Lotto: 80 percent of all combinations purchased

Source: Powerball frenzy locks down most possible number combos - CBS News

Here I was planning to wait until after the drawing and go for the 'big prize.' It had never occurred to me that so many numbers were already purchased. I didn't want to 'share' my big win so we could go with the annual payment, not the one-time award. <SIGH>

Now with the payoff being greater than the cost of one ticket times the odds, one might think it is worth it. But given the higher probability of multiple owners of the same ticket number, it moves the payback too far out.

Bob Wilson

 

In the case of the Lotto, I suppose you're right but I have toyed with the idea of getting Lotto tickets when the 'win' is greater than the odds and cost of a ticket. Just I hadn't considered multiple tickets with the same numbers. Now if one could get a ticket that had not yet been bought, it becomes an acceptable risk.

My preferred game is craps. The odds are well known and the house advantage can be reduced to no more than 1.4%. Proper play can reduce the house advantage to less than 1% by taking and laying odds. So the real payoff are the free drinks and comps. Best of all, optimum craps entails only four bets which are easy to follow no matter how much you've had to drink.

Bob Wilson

 

I don't suppose anyone notices that gambling can also be entertainment. Buy a Lotto ticket and 'come dreams that may' for a day or two. <grins>

But the important part is to know gambling money comes from the 'entertainment' budget. It is not a way of life unless one owns the casino.

Bob Wilson

 

Well the ones in the South have sweet tea year round.

Bob Wilson

 

There are some games whose odds are so stacked in the house advantage, it isn't worth the effort to calculate. It was the probability of a duplicate number that I had not considered before that further lengthened the odds.

In reality, a lottery is a voluntary tax, a contribution to the state or states. So I don't 'set my hair on fire' about them but use the more or 'gag' gifts:

• 'door prizes' for charity parties
• 'Want to see my <insert corporate name> pension?'

Well I understand there is a single winner in Florida:

Source: $590M-plus Powerball: 1 winning ticket sold in Fla - Business - Boston.com

Bob Wilson

 

So I noticed this recent article:

Source: Electrical Brain Stimulation Helps People Learn Math Faster | Wired Science | Wired.com

When I was just learning to read, I became interested in electricity. Back then we had crystal AM radios and I would play with batteries, flashlights, wires, aluminum foil, potatoes and steel wool. I had no real instruments but I knew how to test batteries with the wet finger tongue method. Then one day, I found the portable 'tube' radio would not turn on.

I opened the battery compartment and found a 6V battery for the filaments and a 75V battery for the tube electronics. The 6V battery test tasted good so that left the 75V battery whose terminals were about half an inch apart so . . . I woke up about a six feet behind on the bed that had been behind me. So apparently electrical stimulation worked.

Then there was the time I got a rusted door bell to work . . . with 110V AC . . .

Bob Wilson