We are multiple major lottery winners.

[joeobx]

Man with winnings like that you throwing the Christmas Party and handing out CCs in goody bags... right.

[T.G]

I won a certificate for five free haircuts once. But my dad's a barber, and besides, I don't have much hair to cut.

[Shemp Howard]

I won 5 bucks once.

[HK3-]

I won a free ride in the back seat of a police car once.

[DPD6030]

Originally Posted by HK3-

I won a free ride in the back seat of a police car once.

I thought I recognized you

[Coach Deg]

I won fantasy 5, it was avg about 185k the whole week before I won. Avg about 105k the week after I won. The night I won 13 of us had it right! I got 10k after taxes! Bought my boat with it.

[aich75013]

I won $3 once.
I only buy a ticket if it's over $100M, and even then it's rare.

I won $1700 once. I was one digit away from $12M that nobody won at that drawing. I replaced my major appliances. I think I'm still ahead in winnings/spendings.
Orwell wrote about lotteries in "1984".

[shilala]

I got us a couple new tickets yesterday, forgot about them till today. We got one number out of two tickets, which is really good as compared to no numbers whatsoever. We make as much money as if we got no numbers at all, but we're headed in a positive direction.
I'm feeling like we're ready to put the big sting on the lottery any day now.

[captain53]

Originally Posted by shilala

Lisa and I play powerball and megamillions pretty regular. More regular when I get in the groove. I try to grab a couple tickets when I get coffee, it's my retirement plan.
Recently, we have put it to the man for $28, $28, $7, $7, and $7. That's all in less than a year's time.
I'm not sure how long they can continue to take this kind of beatdown, but you guys should get in on it while they're giving money away.

Any other big winners here?

Don't forget to set some aside for income taxes!

[lbowles2]

I worked with a guy that had previously worked at the KS Lottery and he gave me a tip about buying tickets. This didn't really sound right to me at first but the more I thought about the more sense it made.

OK... say you buy $5 of Powerball tickets. Most people let the machine pick you 5 random sets of numbers... one for each $1 ticket. The problem with this is you are trying to make 1 set of random numbers (or in this case 1 of 5 sets) match another set of random numbers generated at the drawing. What he says to do instead is ALWAYS play the same set of numbers... that way one of the random factors is eliminated effectively taking one or two zeros off of your chances of winning percentage wise.

Another tip he gave me (and this is the part that didn't sound right at first) is to play the same set of numbers on all 5 plays. His reasoning is that your odds of winning are already like .0000000001% (not exact but you get the idea). By playing the same set of numbers for all 5 plays you only knock 1 zero off of those odds so you're really not improving your odds that much. The benefit of having all 5 of the same set of numbers is if you do win something short of the jackpot you win it 5 times!!! So if you win $100 you really win $500.

Like I said it didn't really sound right to me at the time cuz I figured playing 5 different sets of numbers would improve your odds more. Part of his job was doing the math behind so he had the numbers he generated to prove his case. That being said I don't typically buy lottery tickets so I haven't gotten to test the theory yet

Originally Posted by lbowles2

OK... say you buy $5 of Powerball tickets. Most people let the machine pick you 5 random sets of numbers... one for each $1 ticket. The problem with this is you are trying to make 1 set of random numbers (or in this case 1 of 5 sets) match another set of random numbers generated at the drawing. What he says to do instead is ALWAYS play the same set of numbers... that way one of the random factors is eliminated effectively taking one or two zeros off of your chances of winning percentage wise.

Statistically, your chances are exactly the same. The win could be the same number many times over the years and never, ever get to most numbers.

Another tip he gave me (and this is the part that didn't sound right at first) is to play the same set of numbers on all 5 plays. His reasoning is that your odds of winning are already like .0000000001% (not exact but you get the idea). By playing the same set of numbers for all 5 plays you only knock 1 zero off of those odds so you're really not improving your odds that much. The benefit of having all 5 of the same set of numbers is if you do win something short of the jackpot you win it 5 times!!! So if you win $100 you really win $500.

This one makes sense. If five other persons and you won the big jackpot, you would get half instead of 1/6.

[lbowles2]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Statistically, your chances are exactly the same. The win could be the same number many times over the years and never, ever get to most numbers.

If you take one of the 'random' variables out of the equation over time you're odds are going to be better. Maybe not for that one drawing but over time they will. This would help the person that plays every week not someone like me that buys once every two years if that.