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The Right Decision

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by airportkid, Dec 29, 2010.

  1. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    From Snopes, a true tale of an irretreivably lost opportunity:

    snopes.com: Voided Ticket Lottery Win

    While I'm sure the Lotto player involved (if aware of whom he/she is) deeply regrets the decision (as would any of us, including myself), I contend it was the right decision at the time. Heedlessly throwing money at lottery entries, even money you can afford, diminishes the money you can spend on things you can actually attain. This player decided correctly at the time that keeping $15 for him/herself was wiser than throwing it after $12 already essentially lost. There was no way at the time to know the ticket's outcome.

    Unfortunately stories like this drive up lottery participation, a racket that if it were conducted ethically would means test the degree of each participant's "investments" in it, or at the very least add statistics to grade school curriculae, where it belongs.
     
    #1 airportkid, Dec 29, 2010
  2. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    While I was in Spain, a humongous lottery prize was won by a ticket which was sold from a stand located in a street I frequently passed through. It could have been me, if I'd actually bought a ticket.

    I believe it was a "penita," a sheet of tickets sold for $100 or so, and purchased by a group of friends who split the winnings. In Spain, you see these stands that say ONCE, which confused me at first, because "once" means eleven. What was going on at a stand labeled "eleven"? Finally I approached one and asked. ONCE is the Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos Espanoles, the National Organization of Spanish Blind People. So when you gamble away your rent money you can assuage your feelings of stupidity by remembering that you are helping blind folks.
     
    #2 daniel, Dec 29, 2010
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