Yep - I even used my calculator and missed it like a dumbass 
4 Likes
It’s a surprisingly common error. At least once a year, I see that meme going around Facebook that some super rich person could take 300 million dollars of their fortune and give every US citizen a million dollars, thus ending poverty forever! I think that mistake even made it onto a CNN news report, or some major media outlet.
3 Likes
Congrats on the win, that sounds fun!
Sounds like you did it right.
Your younger brother’s mindset must be such a disappointing way to go through life. 
Re: the lotto thing in general, I’m in the same camp as some others who’ve posted. Every once in a while, I’ll buy a couple tickets and spend the evening daydreaming about what I’d do if I won. I know it isn’t likely, but it’s more likely than if I didnt buy the tickets, and it’s fun. People spend more than that on movie tickets all the time, it’s kind of the same thing. A small price for a few hours of a fantasy world.
But back to the main topic: it is not a viable compensation strategy for workers.
11 Likes
Congratulations on your win - and kudos for having a positive attitude. Saw this bit on The Daily Show that reinforces my belief a lot of folks in the US need a major change in perspective (set to 88 second mark):
The clip above also leads me to wonder how workers and taxpayers could demand changes in the ways corporate and government budgets are managed in general. It’s not that they couldn’t do better, they just choose not to.
6 Likes
Speaking of Chick-Fil-A, they tried paying workers with chicken.
4 Likes
Obligs:
It’s the only correct answer to that invitation.
6 Likes
indeed, the odds of any particular ticket being a winner are astronomically small, however, if you put all the numbers into the expected value equation with a $1.28 billion payout you get an expected value of roughly $2.20 on a $2.00 ticket.
[p(winning) x (payout amount) - p(losing) x (ticket price)]
because of the very small probability of buying a winning ticket the payout amount has to be around $1 billion + before one achieves a break even point on the expected value. as i said above, the probability of buying a winning ticket is remarkably small but if one wanted to throw a few bucks at the lottery this would be the optimal time to do so.
6 Likes
Since the winnings are split in the event that multiple tickets with the winning numbers are sold, that possibility also needs to be factored into the equation.
5 Likes
That’s why the stats professors who played lotteries (and won multiple) always picked numbers above 31. That eliminates picks based on birthdays and holidays, slightly but significantly reducing the odds of sharing the prize.
7 Likes
I always wondered about playing the lottery with something like 1 2 3 4 5 6. In theory you should have the same expected value but also the bonus fame of being the person who won with the most inane possible numbers. The question is how many other people would be trying for that.
6 Likes
Earlier this week my wife and I were scoffing about the odds of winning, that lotteries are a tax on people that dont understand probability, that the odds of winning are statically zero, etc. As you do.
It was announced this morning that there was a single winner in Illinois. Mentioned it to the missus and she retrieved her numbers from her purse. I guess the urge to play was strong. No we did not win.
13 Likes
I think you are confusing raffle games, where there are tickets in the pot and one of the tickets will be drawn, to how lotteries work, which is more of a casino game with really, really crappy odds and often there is no winner. Granted, then the prize pot is carried over, and with the millions of tickets sold eventually someone does manage to get hit by lightning…
… but nobody has to win. In fact, it is a small wonder that the lottery does have a winner, that someone makes such a weird guess.
2 Likes
Darn, if only I had picked the numbers 13, 36, 45, 57, 67 and a Mega Ball of 14.
Oh well, hindsight is 20-20. And luck is just hindsight after things go well.
As someone higher up noted, you do get something for the ticket: a small bit of pleasure, a dose of entertainment. And heck, even a nice anecdote to tell for the price of a ticket.
4 Likes
Somebody does eventually win, somebody just won 1.2 billion.
I’ll bet they’re glad they didn’t listen to the people saying they had zero chance.
26 people won 1 million, 6 people won 2 million, and a whole bunch won 20 grand.
1 Like
“Bought a ticket. Didn’t win.”
“That Bob sure can spin a yarn.”
5 Likes
Vs
Nobody won on the previous 30 drawings all the way back to April. Basically once it piqued enough interest to get a larger number of people playing than typical such that most possible combinations were selected. If the same people playing in April were the only ones playing this lottery then the odds of anyone winning would be extremely slim.
And the odds of somebody winning are very different to the odds of you winning.
3 Likes
Of course, the best part about winning the lottery is getting to know thousands of cousins you didn’t even know you had through social media, all thanks to the media exposure. 
1 Like
Wear a disguise.
5 Likes
One thing that I hate watching (while I’m waiting for my order) is when a chain has an insanely complicated menu, especially when they’ve combined chains like a Taco Bell / KFC, and the staff have to scramble to deal with all of these different items as one-offs in a tiny workspace, while continuing to priority-service the drive-thru.
I bet the staff turn-over is high.
Meh. Have a limited selection of signature items, make them good, make them fast, but what do I know?
2 Likes
