First, let me say I learned my lesson on gambling in the service and it was a good lesson that has served me well all my life. I don't enjoy it and don't normally do it.

Saturday we were in a gambling deal at a local club for the afternoon where each person put in $40 for 60 draws in the State's Kenno online lottery. Some of our friends thought we could beat the odds by joining forces. A normal team was 5 people = $200 of which $20 went to the club and $180 to lottery tickets. Since we have a few friends who like to gamble and don't mind spending the afternoon drinking we ended up with 5 teams that all combined to share the winnings!

So the total investment was $1,000 for our group of 25 with 5 tickets with 60 draws each.

Our total winnings as a group after 60 draws or 300 chances was . . . . . drum roll . . . . $230. Thankfully, a beer at the club is only $1.25. And lunch was provided.

The biggest single draw winner - $820 to a team on the very first draw. The over-all highest winning team also got another payoff at the very end (wasn't us). The biggest loser ticket - $4. Yep, one ticket won a grand total of $4 on a $40 investment with 60 chances to win. And, people ask me why I don't gamble.

We had a good time and enjoyed the company of our friends. Besides, my wife who enjoys gambling is the one who put up our $80. So I got a free lunch and only spent $15 and $5 of that was for a tip.

Do you enjoy trying to beat the odds?

 

I'm like you, Dave. I never gamble with my money. I hate Las Vegas. (Tesla was different.)

 

I love beating the odds. I did a couple of start-ups that paid off.
I hate entering into a scenario where the odds are explicitly manipulated against me, i.e.e organized gambling.
The house will win which of course, is why they do it.

 

I'm not much of a gambler, though I do like Vegas. We gambled very little on our trips (2) there, but really enjoyed the city and the shows. I would play a slot machine at the end of the day while Rick enjoyed a couple of beers. I played with the casino's money for a while, gave it back over the course of the week.

From time to time, I'll play a lottery ticket/daily numbers with a guy at work. We just can't win when we play together. However, this guy wins ALL the time.

I guess my luck is in other areas of life.

 

Only gambling I do is the Powerball and MegaMillions....

Still waiting to win more than $11 on a ticket!

 

Those of us who pass those nice buildings the casino companies have put up here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast learned long ago where the money to service the debt and maintain those nice buildings comes from. Sandy and I occasionally go to a casino eat. But we don't spend anything on the "games of chance". (Questioner: "Is it a game of chance?" WC Fields: "Not the way I play it.")

 

Problem maybe... people don't realize that the odds of any single ticket, roll, card, whatever... being a winner is the same. Regardless of how many people are betting, how many tickets are sold, or how many times you have bet.

Eg: odds of winning the fourth game, whether you've lost or won the first three, is exactly the same. Odds of one ticket winning the Lotto is the same whether you buy one or a thousand. Each of those thousand tickets has the same chance of winning.

The odds will always be stacked for the House.

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As a long time friend of mine has several "bumper stickers" tacked to the wall in his basement "pool room", the one that sums it up is my favorite (even though I do play the Mega Millions and Power Ball, but do not gamble other than that) it states: "The lottery, a game for people that are poor at math".

I witnessed this first hand many years ago. When the Mega Millions was up to about $150 million an older man was in front of me at the convenience store that I was purchasing my tickets while visiting my In-Laws in rural SE Virginia. He stated when he handed his $20 bill to the clerk that he normally only played $10 per draw that because it was $150 million that he was going to "double his chances of winning by taking twenty chances".

This could be an example of one of his others that states: "What has six balls and screws the poor? The Lottery".

IMHO: If one doesn't know where one's next meal is coming from, one should NOT be playing the lottery.

 

Lottery = Voluntary Tax On Stupidity.

 

I don't know. I don't much care for any of the games in the casino except the roulette wheel. I'm fascinated with it. It's all numbers and odds. Nothing more, nothing less.

We almost never go to any casino. It's been about 15 years since we've been to Atlantic City, and quite some time since we've been in Las Vegas. When we were in Vegas, Liz played blackjack for $50 and I watched the roulette wheel. I can watch the roulette wheel for hours and play in my head. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but my way of playing never costs me anything.

I have to admit, I also like the action around the craps tables. Not the game, I don't much like the game, but I love the action. The men and women around the craps table are the most alive, exciting and excited bunch of people in the casino.