Well, I didn't win Powerball 2016-07

Forums › Off topic › Well, I didn't win Powerball 2016-07

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

29819 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9155

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1589183 10-Jul-2016 17:49

andrew027:

I only buy tickets when the prize gets up to $30M or more. So I bought a ticket last weekend, last Wednesday, and this weekend. I won something on the Wednesday draw - not quite as much as I spent on the three tickets, but I'm only about one cup of coffee behind for the week. It's just a bit of harmless fun.

I know the odds are terrible, but they're worse if you don't buy a ticket. Sometimes people do win big prizes. Try telling the three people who won $15M this weekend, or the group of ladies in the Wairarapa who won $30-something million, that they shouldn't have bought a ticket. My chances are no worse than theirs. And my retirement isn't dependant on it.

The odds do climb somewhat!!! They move from impossible to impossible plus 12.

Seriously though, as you said its harmless fun, no more, no less

Reanalyse

384 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 296

#1589224 10-Jul-2016 19:21

I consider my minimal bet of $4.80 for four lines, the cost of a daydream for three days.

But generally anti-gambling. Watched people playing blackjack at Skytower, if you win you get back your stake plus 50%, if you lose you lose it all.

Inevitably you must loose (unless you can count cards on multiple randomly mixed card decks which I doubt- certainly I could not)

BTR

1527 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 448

#1589412 11-Jul-2016 09:31

I like everyone else is still at work on Monday.....

Paul1977

5101 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2154

#1589431 11-Jul-2016 09:57

Sure are a lot of killjoys here!

I'm in the camp of "only buy a ticket once it hits $30,000,000", but I know plenty of people who spend $10 every week - and it isn't ruining their lives.

Sure, some people have gambling problems, but they are in the minority. For most people it is just a bit of harmless fun, and the vast majority know they'll never win big.

andrew027

1286 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 556

#1589514 11-Jul-2016 10:35

Paul1977: Sure are a lot of killjoys here!

I'm in the camp of "only buy a ticket once it hits $30,000,000", but I know plenty of people who spend $10 every week - and it isn't ruining their lives.

Sure, some people have gambling problems, but they are in the minority. For most people it is just a bit of harmless fun, and the vast majority know they'll never win big.

Agree 100%. A lot of things can tear families apart when someone can't control their urges - it's the reason there's a teenager who's not mine living in my house at the moment, so I understand the issues and have sympathy for those affected by various forms of addiction. But I don't feel the need to be a wowser about everything and ruin (legal) fun for everyone. For example, I assume people who have criticised Lotto in this thread never drink any alcohol either?

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18726 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15570

Lifetime subscriber

#1589521 11-Jul-2016 10:49

I would imagine that people who have been affected by such a thing would be a little sensitive on the subject, but I agree that activities should not be banned because some get into trouble. There is a fine line somewhere between providing necessary protection and telling people how to live their lives. For example, Thailand, like New Zealand, prohibits driving on the wrong side of the road. Unlike New Zealand, it is not enforced there so many people do and many people die. I am against banning things as a matter of principle, but I am not against banning that thing. I have been in a car, with a young person for whom I was responsible, when a Thai driver came at us in our own lane. Fortunately we were being chauffeured by a student with good reflexes who knew the dangers and was prepared to take evasive action.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

jonathan18

7413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2850

ID Verified

Trusted

#1589535 11-Jul-2016 11:13

Yet again I'm frustrated and annoyed I didn't win Powerball, let alone sixth division. Then again I forgot to buy a ticket!

Like many above, I rarely purchase a ticket, and only when it gets to this kind of level. I understand the odds, but for me it's harmless and (as mentioned by some above) at least some of the money goes to useful community causes.

Surely Lotto is in a different category of "gambling" to others like pokies, casinos or horses, which give an immediate fix and often have a physical participatory aspect to them?

TBH, casinos repulse me, and I've no interest in ever spending a cent in one; they're simply higher-class rip-off merchants than the pub with its slot machines, just more gaudy and tacky. I recall staying at a hotel in an Australian casino (Crown Casino?) and walking through during the day (where it was absolutely stunning outside) - the most depressing site...

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

MikeAqua

7787 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3623

#1589613 11-Jul-2016 12:42

We dipped out too. Pity, because I had my list all worked out.

Mike

nova

252 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 129

Trusted

#1590032 11-Jul-2016 23:56

Geektastic:

Wouldn't you be better putting your money in premium bonds (or whatever the equivalent is in NZ)?

Some chance of winning a reasonable sum and you can have your capital back.

Investing money in a term deposit, and using the interest to buy lotto tickets, achieves the same thing. You keep your capital. And your odds are much better. If you invested $10,000 on term deposit at 3.4%, in a year you would earn approx $270 after tax. That buys 450 lines of standard lotto (not powerball), giving you a 1 in 8,530 chance of winning first division. The chance of winning 1 million dollars through bonus bonds with the same investment is at best 1 in 25,000 (there is over $3 billion in total bonus bonds, so $10K gives you at best 1 in 300,000 chance per month of winning).

Neither is a very sane investment strategy, but the term deposit approach is still better than bonus bonds.

Gordy7

1925 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 469

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1590107 12-Jul-2016 09:28

Anyone looked at the money going into Lotto leading up to the $40m?

Ticket sales reported as 2000 per minute at say $10 per ticket amounts to $1.2m per hour.

That is not allowing for people who spent $1k and even $10k on tickets.

Then there was the other jackpot rushes before the $40m jackpot.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

trig42

5828 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2024

ID Verified

#1590113 12-Jul-2016 09:40

Gordy7:

Anyone looked at the money going into Lotto leading up to the $40m?

Ticket sales reported as 2000 per minute at say $10 per ticket amounts to $1.2m per hour.

That is not allowing for people who spent $1k and even $10k on tickets.

Then there was the other jackpot rushes before the $40m jackpot.

Lotto count on that. They have a formula for the number of tickets they sell cf. the estimated Jackpot.

If you look at a normal Powerball jackpot, it usually goes up by about a million dollars between draws - this one went up $6million between Wednesday and Saturday - Lotto advertised it as $40m because they knew the hysteria and media hype would drive ticket sales, thereby pushing up the Jackpot.

geoffwnz

1628 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1444

ID Verified

#1590125 12-Jul-2016 09:57

Gordy7:

Anyone looked at the money going into Lotto leading up to the $40m?

Ticket sales reported as 2000 per minute at say $10 per ticket amounts to $1.2m per hour.

That is not allowing for people who spent $1k and even $10k on tickets.

Then there was the other jackpot rushes before the $40m jackpot.

I think I read yesterday that total sales for the week were $60M, with $40M between Weds and Saturday.

I play each week, the amount is comfortably in my budget and sometimes I get some extra spending money back as a thanks for playing. No harm done.

I also volunteer at a community organisation who benefited this year from a $10k grant from Lotteries commission, so that's also a useful benefit.

MotorDrive Rallying

amiga500

1484 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 422
Inactive user

#1590869 13-Jul-2016 11:02

I got bored with Lotto & now I only play when Powerball gets over 20 or 25 million, and then it's a $9.60 ticket for me. This time I found a lotto outlet with no queue at all so I jumped in and got my ticket.

networkn

Networkn
32446 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 14982

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1590884 13-Jul-2016 11:23

In all honesty, I don't feel the need to be mega rich. I consider myself comfortable, but I do buy the odd lotto ticket. I'd be over the moon to win 100K just to do a few things I wouldn't otherwise do, help some family out, maybe a small renovation. If I got 13m I'd probably set up some scholarships or something to give almost all of it away.

Lizard1977

2085 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 605

ID Verified

#1590917 13-Jul-2016 12:05

I know a little bit about gambling in NZ, so here are some numbers you might find interesting:

Class 4 gambling machines (pokies in pubs) are regulated to return on average between 78% and 92% of the amount gambled to the player. This is colloquially called the "house advantage". The amount which is retained by the gaming machine is called the Gross Machine Profit (GMP). In the 14/15 year, this amount was $818 million across New Zealand. Consider that amount for a moment in the context of the GMP calculation - it means that the total amount pumped into those machines was somewhere between $3.7 and $10 billion dollars. And this is just in the pubs. Admittedly, some of that money is winnings reinvested, but nevertheless people are pouring substantial amounts of money into those machines. For comparison, $527 million was spent in casinos (which are commercially run and don't have to return any money to community purposes), $420 million was spent on Lotto products, and $325 million was spent on Racing and Sports betting at the TAB.

Most gambling in NZ requires a percentage to be returned to "authorised purposes" and to that end the class 4 gaming machines in pubs are run by charitable societies. They are requried to return, on average, a minimum 40% of their GMP to authorised purposes as set out in their Trust Deed. In most cases, this takes the form of community grants. In the 14/15 year, this was about $260 million across the country. I think Lotto has a statutory 20% minimum to community purposes, and returned about $200 million to the community. Casinos are not "charitable" in purpose, though, and profits are commercial.

Think about that figure for the pub-based pokies though. Somewhere between $3 and $10 billion spent in one year, plus all the money spent on casinos, lotto, race and sports betting - I hesitate to put a total figure on the amount spent (as opposed to that which is lost), but it must be huge. While some money comes back to the community from some of those sources, a lot doesn't.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4