11-11-2011 isn't as magical.

The date doesn't matter; you have to have a system.
Link (new window)

lenfromak: 666 came up in the Pennsylvania lottery once, but only because the balls were rigged that day.

That number has come up a few times. In different states too.

Rapmaster2000: I was going to laugh, but I spent money to see "The Phantom Menace" in the theater. Who's the real fool?

The person who pays again (with a higher fee) to see it in "3D"

I always get a kick out of people who claim they play their lucky numbers, as if their numbers are somehow magically more luck than anyone else's lucky numbers.

Not-so-CSB time: I used to work graveyard shift at a truck stop (yeah, I'm the one who complains about the expired candy bars they gave us for a Christmas gift one year, but at least it wasn't a cocoa sampler box). The dishwasher in the restaurant portion used to go to the convenience store next door every payday to buy 100 scratch off tickets, and come over to our side to scratch them off on the counter. On one batch of tickets, the highest winner he had was for $30 (and he was thrilled). Out of the $100 on that night, he won back maybe $50 - which he then used to buy more tickets. He played them down until he was out of tickets and his $100, and I guess he regularly did this - on a minimum wage job, hoping he would somehow scratch his way into prosperity.

At one point waitresses reported tips "missing" from their tip cups, and he was an immediate suspect - due largely to the $500 in losing tickets in his car. He apparently had another $900 in losing tickets at home.

/actually a sad story bro

If it would rain too, it would be ironic...

/wait, what?

Isn't it one set of balls so there's only one instance of the number "one"?

/doesn't play lottery

Jimmy_James: Isn't it one set of balls so there's only one instance of the number "one"?

/doesn't play lottery

It depends upon the game, most of the play 3 or play 4 lotteries where you are guessing 0-9 have a seperate container of balls for each digit and order of play matters so effectively they are randomly choosing a number between 0000 and 9999. The bigger lotteries where you have numbers much higher like powerball have one hopper of numbers and order doesn't matter, then have a second hopper for the powerball

are getting a kick out of these replies.

jonr: If it would rain too, it would be ironic...

/wait, what?

Awww.... man why is it raining. I should have took that free ride out of here.

Why would the odds be any different? It's still the same amount of numbered balls in the barrel. Normally it's 1 - 9 in each drum, so there are always 8 numbers against you no matter what ones you pick.

On the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks (in other words, on 9/11/2002), the winning number in the New York State lottery was 911.

When they saw that on the news, my coworker Jim had this conversation with his wife:

wife: What are the odds of the number coming up "9-1-1"?
Jim: One in a thousand.
wife: Yes, but what are the odds of it happening ON NINE-ELEVEN???
Jim: One in a thousand.

History:

August 9
Just one day after 8/8/88 New York lottery's daily number is 888. [1]

Missed it by That Much!

Someone, please explain to me how Jessica Dickler came up with the idea to do this story, and how she, in New York, managed to find a guy in Kansas City who played ones today and nines on 9/9/99?

I seriously don't understand how these non-news stories even start, or how they find someone relevant to interview. Start calling everyone in the phone book?

DON.MAC: I have a friend who buys a ticket every week for a group of people at work. What he hasn't told them is he also buys a second ticket with the same numbers because he thinks it would be funny to explain how he gets 1/2 plus 1/20 and they all get just 1/20th of the jackpot.

I've always thought this would be hilarious to do. I don't play the lottery, but if I did, I would buy two tickets with the same six numbers every week. That way, if someone else came up with the same numbers, I would get two shares. If they felt entitled to an equal portion of my other ticket (and most lottery players would), they would spend a lot of their winnings hiring a lawyer to try to get at some of mine.