I have never played the lottery, but I have won before. So I guess you don’t have to play to win. It is really the only thing involving luck that I have ever won in my life. I have never even ever had the chance to yell that exciting word “BINGO”, not even when playing with my sister and cousin in my grandparents basement. I gave up on it a long time ago. But I digress, bitterly. On to the lottery.
I was walking to a dumpster, behind the service station that I worked at when I saw a Texas lottery ticket shining next to the dumpster. I picked it up and scratched it off to find that it was the golden ticket that would be redeemable for $2. Back in those days $2 would buy you 2 gallons of gasoline and a pack of gum. Needless to say I was excited. I walked over to a competing gas station down the street that had lottery stuff and claimed my glorious prize.
Now let’s look at why you have to play to lose. The odds are stacked phenomenally high against you. That is all. It should be pretty obvious but apparently it is not. In a 2006 survey 30% of people with no high school degree thought that the lottery was a strategy for building wealth. Most people who purchase tickets frequently, are poor and uneducated. I came across a sweet calculator that will show you just how hopeless it is to think you will win the lottery.
Brought to you by Get Rich Slowly, where you can learn how to win the lottery.
Or you can read about how to get out of debt, high yield savings accounts, Roth IRAs, and other smart investments.
So there you have it. Unless you want to throw away a bunch of money it is a bad idea.